Negotiating work and household demands: effects of conflict management strategies in Dutch households on the labor supply of male and female employees

"This paper explains variation in the labor supply of male and female employees by taking into account differences in conflict management strategies in Dutch households. While existing accounts on labor supply either emphasize household restrictions, firm influences or institutional constraints the approach taken here focuses on strategies of spouses to handle time-based interpersonal workhousehold conflicts. Using a sample of 304 male and 238 female cohabiting employees drawn from 30 Dutch organizations, we analyze how gender moderates the effect of conflict management strategies on labor supply, measured as the amount of actual working hours. Building on role congruity theory, we distinguish between two types of conflict management behavior. 'Agentic' strategies are characterized by a low concern for other, and are usually ascribed to a male gender role. 'Communal' strategies are characterized by a high concern for other and are usually ascribed to a female gender role. OLS and multilevel regression analysis supports two hypotheses. First, working women relying on communal strategies to resolve time-allocation conflicts with their male partners will be more successful in achieving their objective to work more hours than women who don't use communal strategies. Second, labor supply of working men increases with their use of agentic strategies. The findings support the proposition from role congruity theory that (in-)congruence between the (male) provider role and a female gender role explains gender differences in the impact of interpersonal conflict management behavior on labor supply." (author's abstract)"Der Artikel untersucht den Einfluss von Konfliktstrategien im Haushalt auf das Erwerbsarbeitszeitvolumen männlicher und weiblicher Beschäftigter. Während in der bisherigen Forschung Unterschiede im Arbeitsangebot durch Haushaltsrestriktionen, betriebliche Faktoren und institutionelle Merkmale erklärt werden, akzentuiert der vorliegende Beitrag unterschiedliche Strategien von Paaren zur Bewältigung interpersonaler Zeitallokationskonflikte. Anhand einer Stichprobe von 304 männlichen und 238 weiblichen Beschäftigten aus 30 niederländischen Betrieben wird untersucht, auf welche Weise geschlechtsspezifische Unterschiede den Einfluss der Konfliktstrategien auf das Erwerbsarbeitszeitvolumen moderieren. Ausgehend von der 'role congruity theory' werden zwei Typen von Konfliktstrategien unterschieden: 'agentic strategies' und 'communal strategies'. Die Ergebnisse der OLS-Regressionsanalyse und Mehrebenenanalyse bestätigen die folgenden Hypothesen: Der unterschiedliche Einfluss von Konfliktstrategien auf das Erwerbsarbeitszeitvolumen von männlichen und weiblichen Beschäftigten lässt sich aus der (In-)Kongruenz von Versorgerrolle und geschlechtsspezifischen Rollenattributen erklären. Weibliche Beschäftigte können ein größeres Erwerbsarbeitszeitvolumen realisieren, wenn sie zur Lösung von Zeitallokationskonflikten im Haushalt 'communal strategies' anwenden. Das Erwerbsarbeitszeitvolumen männlicher Beschäftigter steigt, wenn sie zur Lösung von Zeitallokationskonflikten im Haushalt 'agentic strategies' anwenden." (Autorenreferat

From theory to analysis:H-AID methodology

This chapter discusses some practical issues related to the collection of data in humanitarian contexts, and the assessment of its reliability and validity. Since space limitations prohibit an extensive treatment of these methodological issues in this book, this chapter can only provide a fairly brief and superficial sketch of some of the most important issues. The interested reader may consult the relevant literature for more detailed introductions. There are many excellent textbooks and guides on these topics, e.g. Bernard (2011). The next section sketches the general purpose of our evidence-based H-AID framework, i.e. to move from an abstract and general understanding of the omnibus context to more domain or security specific theoretical constructs that can be subjected to empirical proof. The second section of the chapter describes the steps that are necessary to translate the theoretical context dimensions into valid indicators. The third section addresses the question how to identify trustworthy sources for these indicators. Finally, the fourth section discusses the question how to arrive at accurate estimates from trustworthy sources

Global Diversity and Local Consensus in Status Beliefs:The Role of Network Clustering and Resistance to Belief Change

Formal models of status construction theory suggest that beliefs about the relative social worth and competence of members of different social groups can emerge from face-to-face interactions in task-focused groups and eventually become consensual in large populations. We propose two extensions of earlier models. First, we incorporate the microlevel behavioral assumption of status construction theory that people can become resistant to belief change when a belief appears consensual in their local social environment. Second, we integrate the insight that the macro-level social structure of face-to-face interactions in large populations often is a clustered network structure. Computational experiments identify an outcome that was not anticipated by earlier formalizations. The combination of network clustering at the macrolevel and resistance to belief change at the microlevel can constrain the diffusion of status beliefs and generate regional variation in status beliefs. Further experiments identify conditions under which this outcome obtains

Talking about the boss:Effects of generalized and interpersonal trust on workplace gossip

This study developed and tested a relational theory of positive and negative gossip about managers. It is argued that spreading information about managers depends on trust in organizations, more specifically the employees' generalized and interpersonal trust in managers and colleagues. Hypotheses were tested by conducting two studies in a medium-sized Dutch child care organization, namely, an employee survey (N = 132) and a network study at two sites (N = 58). Multiple regressions and cross-sectional social network analysis (exponential random graph modeling [ERGM]) revealed that negative gossip about managers increases when employees have low trust, nonfriendly relationships, and infrequent contact with the managers. This effect is further enhanced when contacts between employees are trusting and frequent. Implications for theories about management and organizations are discussed

Imprinting and contested practices:The impact of public directors’ private-sector experience on temporary employment in Dutch public organizations

This paper studies how organizational leaders’ early private-sector leadershipexperiences impact adopting a contested organizational practice, temporaryemployment, in public organizations. We employed unique organization/year-level register panel data on the executive careers of the directors of Dutch public organizations and the prevalence of temporary employment in organizations they lead. Fixed-effect regression analyses of 29,031 organization/year observations between 2006 and 2019 show greater use of temporary employment in public organizations when directors have early private-sector executive experience. We found a similar impact of leaders’ imprinted experiences in “fully” public and “hybrid” organizations that combine public and private sector elements. We discuss implications and suggestions for future studies on organizational leaders’ role in contested practice adoption in the public sector