Narratives by women managers about spousal support for their careers

Social determinants of health in rural Indian women & effects on intervention participation

The social determinants of health have become an increasingly crucial public health topic in recent years and refer to the non-medical factors that affect an individual's health outcomes. Our study focuses on understanding the various social and personal determinants of health that most affect women's wellbeing. We surveyed 229 rural Indian women through the deployment of trained community healthcare workers to understand their reasons for not participating in a public health intervention aimed to improve their maternal outcomes. We found that the most frequent reasons cited by the women were: lack of husband support (53.2%), lack of family support (27.9%), not having enough time (17.0%), and having a migratory lifestyle (14.8%). We also found association between the determinants: women who had lower education levels, were primigravida, younger, or lived in joint families were more likely to cite a lack of husband or family support. We determined through these results that a lack of social (both spousal and familial) support, time, and stable housing were the most pressing determinants of health preventing the women from maximizing their health outcomes. Future research should focus on possible programs to equalize the negative effects of these social determinants to improve the healthcare access of rural women.

Narrativity and its application in business ethics research

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a narrative framework for doing empirical research into business ethics and shows, through two examples, how the framework can be applied in practice in this context. The focus is on interview-based research.

Design/methodology/approach

A theoretical research based on literature review was conducted.

Findings

In the developed narrative framework, two main kinds of analysis are distinguished: an analysis of the narrative and a narrative analysis. An analysis of the narrative is a matter of classifying and producing taxonomies out of the data. The purpose of a narrative analysis is to construct a story or stories based on the data. Narrative analysis differs from the analysis of narratives in that the story does not exist prior to the analysis, but is created during the analysis.

Research limitations/implications

The proposed narrative framework helps those doing empirical research into business ethics avoid simplistic “black and white” interpretations of their material, and helps them to show that ethical realities in the business world are often complex, various and multiple.

Practical implications

The paper offers a methodological framework for those doing qualitative research into business ethics which will increase the quality and rigor of their studies.

Originality/value

A value of the narrative approach is that the stories offer researchers an entry point to understanding the complexity of ethics and how people make sense of this complexity. The paper shows in detail how the methods presented can be used in practice in empirical research.

Work-to-personal-life conflict among dual and single-career expatriates

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore if an expatriate’s career situation at the level of the couple (single career couple (SCC)/dual career couple (DCC)) is related to the expatriate’s work-to-personal-life conflict (WLC) and if the expatriate’s gender is related to WLC. The authors also investigate if the level of WLC is different for men and women in a DCC or SCC (interaction).

Design/methodology/approach

The study was conducted among 393 Finnish expatriates who were in a relationship and were working. A moderated hierarchical regression was utilized in the data analysis.

Findings

Gender or DCC/SCC status was not separately related to WLC but an interaction effect between gender and a couple’s career status on WLC was significant. In DCC couples, women experienced more WLC than men. In SCC couples, women experienced less WLC than men.

Practical implications

The findings indicate that organizations should develop practices to support both DCCs and SCCs, for instance, by providing mentors for expatriates and their family members, or through organizing family events for company employees. Couples should also negotiate their roles and responsibilities in both the personal life and work-life spheres before moving abroad and also during the time they live abroad, especially women involved in a DCC and men involved in an SCC.

Originality/value

This is the first study focusing on expatriates’ WLC that simultaneously takes account of how the gender and career situation of the couple are related to it.

Development of trust in the CEO-chair relationship

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the trust development in the dyadic relationship of CEO and chair of the board.

Design/methodology/approach

A narrative approach is adopted to examine the meanings that CEOs and chairpersons give to trust in their relationship, and to explore trust as an evolving phenomenon that can increase or decline over the course of the relationship. The data include 16 CEO-chair dyads from Finnish limited companies.

Findings

The results suggest that trust may exist on different levels and evolve in various ways during the course of the relationship. Integrity and agreement on company strategy are proposed to form the foundation for trust in the CEO-chair relationship, whereas ability and benevolence are necessary for trust to develop to a higher level.

Research limitations/implications

Studying trust development based on the data generated at one point of time and in only one country are the major limitations of the study.

Practical implications

It is proposed that the level of trust influences value creation in the relationship.

Originality/value

The study adds to the limited number of previous studies on the CEO-chair relationship and contributes to the literature on trust development by making visible the viewpoint of both partners, and the meaning of the different components of trust.

Top women managers as change agents in the machista context of Mexico

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to focus on top women managers who act as change agents in the machista culture of Mexico. Specifically, the authors centre the attention not only on the strategies performed by these change agents to reduce inequality, but also on understanding the way in which they discursively reproduce or challenge essentialist notions of gender with respect to the cultural and organizational context.

Design/methodology/approach

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 top women managers in Mexico who are actively involved as change agents. A feminist poststructuralist methodological framework using critical discourse analysis was used to uncover competing notions of gender and related strategies developed to promote gender equality.

Findings

The analysis reveals that the 12 change agents perform strategies for inclusion, and only half of them engage in strategies for re-evaluation. The authors were unable to recognize whether these change agents are engaged in strategies of transformation. These change agents also reproduce and challenge “essentialist” notions of gender. In some instances – based on their own career experiences and gendered identities – they (un)consciously have adopted essentialism to fit into the cultural context of machista society. They also challenge the gender binary to eradicate essentialist notions of gender that created gender inequalities in the first place.

Research limitations/implications

The experience of these 12 top women managers may not represent the voice of other women and their careers. Ultimately, intersections with class, organizational level, nationality, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation must be taken into account so to represent other women’s particular interests with respect to equality.

Practical implications

For those researchers-consultants who may be involved in an intervention strategy, it is important to focus on helping the change agents in reviewing and reflecting on their own “vision of gender equity”. During the strategic activities of mentoring and training, these change agents could potentially “leak” a particular “vision of gender” to other women and men. Thus, part of the intervention strategy should target the change agent’s self-reflection to influence her capacity to act as change agents.

Originality/value

The authors contribute to the literature on change agents and interventions for gender equality. Intervention strategies usually centre on essentialist notions of gender. The study offers potential explanations for this approach by paying attention to the process of how change agents, in their efforts to promote gender equality, may be unconsciously projecting their own identities onto others and/or consciously engaging in strategic essentialism to fit into the machista context of Mexico.

The role of the spouse in managers’ family-related career sensemaking

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a growing body of literature on the role of family in managers’ career decision making. Specifically, the authors offer an empirical elaboration on a recently proposed concept of the “family-relatedness of work decisions” (FRWD) by illuminating the role of the spouse in managers’ career sensemaking.

Design/methodology/approach

– In total, 88 managers who were in the final stage of their EMBA program took part in the study. The data were gathered through a personal career inventory.

Findings

– The findings revealed that next to family-career salience and parent role identification, spouses also play an important role in shaping managers’ family-related career sensemaking.

Research limitations/implications

– Future research should examine the supportive role of spouses in contexts other than that of an international EMBA. Moreover, researchers should examine the role of managers’ boundary management styles in shaping the degree of their family-related career sensemaking.

Practical implications

– The paper suggests that when designing and implementing developmental initiatives, organizations should consider that managers’ decisions about their next career steps may be guided by family-related concerns, and the spouse may play a specific role.

Originality/value

– This paper offers the first empirical exploration and a refinement of the nascent theory of the “FRWD.” It also introduces a new construct into the theory – spousal career support – that opens new avenues for future research.

Work-family conflict faced by international business travellers

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the direct and moderating effect of gender and parental status on the relationship between international business travel days and work-to-family conflict (WFC) among international business travellers (IBTs) on the basis of the conservation of resources theory.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study was conducted among 1,366 Finnish people in jobs demanding international business travel and a moderated hierarchical regression was utilised in data analysis.

Findings

– An increase in the number of international business travel days and being a parent is positively related to WFC. Women with dependent children experience a lower level of WFC than do men with dependent children. However, a significant interaction effect between international business travel days, parental status and gender was found that indicates that the volume of travel days increases the level of WFC for those women who have children more than it does for women who do not have children. For men, increased numbers of travel days raises levels of WFC, as does having children, but there is no interaction between travel days and parental status among men. An increased number of travel days was least critical for WFC among women without dependent children and most critical for WFC among women with dependent children However, women with dependent children were able to travel to a considerable extent before their levels of WFC overtook those of men with dependent children.

Practical implications

– The findings indicate that organisations should pay particular attention to developing policies and practices that take account of the family status of the traveller. In addition, to assist IBTs to cope with their WFC, attention should be paid to the intensity of work-related travel. However, gender seemed not to play a particularly important role in WFC, indicating that organisations need not be wary of recruiting both men and women into roles involving international business travel.

Originality/value

– This is the first study focusing on IBTs WFC that simultaneously takes account of how the intensity of business travel and both gender and parenthood are related to it.