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Understanding the Concept and Practice of Work-Life Balance: A Case of Nigerian Entrepreneurial Women

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Work-Life Balance in Africa

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Abstract

The concept of ‘work-life balance’ continues to have ostensibly unending discussions regarding the certainties and practicability towards achieving balance across work and other life-engaging activities/matters. Although Western interpretations have dominated the discourse regarding work-life balance, it is a widely debated topic even within the global south, including Africa. It captures critical contextual issues that influence the practice of work-life balance. This chapter investigated work-life balance in the Nigerian context, specifically examining the case of entrepreneurial women using selected theoretical lenses to analyse how they practice work-life balance. In total, 15 semistructured interviews were conducted with women in Nigeria who owned businesses. They were determined using a purposive sampling method. The chapter postulated the need to understand the concept and practice of work-life balance of entrepreneurial African women using the Nigerian context. This required collating their stories to know how they integrate, assimilate and prevent separation and marginalisation in a proven patriarchal society. This chapter broadly highlighted practical implications for work-life balance as it explored the concept, benefits and challenges of achieving it within the selected context.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK

    Loliya Agbani Kagher

  2. Imperial College London, London, UK

    Kaine Chinwah

Authors
  1. Loliya Agbani Kagher
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  2. Kaine Chinwah
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Correspondence to Loliya Agbani Kagher .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Business, University of Doha for Science and Technology, Doha, Qatar

    Hakeem Adeniyi Ajonbadi

  2. College of Business, Arts, and Social Sciences, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UK

    Chima Mordi

  3. College of Business, Technology and Engineering, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK

    Olatunji David Adekoya

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Kagher, L.A., Chinwah, K. (2023). Understanding the Concept and Practice of Work-Life Balance: A Case of Nigerian Entrepreneurial Women. In: Ajonbadi, H.A., Mordi, C., Adekoya, O.D. (eds) Work-Life Balance in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38008-2_9

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