A Bibliometric Analysis of Quality of Work-Life: Current Status, Development, and Future Research Directions

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to identify the current status of quality of work-life research and to identify key researched areas to layout directions for future research in quality of work-life. For this purpose a detailed bibliometric analysis was performed on a sample of 644 publications from Scopus database published between 1974 and 2019. The analysis revealed the publication trends based on publications by year, country, subject area, document type, document source, author, organization, and funding sponsors. Most influential publications were identified based on their citations. Most researched themes were identified through keywords and their co-occurrence, and based on their results, directions for future research were suggested. Analysis indicated that existing research on quality of work-life mostly revolves around organizational factors, and to some extent individual factors, hence, there is a need to focus more on its outcomes on national level. Although quality of work-life research was conducted across the globe, but there was lack of collaboration between authors. Moreover, citation and co-citation networks were also weak, indicating the lack of intellectual structure in quality of work-life research. Hence, global collaboration between authors should be enhanced.