Academics’ experiences of work-life balance and work-life conflict in a familialist state: The case of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Background: This paper explores how women academics in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) navigate work-life conflict and the main strategies they deploy to balance their work and personal lives. It examines the range of institutional support available to them and assesses their effectiveness in facilitating work-life balance and reducing work-life conflict. Methods: Drawing on 12 semi-structured interviews with female academics at various career stages from public and private universities across BiH, this study captures personal narratives of managing work and caregiving responsibilities. Results: Thematic analysis revealed the respondents’ personal strategies to find work-life balance while trying to achieve their career goals, alongside the institutional factors acting as either barriers or enablers. Findings highlight the normalization of work-life conflict, often perceived as a ‘natural’ and ‘expected’ feature of academic life. The broader socio-political context and informal support networks -particularly collegial and familial–emerged as pivotal in shaping the respondents’ experiences and efforts to achieve work-life balance and to reduce work-life conflict. Conclusions: This paper adds to research on BiH and work life balance via its illustration of the multilayered experiences of academic life in BiH. Analysis of the interviews highlights the strategies employed by the respondents and the barriers they encounter, including gaps in institutional support to scaffold academics to achieve work-life balance.