Relocation decision-making and couple relationships: a quantitative and qualitative study of dual-earner couples

Abstract

SummaryWe present the results of two empirical studies of the relocation decision-making process of dual-earner couples. The first study is a quantitative survey of 155 management-level employees and focuses on the variables likely to moderate the influence of the spouse (partner) on the probability of accepting or turning down geographical mobility. The second complementary study is qualitative, consisting of 11 in-depth interviews of dual-earner couples; it attempts to identify the dynamics within the couple when making relocation decisions. We found that the couple's decision-making process in the face of a transfer proposition is above all a search for compromise solutions that are a function of the respective occupational and family roles within the couple as well as their expectations of how to organize their life as a couple.

A Systematic Reflection Upon Dual Career Couples

“…Generally, individuals committed to a family (a partner, and especially children) are less mobile geographically than singles (Kalter 1998, Stroh 1999, Green & Canny 2003. However, especially for the higher educated, geographical mobility is an important element of career development (Deitch & Sanderson 1987, Stroh 1999, Ackers 2004, Challiol & Mignonac 2005. University graduates show higher mobility rates than lower qualified, and their moves are more often motivated by professional reasons (for Germany cf.…”

“…With respect to rules regarding couples' (joint) employment, some developments have taken place in the course of the last decades. Employers increasingly face and have to deal with employees and candidates whose partners have own careers, rather than (female) homemakers willing to relocate in order to follow their partners (Harvey 1995, Stroh 1999, Challiol & Mignonac 2005. Especially in the private economy, some larger firms have developed dualcareer policies in order to successfully recruit and retain qualified candidates (Domsch et al 1989, Domsch & Ladwig 1997, Domsch & Krüger-Basener 1999, Stroh 1999, Schulte 2005.…”

Residential mobility in context: Interpreting behavior in the housing market

“…As women have increased their participation in the labor force they are increasingly required to balance the competing demands of family formation and nurturing, and participating in the work force (Boyle et al, 2001;Cooke, 2001;LeClere and McLaughlin, 1997;Clark andDavies Withers, 1999, 2009;Clark and Huang, 2003). The increase in dual worker households further complicates the mobility process though more for migration than local moves (Cooke and Bailey, 1996;Cooke, 2001Cooke, , 2003Challiol and Mignonac, 2005;Lichter, 1980;Michelin et al, 2008;Jacobsen and Levin, 2000). In particular, changing fertility has direct implications for housing consumption and housing transitions.…”

The use of mixed methods research in the field of behavioural sciences

“…To conclude this section it should be noted that only one of the mixed methods studies that were identified in the three journals (namely, the paper by Challiol and Mignonac (2005) in the Journal of Organizational Behavior) cited a methodological study about mixed methods (specifically, the study by Greene, Caracelli and Graham [1989]). This suggests that the mixed methods approach is not very familiar to researchers in these areas of the behavioural sciences and, as such, its potential and the possibilities it offers in terms of the purposes discussed here may not be taken full advantage of.…”