Extended Summary

Purpose

Work-life balance has become an increasingly important issue for academic staff in universities who undertake multiple roles. While the literature on work-life balance among academics largely focuses on responsibilities such as research and teaching activities, it has given limited attention to academics who hold administrative positions. Conversely, the administrative roles of academics involve bureaucratic processes, institutional obligations, academic problems, and various managerial tasks, increasing their workload and blurring the lines between work and private life.

In this context, the aim of this study is to examine the work-life balance experiences of academics in administrative roles at Bitlis Eren University. The study aims to address the challenges faced by academics while balancing their intensive administrative and bureaucratic responsibilities with their academic activities. It also aims to reveal the factors that lead to work-life uncertainty and the strategies developed within this process. Therefore, the study aims to provide a qualitative contribution to the literature by focusing on the work-life processes of academics in administrative roles.

Method

This study was conducted within the framework of qualitative research, adopting a phenomenological approach to deeply examine the experiences of the participants. This approach was considered a suitable design for revealing how academics holding administrative positions make sense of their work-life balance experiences and the meanings they attribute to these experiences.

The study group consisted of academics holding administrative positions and responsibilities at Bitlis Eren University. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Participants were able to express their work-life balance experiences and coping strategies in detail. The interviews included questions regarding the impact of administrative duties on academic productivity, their reflections on personal life, sources of stress, and institutional support strategies.

The obtained data were analyzed using the qualitative analysis program MAXQDA 24.9.1. The analysis process was carried out through code, category, and theme creation stages. Three main themes emerged as a result of the analysis: the effects of administrative duties on academic and personal life, efforts to maintain work-life balance, and the inadequacy of institutional support mechanisms related to work-life balance.

Findings

The findings show that administrative responsibilities significantly impact both academic productivity and personal life for academics. Participants stated that administrative duties reduced the time and energy they could dedicate to research activities, scientific endeavors, and academic writing processes. In addition to academic productivity, administrative duties were observed to have significant consequences on personal life. Participants reported experiencing stress, burnout, and mental fatigue stemming from academic and administrative roles. Conflicts between roles and continuously extended working hours led to a disruption of work-life balance. This indicates that the work-life imbalance experienced is not merely a time management problem, but a structural and task-distribution-based issue.

Another important finding concerns the strategies participants employed to maintain work-life balance. The data shows that academics made individual efforts to achieve work-life balance. These strategies included personal time management, boundary management, task allocation, and sacrificing leisure time.

A significant finding was the lack of institutional-level support mechanisms. Participants indicated a lack of systematic workload adjustments, flexibility measures, supportive policies, and inadequate childcare facilities for academics holding administrative positions. This suggests that a structural problem is being managed through individual efforts, highlighting the absence of institutional support mechanisms.

Discussion and Conclusion

The findings of this study show that academics holding administrative positions experience various difficulties in terms of work-life balance. Managing both academic and administrative responsibilities increases the workload, leading to higher stress levels, negatively impacting academic productivity, and reducing personal life space. The prominence of individual coping strategies for achieving work-life balance, coupled with the lack of institutional support mechanisms, points to a structural gap within the university. In this context, the necessity of institutional arrangements such as reorganizing workloads, defining roles, and developing flexible practices is highlighted.

In conclusion, this study contributes to the work-life balance literature by focusing on academics with administrative responsibilities. The findings obtained within the scope of Bitlis Eren University are also a reference for higher education institutions with similar structural characteristics. Strengthening institutional support mechanisms appears important for the sustainability of academic and administrative tasks.

The findings of this study indicate a need for policy recommendations to help academics in administrative roles achieve work-life balance. In this context, the scope, duration, and areas of responsibility of administrative roles held by academics need to be clearly defined. Eliminating role ambiguities is crucial. Considering that administrative duties are carried out concurrently with academic activities, the distribution of tasks should be planned fairly and equitably. To maintain academic productivity, the publication performance of academics in administrative roles needs to be reviewed. In this regard, implementing regulations to compensate for time loss in positions with appointment and promotion criteria is of paramount importance.