Work-home interface in a cross-cultural context: a framework for future research and practice

Abstract

With dual-income families on the increase, combining work and family obligations is a daily reality for many individuals. Unsatisfactory combinations of work and home duties can result in various unfavourable individual and organisational outcomes. Therefore, its proper understanding is essential in order to create adequate recommendations for interventions and prevention. There is a need for the development of theoretical frameworks that take cultural context into account in relation to work-home interface (WHI). In this paper a new framework is proposed; ‘the pyramid of intersecting domains of WHI’ that incorporates cultural context and other important work-life interface aspects. It builds on empirical findings of the intersectionality and work/family border theories. The pyramid consists of the following domains: the domain of work and home characteristics, the roles domain and the cultural domain, which intersect to determine the fourth side of the pyramid, that is, the observed WHI. Based on the pyramid several research propositions can be formulated. Implications for researchers and HR professionals are provided.     

Real exchange rate persistence and the excess return puzzle: The case of Switzerland versus the US

The PPP puzzle refers to the wide swings of nominal exchange rates around their long‐run equilibrium values whereas the excess return puzzle represents the persistent deviation of the domestic‐foreign interest rate differential from the expected change in the nominal exchange rate. Using the I(2) cointegrated VAR model, much of the excess return puzzle disappears when an uncertainty premium in the foreign exchange market, proxied by the persistent PPP gap, is introduced. Self‐reinforcing feedback mechanisms seem to cause the persistence in the Swiss‐US parity conditions. These results support imperfect knowledge based expectations rather than so‐called “rational expectations”.     

Destination Attractiveness Drivers among Urban Hostel Tourists: An Analysis of Frustrators and Delighters

This study is based on data from 679 tourists staying at hostel accommodation facilities in Zagreb, a propulsive city‐break destination in Central Europe. Besides providing insight into the socio‐demographic and behavioural characteristics of hostel tourists, this study uncovers determinant destination attributes influencing their perceptions of destination attractiveness. In particular, impact asymmetry analysis identified potential sources of delight and frustration among hostel tourists. Since the hostel tourist segment, as such, is almost completely unconsidered in contemporary tourism research, partly covered only by a few studies on youth travellers and backpackers, the results of this case study are valuable to both practitioners and researchers related to the hostelling industry and city destination marketing organizations. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bequests,gifts, and education: links between intergenerational transfers

We study the channels parents use to make transfers to their children. First, we focus on the relationship between investments in education and property transfers. Second, we turn to how property transfers are divided between inter vivos gifts and bequests. We use a Swedish dataset that is superior to previously used data as it contains information on both gifts and inheritances received from parents. We estimate models for the probabilities of having university education, receiving gifts, and receiving inheritances. In addition, we estimate models for gift and inheritance amounts. We find that the more resources parents have, the higher the likelihood of transfers, and that the correlation between receiving inter vivos gifts and inheritances is very high. Finally, women are more likely to have university education and to receive gifts, and daughters receive gifts of larger amounts than sons, although there are no differences in terms of inheritance.     

Organizational rejuvenation for knowledge exploitation: Exploring corporate entrepreneurship in an MNE

The purpose of this paper is to study how organizational rejuvenation is used to increase and support knowledge exploitation in multinational enterprises. Using case-study data to explore the theoretical arguments, interesting findings emerge. The main finding is that entrepreneurial activities in IT industry enable organizational rejuvenation with repercussions beyond the focal function. Other findings relate to how corporate entrepreneurship activities provide possibilities for continuous knowledge exploitation within the MNE and how entrepreneurial groups inside MNEs form the foundation from which the organizational rejuvenation originates. Finally, the form of organizational rejuvenation studied embraced both structural and behavioral changes. The authors acknowledge an equal share in the development of this article.     

Swimming with the Tide: Solidary Wage Policy and the Gender Earnings Gap

This paper addresses the consequences of wage compression for the gender wage gap in Sweden during the period 1968–1991. We find that the effects of changes in the wage structure on women's wages have varied over time and have been partly counteracting. Changes in industry wage differentials have systematically worked against women, while changes in the returns to human capital and unobserved characteristics have contributed to reductions in the gender wage gap. Changes in the wage structure were particularly important between 1968 and 1974 when there was a dramatic reduction in overall wage inequality.
JEL classification : J 16; J 31; J 51     

Cost Uncertainty and Unilateral Abatement

Unilateral abatement is sometimes advocated in order to set a good example that will make other countries follow. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether existence of correlated cost uncertainty provides an incentive for a country to undertake unilateral abatement. The theoretical model is driven by two main mechanisms; first, a learning effect, as the follower country might reduce its risk premium as it can observe the cost level in the leader country. Second, there is the public good effect, i.e., the marginal benefit of abatement declines when abatement is a public good and other countries contribute to pollution reductions. Results shows that unilateral abatement would be efficient in reducing uncertainty about the unit costs of abatement if a country with low cost uncertainty would undertake abatement first, while a country with initially high cost uncertainty would follow. However, countries may prefer to act simultaneously because of the larger uncertainties that are inherent in a sequential game.      

Impact of Management Practices on Persistent and Residual Technical Efficiency – a Study of Swedish pig Farming

Managerial capacity builds over the years and the accumulated knowledge/practice affect the outcome of the period that follows, with long‐run/permanent effects on inefficiency. Therefore, predictions of the influence of managerial capacity on the time‐varying inefficiency, regularly estimated as overall efficiency, may be biased. This study analyzed the influence of farm management practices on both the persistent and residual efficiency, and evaluated how conclusions drawn about the effect of management practices are assessed if overall efficiency, instead of permanent and residual efficiency, is evaluated. Farm‐accounting data of Swedish pig producers and information from a survey related to managerial practices were used. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Changing monetary transmission mechanisms within the EU

The paper presents a comparative analysis of monetary transmission mechanisms and changes in them after the secondERM in March 1983. The empirical model investigates the determination of money, income, prices, and interest rates in Germany, Denmark, and Italy based on the cointegratedVAR model. It provides empirical results on the macroeconomic effects of joining theERM and financial deregulation.     

Skill development in reverse mentoring: Motivational processes of mentors and learners

Building on Murphy's (2012) model of reverse mentoring, we examine the psychological processes that contribute to skill development in initiatives where knowledge is transferred from younger to older individuals. We employ a sample of younger mentors (n = 457) and older learners (n = 293) participating in a digital skills initiative to test parallel moderated mediation models. Our findings show extrinsic motivation plays a dominant role in the development of younger groups' mentoring skills, while older learners' digital skills development is primarily driven by intrinsic motivation. We also find positive affect and self‐efficacy can serve as personal resources in this context, but only for mentors. Taken together, our results suggest motivational processes in reverse mentoring unfold differently for the two groups involved in the exchange. Recommendations for human resource practice, including specific guidelines for developing intergenerational learning initiatives, are discussed.