Mapping the Work-Life Balance Paradox in Hybrid and Remote Work: A Bibliometric Analysis

Background: The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic altered how organizations and employees carry out their daily activities and duties across the globe. This paradigm shift created opportunities for organizations across occupational settings to adopt hybrid and remote work as an alternative to daily routine work. This study provides an overview of the literature on WLB using bibliometric analysis. Methodology: We adopted PRISMA guidelines to identify, screen, and synthesize peer-reviewed studies published between 2021 and 2026, retrieved from the Scopus database. Bibliometric analysis was performed using VOSviewer to analyse country, keyword co-occurrence, thematic clusters, and author collaboration networks. Findings: The findings reveal the need for longitudinal, cross-cultural, comparative, and interdisciplinary research to examine how individual, organisational, technological, and contextual factors determine whether hybrid and remote work enhance or undermine work-life balance. Future Directions: Future research should expand beyond the geographically concentrated and pandemic-driven literature by examining the WLB paradox across diverse cultural contexts and underrepresented regions such as Africa. Originality/Value: The study offers valuable insights for researchers, organisations, policymakers, Industrial and Organisational Psychology and Human Resource Management to develop evidence-based approaches that promote sustainable work-life balance across diverse organizational and occupational settings.