Testing Work–Life Theory in Marketing: Evidence from Field Experiments on Social Media.

This article examines the effectiveness of marketing products using work–life positioning, applying work–life theory to advertising on social media. It finds that ads highlighting the work–life interface increase consumer interest for relatively resource-undemanding products (e.g., teeth-whitening) but decrease interest for resource-demanding products (e.g., graduate degree programs), especially among consumer segments experiencing higher baseline work–life conflict, such as executives, conservative working women, and working mothers. The research, based on qualitative interviews, surveys, secondary data, and multiple field experiments with business schools and a small business, suggests that resource demands of products and consumers' work–life circumstances jointly influence ad effectiveness. These findings provide practical guidance for marketers on when to use work–life versus single-domain (work-only or life-only) advertising content and highlight the importance of targeting ads according to consumers' work–life conflict levels.