Pluralistic Ignorance and the Flexibility Bias: Understanding and Mitigating Flextime and Flexplace Bias at Work

Munsch, Christin L.; Ridgeway, Cecilia L.; Williams, Joan C.

doi:10.1177/0730888413515894

Cited by 101 publications

(91 citation statements)

References 47 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…And, even elite workers who do have greater access to paid leaves and flexible workplace practices through their employers are often reluctant to make use of them for fear of the negative employment consequences that can arise from violating the cultural norm of having an unwavering commitment to work (Fried 1998; Hochschild 2001; Perlow and Kelly 2014; Turco 2010). Indeed, there is evidence that individuals are critically aware of the fact that workers who request flexibility from their employer are stigmatized, so much so that they are likely to believe that others view such workers more negatively than they do themselves (Munsch, Ridgeway and Williams 2014). This concern, which fuels the reluctance to take advantage of supportive work-family policies, is particularly acute for men who may have a (well-founded) sense that requesting leave or flexible hours would also undermine their masculine credibility among coworkers and managers (Butler and Skattebo 2004; Rudman and Mescher 2013; Vandello et al 2013).…”

Section: Policy Promises and Caveatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can We Finish the Revolution? Gender, Work-Family Ideals, and Institutional Constraint

2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Why has progress toward gender equality in the workplace and at home stalled in recent decades? A growing body of scholarship suggests that persistently gendered workplace norms and policies limit men's and women's ability to create gender egalitarian relationships at home. In this article, we build on and extend prior research by examining the extent to which institutional constraints, including workplace policies, affect young, unmarried men's and women's preferences for their future work-family arrangements. We also examine how these effects vary across levels of education. Drawing on original survey-experimental data, we ask respondents how they would like to structure their future relationships while experimentally manipulating the degree of institutional constraint under which they state their preferences. Two clear patterns emerge. First, as constraints are removed and men and women can opt for an egalitarian relationship, the majority of them choose this option, regardless of gender or education level. Second, women's relationship structure preferences are more malleable to the removal of institutional constraints via supportive work-family policy interventions than are men's. These findings shed light on important questions about the role of institutions in shaping work-family preferences, underscoring the notion that seemingly gender-traditional work-family decisions are largely contingent on the constraints of current workplaces.

show abstract

Section: Policy Promises and Caveatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can We Finish the Revolution? Gender, Work-Family Ideals, and Institutional Constraint

2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Literature classifies flexible work practices as office-based practices and flexi-place practices (Grobler & De Bruyn 2011); as well as flexitime and flexi-place (Munsch, Ridgeway & Williams 2014). Kelly, Moen and Tranby (2011) refer to flexibility as schedule control, because flexible work options can include contingent work, contract work and just-in-time staffing.…”

Section: Flexible Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flexi work, financial well-being, work–life balance and their effects on subjective experiences of productivity and job satisfaction of females in an institution of higher learning

Jackson

Fransman

2018

SAJEMS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Expressions such as ‘there are not enough hours in the day’ and ‘the 25 h workday’ or cliché statements such as ‘working 24/7’ have become common overtones in the way employees feel about time at work. Because of this ‘lack of time’ feeling, alternative work arrangements such as flexitime, telecommuting and practices such as work–life balance have emerged as popular topics for researchers, employees, organisations and the like in the past few decades. Setting: Women are still the main caregivers of family members and households, and compared to men, they are less likely to be granted flexitime by their employers. It therefore seems realistic to imagine that women would suffer more from work–life conflict. Women still earn, on average, less than men and are more likely to have part-time jobs. This has an impact on the financial well-being of women. These issues have yet to be investigated in an institution of higher learning in South Africa. Aim: This study was aimed at determining: (1) the relationship between flexi work, financial well-being and work–life balance, productivity and job satisfaction, (2) the role of flexible work, financial well-being and work–life balance in productivity and job satisfaction, and (3) the mediating effect of productivity (job satisfaction in the alternative model) in the relationship between flexible work, financial well-being and work–life balance and job satisfaction (productivity in the alternative model). Methods: A cross-sectional survey was used with a convenience sample (n = 252) of female support employees, employed in a higher education institution in the North West province of South Africa. Results: Findings of the study indicated a statistically significant relationship between the variables. Results indicated that financial well-being, work–life balance and productivity were statistically significant predictors of job satisfaction, and in addition, subjective experiences of productivity serve as partial mediators in the relationship between financial well-being and work–life balance on the one hand, and job satisfaction on the other hand. Conclusion: It seems like financial well-being and work–life balance play a more important role in job satisfaction and that financial well-being and work–life balance are more important for job satisfaction through subjective experiences of productivity. It would therefore make sense to increase experiences of financial well-being and work–life balance to address experiences of low levels of job satisfaction and subjective experiences of productivity.

show abstract

“…Conversely, limiting hours on-site by working from home signals questionable work commitment to employers, even the possible shirking of responsibilities (Casper and Harris 2008). (endnote 3 ) Experimental research shows that telecommuting workers do face a serious “flexibility bias” in the evaluation of their competence and commitment (Munsch, Ridgeway, and Williams 2014), even when raters were told that senior managers also telecommute. Positive wage returns to telecommuting seem remote using this organizational culture framework as well.…”

Section: Background and Theoretical Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Telecommuting and Earnings Trajectories Among American Women and Men 1989–2008

2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

While flexibility in the location of work hours has shown positive organizational effects on productivity and retention, less is known about the earnings effects of telecommuting. We analyze weekly hours spent working from home using the 1989–2008 panels of the National Longitudinal Study of Youth. We describe the demographic and occupational characteristics of the employees engaged in telecommuting, then track their earnings growth with fixed-effects models, focusing on gender and parental status. Results show substantial variation in the earnings effects of telecommuting based on the point in the hours distribution worked from home. Working from home rather than the office produces equal earnings growth in the first 40 hours worked, but “taking work home” or overtime telecommuting yields significantly smaller increases than overtime worked on-site. Yet most observed telecommuting occurs precisely during this low-yield overtime portion of the hours distribution. Few gender or parental status differences emerged in these processes. These trends reflect potentially widespread negative consequences of the growing capacity of workers to perform their work from any location. Rather than enhancing true flexibility in when and where employees work, the capacity to work from home mostly extends the work day and encroaches into what was formerly home and family time.

show abstract

Pluralistic Ignorance and the Flexibility Bias: Understanding and Mitigating Flextime and Flexplace Bias at Work

Cited by 101 publications

References 47 publications

Can We Finish the Revolution? Gender, Work-Family Ideals, and Institutional Constraint

Can We Finish the Revolution? Gender, Work-Family Ideals, and Institutional Constraint

Flexi work, financial well-being, work–life balance and their effects on subjective experiences of productivity and job satisfaction of females in an institution of higher learning

Telecommuting and Earnings Trajectories Among American Women and Men 1989–2008

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About