Blurring work-life boundaries: Jung and organizational relationships within South Korean workplaces

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study investigates different perceptions towards work-life balance(WLB) in South Korean organizations, in relation to the Confucian relationship structure and indigenous emotional concept of jung. We focus on the expectations towards different interpersonal relationships guided by the perceptions of jung, using qualitative interview data across three different companies. Jung is an indigenous term that broadly describes a feeling of care, emotional attachment, and in-group collectiveness between individuals within Korean society. While jung is often considered as a unique, supportive characteristic in Korean culture, the idea of jung may provide challenges in achieving WLB for organizational workers. Findings suggest that Korean workers accept the extensive connection with work and other organizational members, and also consider that this is a part of maintaining peaceful organizational relationships. Furthermore, such connections are considered to be a signal of jung and care. However, due to the different cultural values and perceptions of individuals, organizational members may still desire a separation between work and personal life. This conflict between desire to maintain WLB, but acknowledging that extensive work-life merge is a sign of jung from other organizational members, may create a feeling of guilt and emotional distress for individuals. Therefore, jung may help to reduce the boundary between work and personal life, but also cultivate negative emotions for individuals who actually desire WLB.

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