Culture and Work–Family Dynamics

Abstract

Abstract Awareness of the influence of culture has permeated work–family research since its inception. In this chapter, we first briefly review the history and evolution of cross-cultural work–family research, followed by a focus on the current state of work–family research in the last decade. Although cross-cultural work–family research has experienced stunning growth over the last three decades, it still tends to be heavily centered on a limited set of constructs (i.e., work–family conflict), use a narrow range of methods (i.e., quantitative cross-sectional survey research), concentrate on certain world regions (i.e., Anglo-Asian comparisons), and predictions are based predominantly on specific cultural values (i.e., individualism–collectivism). We identify key controversies in the literature and set an agenda for future research that expands our understanding of cross-cultural work–family concerns in multiple ways, including a call for a focus on process to refine theory-building and theory-testing and diversification of research designs and methods (e.g., experiments). Implications for theory and practice are also discussed.