Story by Emily Williams, Contributing writer

Murray State professors Murphy Smith, Katherine Taken Smith and Stefan Linnhoff of the Arthur J. Bauernfiend College of Business were awarded the KPMG Outstanding Published Manuscript Award from the American Accounting Association Gender Issues and Work-Life Balance Section.

Murphy Smith said the team’s award-winning paper “A Longitudinal Analysis of Work-Life Balance Perspectives of Future Business Professionals” was recognized at the section’s annual meeting in New York City in August and published in Volume 8, Issue 5 of the “International Journal of Business Excellence.”

“I worked on this research project because the issue of work-life balance is so very important to people in all walks of life,” Murphy Smith said. “My two co-authors, Dr. Stefan Linnhoff and Dr. Katherine Taken Smith, were equally interested in the topic. Work-life balance is strongly connected to ethics. No business can stay in business for long if it is not ethical and trustworthy.”

Murphy Smith said he believes people sometimes lose sight of what gives life soul-deep satisfaction, which he compared to famous pieces of literature, film and celebrities.

“In the gospel of Mark, Jesus of Nazareth put it this way: ‘What profit will a person have if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?’” Murphy Smith said. “Jim Carrey, the movie star, put it this way: ‘I wish everyone could get rich and famous and have everything they ever dreamed of so they would know that’s not the answer.’”

Murphy Smith said he believes that a person who spends his or her life pursuing material things above all else will find emptiness at the end.

He said key findings mentioned in the paper were that work-life balance is strongly connected to job satisfaction, contributes to job performance and leads to better ethical decision-making.

Robert Pervine, associate provost for Graduate Education and Research, said he is very proud of the “fine work” done by the professors.

“They are three internationally-recognized scholars, and the award they won reflects the high caliber of their research,” Pervine said. “Students in the Bauernfiend College of Business are fortunate to be able to learn from these excellent faculty scholars.”

Timothy Todd, dean of Arthur J. Bauernfiend College of Business, said he is not only proud of the research done by these three professors,  but of all faculty within the College of Business.

“We have faculty that are engaged in their disciplines,” Todd said. “We have faculty that are very productive in their research agenda. And in this case, we have faculty who are publishing that research agenda and who are winning national awards.”

Todd said he believes these professors have identified a body of knowledge that had not yet existed and are creating the knowledge through cutting-edge research.

“The research is very, very important, just like teaching and service are,” Todd said. “I’m very, very proud of what they have done, and I would be proud even if they hadn’t won a national award. But winning an award is like the icing on the cake.”