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Purpose: Rapid development of boundary-transcending ICTs have led to more flexible forms of work organization, marking a fundamental shift in the flexibility and permeability of employees’ work-nonwork boundaries. This study investigates the inter-relationships between employees’ boundary management types, representing boundary (in)congruence between their preferred and enacted boundary management, and work-life conflict, and the potential moderating role of perceived boundary control herein.

Design/Methodology: Data comprised 3,154 Swedish professional workers in different occupations within both the public and private sector. Correlations, t-tests, Chi square tests and univariate general linear model analyses (ANCOVA) were performed.

Findings: Enacted integration as well as boundary incongruence were both positively associated with work-life-conflict. Moreover, incongruence accompanied by a high degree of enacted integration increased work-life conflict. Finally, boundary control mitigated work-life conflict. This was especially the case among employees preferring segmentation but enacting integration, i.e., boundary incongruence, but also among employees both preferring and enacting integration, i.e., boundary congruence.

Practical implications: This study provides new and valuable knowledge on different boundary management types, reflecting boundary (in)congruence, that are associated with increased work-life conflict depending on the specific type of (in)congruence in question, and the role of boundary control herein as an important factor to combat work-life conflict. This kind of knowledge is of high relevance in contemporary working life characterized by an ever-increased blurring of work-nonwork boundaries. Organizations play an important role in creating new legitimate beliefs and as such, leisure norms could be implemented that promote employees’ boundary control, and subsequent reduced work-life conflict.