European top managers’ support for work-life arrangements

Abstract

Top managers—defined as CEOs, CFOs and members of boards of directors—decide to what degree their organization offers employees work-life arrangements. This study focuses on the conditions under which they support such arrangements. A factorial survey of 202 top managers in five European countries was conducted in 2012. The analyses are based on 1212 vignettes. Implications are drawn from an integrated framework of neo-institutional theory, business case argumentation and the managerial interpretation approach. The results show that top managers simultaneously consider multiple conditions in deciding upon their support for work-life arrangements (i.e., the costs involved, the return in terms of employee commitment, and the type of arrangement, specifically having a preference for flextime and telecommuting over leave policies and part time hours). Additionally, they favor work-life arrangements designed for all employees above work-life arrangements granted to specific employees. How top managers weigh certain conditions depends on the organizational and national contexts. Their personal characteristics, however, do not seem to explain their support for work-life arrangements.