A Cross-National View of Personal Responsibility for Work–Life Balance

doi:10.1017/9781108235556.040

40 - A Cross-National View of Personal Responsibility for Work–Life Balance

from Part VIII - Individual Perspectives

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 April 2018

Tammy D. Allen ,

Eunae Cho ,

Kristen M. Shockley and

Andrew Biga

Edited by

Kristen M. Shockley ,

Winny Shen and

Ryan C. Johnson

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Kristen M. Shockley: Affiliation:
University of Georgia
Winny Shen: Affiliation:
University of Waterloo, Ontario
Ryan C. Johnson: Affiliation:
Ohio University

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Summary

We propose work-family researchers investigate individual differences in personal responsibility for work-life balance (PRWLB), defined as a self-directed attitude toward work-life balance that recognizes personal choice and priorities. We examine variation in PRWLB across country, gender, and cultural values. Data were collected from 3446 employees working for a multinational firm in eight countries (i.e., Egypt, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Nigeria, Poland, Russia, and Turkey). Results indicated significant variation in PRWLB across countries with participants from Hungary reporting the lowest mean scores and participants from Russia reporting the highest mean scores. Variation as a function of cultural values and interactions between cultural values and gender were also detected. Our findings demonstrate that the perspective that one takes in terms of personal responsibility meaningfully varies across cultural contexts. We describe implications for the development of culture-sensitive theories of work-family experiences.

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Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge Handbook of the Global Work–Family Interface , pp. 733 - 746

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108235556.040 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2018

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