Do Mothers Benefit from Flexible Work? Cross-National Evidence for Work Time, Job Quality, and Satisfaction

Abstract

Flexible work is commonly implemented to provide workers with greater discretion to accommodate competing demands. While investigated at the individual and organizational levels, less is known about whether national cultures of flexible work are associated with workers’ ability to match their desired to actual work hours. Applying data from the 2005 International Social Survey Programme (n = 19,134 from 32 nations), we investigate whether workers in countries where flexible work is more common report better work-time compatibility, job quality, and job satisfaction. Paying careful attention to gender and parental status, we find that mothers are more likely to report working their desired ho..