Acculturation and Individualism as Predictors of Work-Family Conflict in a Diverse Workforce

Ethics-related value acculturation: the case of Thai employees working at UK and Japanese MNCs in Thailand

Purpose

Multinational corporations (MNCs) at their foreign subsidiaries hire local employees, whose cultural values may differ from the organisations' home cultures. Such value differences may pose managerial difficulties, making it critical to observe whether working at MNCs changes local employees' cultural values, reducing these differences. This study investigates how and to what extent local employees from a collectivistic culture acculturate their ethics-related values when working at MNCs' foreign subsidiaries. The authors examine (1) whether local employees change their values to become closer to the MNCs' home cultures, and if so, (2) whether the cultural distance between the MNCs' home and host national cultures affect the degree of such adaptation.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey data were collected through stratified random sampling from Thai employees of a Japanese-owned MNC (n = 196), a UK-owned MNC (n = 143) and a Thai-owned organisation (n = 137), all operating in Thailand. Hypotheses were developed using Berry's bidimensional acculturation model and were tested using OLS and logistic regression analyses.

Findings

The study's findings indicate that MNCs' local employees from collectivistic cultures adopt Berry's integration acculturation strategy and acculturate their ethics-related values – collectivism, ethical relativism, collective responsibility preference and executive pay differentiation tolerance – towards the values prevalent in MNCs' home cultures. Overall, acculturation is greater when cultural distance is greater. New insights are presented in relation to collective responsibility preference and pay differentiation tolerance.

Originality/value

Findings add to current knowledge on acculturation in management by (1) providing new insights into value acculturation (2) utilising Berry's acculturation model to analyse employees' acculturation within an organisation in the context of an emerging economy, outside the more frequently studied topic of mergers and acquisitions, and (3) investigating the impact of cultural distance on the degree of employee acculturation outside the field of expatriate adjustment.

Relationship between work-family conflict and turnover intention in nurses: A meta-analytic review

AIM

This meta-analytic review aimed to synthesize and analyse studies that explored the relationship between nurses' work-family conflicts and turnover intentions.

DESIGN

This meta-analytical review was conducted according to the Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines and PRISMA checklist.

DATA SOURCES

A total of 191 (k = 14) publications published between 2005 and 2019 in English, including grey literature on turnover intention and work-family conflict, were retrieved from PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science, ProQuest and Scopus databases.

REVIEW METHODS

Studies on the relationship between work-family conflict and turnover intention were summarized.

RESULTS

An overall effect size of r = .28 (N = 5781, 95% CI [0.23-0.33]) was obtained, indicating a moderate, positive and significant relationship between work-family conflict and turnover intention. The moderator analysis showed that individualism and long-term orientation accounted for 90% of effect size heterogeneity of work-family conflict and turnover intention relationship.

CONCLUSION

Exploring the correlation between work-family conflict and turnover intention can provide guidelines and recommendations for the development of strategies to promote nurse retention and alleviate the nursing shortage. National culture, particularly individualism and long-term orientation, were found to play a significant moderator role in this relationship. Cultures that are highly individualistic and have a long-term orientation have a diminishing effect on the relationship between work-family conflict and turnover intention.

IMPACT

Work-family conflict and turnover intention are significantly correlated factors regardless of the studies' cultural characteristics examined in this study. Policymakers and managers should consider this finding and develop strategies that provide a balance-oriented work design to prevent nurse shortage.

Improving work-life policy and practice with an intersectionality lens

Purpose

Work-life research has been critiqued for focusing on the experiences of middle and upper class, younger, White, western and heterosexual women. The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical lens to conceptualizations that take an intersectionality approach, or at least consider multiple identities, in examining work-life conflict and balance.

Design/methodology/approach

A brief review of the current status of intersectionality research within the work-life realm is provided before discussing the implications of primarily using a single-identity approach to work-life issues. The advantages and challenges of adopting a multiple identity approach are discussed.

Findings

This paper highlights the problems of a lack of an intersectional focus in terms of unidentified needs, ignored values, unresolved conflicts and unhelpful advice. Tensions inherent in trying to adopt an intersectional perspective when dealing with practice and policy issues, particularly with regard to visibility and authenticity, are noted. The paper concludes with a discussion of how considerations of identity and power in work-family research connect to the broader concept of inclusion in the workplace, noting the possible challenges of stereotyping and ambiguity in doing so.

Originality/value

Applying an intersectionality lens to efforts to promote work-life balance in organizations can increase inclusivity, but there are tensions and pitfalls associated with this that are particularly of note for practitioners and policy. A research agenda is outlined as a starting point for addressing these issues.

[ARTIGO RETRATADO] CONFLITO TRABALHO-FAMÍLIA: A PRODUÇÃO CIENTÍFICA INTERNACIONAL E A AGENDA DE PESQUISA NACIONAL

RESUMO O conflito trabalho-família, resultante de demandas de difícil compatibilização, afeta cada vez mais trabalhadores, devido à intensificação dos ritmos de trabalho e ao acúmulo de papeis. Nessa perspectiva, o objetivo desta pesquisa é apresentar a produção científica internacional sobre o conflito trabalho-família por meio da análise dos polos epistemológico, teórico, morfológico e técnico (modelo quadripolar). Trata-se de uma revisão sistemática que faz o levantamento das publicações disponíveis na base de dados Scopus entre 2008 e 2018, totalizando 41 artigos. Os resultados da estatística descritiva e análise de conteúdo indicam que no polo epistemológico é definido um objetivo amplo e robusto, atingido pelo teste de hipóteses; no polo teórico, destacam-se abordagens teóricas sobre o modelo multidimensional, a teoria dos papeis, a teoria da bidirecionalidade e a teoria do enriquecimento; no polo morfológico, identifica-se a abordagem metodológica positivista para mensurar variáveis; no polo técnico, há alinhamento entre estudos de natureza quantitativa, estratégia de pesquisa survey e coleta de dados por meio de questionários. Este estudo sugere a promoção de políticas de trabalho-família em organizações, bem como de políticas públicas que forneçam infraestrutura de suporte às mulheres. Também se propõe uma agenda de pesquisa aos estudos brasileiros.

Recovery From Schizophrenia: The Case of Mexican-Origin Consumers and Family Caregivers

This study examined the views about the future of persons with schizophrenia and their caregivers to understand what is at stake in engaging in recovery. The views of 60 Mexican-origin consumer-caregiver dyads were coded by three independent raters using a recovery literature-based coding system of recovery components: social relations, caregiving burden relief, independence, self-responsibility, and empowerment. General recovery expectations were also rated. Interrater reliability, component frequency, and congruence between the consumers and caregivers' expectations were statistically examined. Dominant recovery components for consumers and caregivers were independence (72.5%), general expectations for recovery (51%), and social relations (43%). Relatives differed in two important ways. Consumers held significantly greater expectations for independence (p < 0.01), whereas caregivers focused more on general recovery (p < 0.001). What matters for recovery for this sample of Mexican-origin consumers and caregivers differs. Addressing differences in views may facilitate person-centered treatment that considers the views of consumers and caregivers.

Values-Based Leadership Effectiveness in Culturally Diverse Workplaces

Purpose

The extant literature is replete with suggestions, findings, etc., about how best to manage or lead a culturally diverse workforce. However, very few studies have focused explicitly on leading with values in a workplace that may be fraught with disparate cultural value systems. In this paper we assess, conceptually, the relative effectiveness of values-based leadership (VBL) in culturally diverse workplaces and attempt to provide an answer to the questions: What factors determine the effectiveness of VBL in culturally diverse workplaces and what is the probability that VBL will be effective in a culturally diverse workplace?

Design/methodology/approach

We explore VBL within the context of two models. The first model assesses the relative effectiveness of VBL in culturally diverse workplaces from a deterministic perspective. The second model assesses VBL effectiveness from a probabilistic perspective. At the core of the deterministic model is the notion that the relative effectiveness of VBL can be determined by the cultural recompositioning of a firm's workforce. At the core of the second model is the notion that the likelihood of VBL effectiveness can be derived when conditions are created by the interface of the ethnic identity salience of culturally diverse workers and the organizational culture of the firm.

Findings

A conceptual finding from the deterministic model is that the relative effectiveness of VBL is determined by the historical level of cultural diversity in a firm’s workforce and the rate at which cultural recompositioning takes place in its workforce. A question addressed by the probabilistic model is: What factors create conditions for assessing the likelihood of VBL effectiveness? A conceptual finding from the probabilistic model is that the strength of a firm’s organizational culture and the ethnic identity salience of culturally diverse workers are two major factors that create these conditions.

Research limitations/implications

One of the major theoretical implications/contributions is the deterministic and probabilistic models introduce new variables (i.e., historically level of cultural diversity in the workforce, rate of cultural recomposition, strength of workers’ ethnic identity salience, and strength of organizational culture) that have the potential to enhance our understanding of VBL by adding to the list of possible determinants of its effectiveness as well as the conditions under which it is likely to be effective. One limitation is the conceptual nature of the models. Empirical validation of the models will be required to test the veracity of the propositions derived from them.

Practical implications

A major implication for practice is the need for leaders to develop a values management strategy. Such a strategy entails developing or having a strong set of core values for the organization, clearly communicating those values, and having reward and management systems to reinforce those values. This strategy implies that once implemented the tendency for culturally distinct workers (incoming and existing) to identify with their own values will decrease and the tendency for them to identify with the values of the organization will increase.

Originality/value

Prior studies have not fully explored the conditions under which VBL is likely to be effective in culturally diverse workplaces. Since diversity in the workplace is considered one of the main challenges for human resource management, the models we discuss address a very timely issue and provide a framework that leaders in organizations around the globe might use to better understand and manage the relationships described in the models. This under-explored topic represents a major gap in the literature. Helping to narrow this gap is an important contribution that our conceptual study makes to the literature related to this topic.

The Glass Ceiling and Executive Careers

With respect to how the enduring challenge of the glass ceiling might be resolved, one position holds that parity in the executive ranks will be achieved, given enough women entering the managerial pipeline. However, there is scant evidence that such a pipeline exists, and pre-career women’s attitudes toward executive work remain to be better understood. Guided by theories of social role and stereotype threat, and research on work–life balance and culture, the study uses thematic discourse analysis to explore executive attitudes in an ethnically diverse sample of 69 Canadian undergraduate women in business. We find that they perceive the glass ceiling in stereotype threatening ways, blame their personal limitations and work–family choices for its existence, and sense a range of obstacles to their advancement. Although some expressed a desire for work–family balance, participants predominantly restricted career choices to favor one over the other. Implications, recommendations, and limitations are also discussed.