Alignment matters? The interactive effects of women in top management, board of directors, and middle management on the adoption and implementation of work-life support policies
Suh, Yon Jin
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129765
Description
Title
Alignment matters? The interactive effects of women in top management, board of directors, and middle management on the adoption and implementation of work-life support policies
Author(s)
Suh, Yon Jin
Issue Date
2025-05-01
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Kramer, Amit
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Kramer, Amit
Committee Member(s)
Mahoney, Joseph
Park, YoungAh
Won, ShinJae
Department of Study
School of Labor & Empl. Rel.
Discipline
Human Res & Industrial Rels
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Top management
Board of directors
Middle management
Work-life support policies
Language
eng
Abstract
Work-life balance is growing in importance due to social and economic changes and boundaries between the work and nonwork domains becoming more blurred than ever. Research shows that organizations can contribute to employees’ work-life balance by providing work-life support policies (WLSPs). However, organizations significantly vary in their adoption of WLSPs, and even when policies are adopted, they are often not implemented, leading to a gap between policy and practice. Taking into consideration both the adoption and implementation side of WLSPs, this dissertation seeks to examine the effects that female representation in top management (TM) has on the number of WLSPs available in organizations and whether they are implemented to influence employees’ awareness and perceived accessibility of such policies. Moreover, taking a multi-echelons approach, the dissertation examines the moderating role of female representation in the board of directors and middle management. Results from analyses conducted using panel data of firms and employees from South Korea show that female representation in top management has a positive influence on the adoption of WLSPs, although little support is found for its effects on the implementation of WLSPs. Results also suggest that alignment in gender composition across these levels may matter and that gender composition across different managerial levels may have different effects when it comes to adoption and implementation. Overall, this dissertation seeks to shed light on how female representation across various levels of management may influence the number of available WLSPs as well as employees’ perceptions of awareness and accessibility of such policies. It is likely to inspire further work investigating the interactive effects between top management, board of directors, and middle managers, as well as relevant psychological mechanisms.
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