Support for female international business travellers in dual-career families

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate experiences of female international business travellers living in dual-career families (DCFs) who also have childcare obligations. In particular, the paper explores in which way different sources of support – specifically organizational support – are perceived as important and are available to the women under research. Because of the women’s regular absences due to business trips and the fulfilment of their family role, challenges regarding childcare or household responsibilities may occur. Consequently and also according to social support theory, different types of support may be necessary to organize family and international career, and effectively perform in both environments. Design/methodology/approach This paper examines the experiences and thoughts of these women with special regards on support issues. Data are collected from 51 semi-structured interviews with internationally travelling women in DCF situations originating from seven Western and non-Western countries. The interviews are analysed applying template analysis. Findings Results show that, across countries, support is mainly derived from within family. Regarding institutional or organizational support, however, the reported expectations and actually offered activities differ because of local institutional and cultural variations. The examined women value different forms of organizational support, but do not necessarily expect it. Originality/value This paper represents the first exploratory examinations of various forms of support for female international business travellers in DCFs suggested by social support theory. It includes a culturally diverse sample and contributes to cross-cultural career research.

Fostering longevity attitudes in women expatriates: the role of general and targeted types of organizational support

“…As expatriate roles increasingly become short term and unaccompanied (Caligiuri & Bonache, 2016), women may decide that the career boosts of expatriate roles are not enough to compensate for the sacrifice the family endures (Shortland, 2018b). Supporting this, research has noted that women are concerned (more than men) with accommodating their spouse's career (K€ ansala, M€ akel€ a, & Suutari, 2015), suffer more if their spouses fail to adjust to foreign environments (Cole, 2011), and are deeply concerned with their children's education and well-being (Puchm€ uller & Fischlmayr, 2017). In light of the barriers they face, however, we suggest that targeted support for women expatriates will make the choice of accepting and remaining on an assignment easier while helping to counteract any systematic biases and discrimination.…”

Flexible global working arrangements: An integrative review and future research agenda

“…IBTs are typically described as those ‘for whom business travel is an essential component of their work’ ( Welch & Worm, 2006 , p.284 cited in Collings et al, 2007 , p.206) that usually involves travelling for a few days and up to three weeks (e.g. Druckman, Harber, Liu, & Quigley, 2014 ; Puchmüller & Fischlmayr, 2017 ; Shaffer et al, 2012 ). As such, they do not relocate on any sort of medium- to short-term basis.…”

“…Despite families being acknowledged as a critical success factor for flexible global workers, WLB support factors have not adequately been discussed to date ( Shaffer et al, 2016 ). Focusing on a sample of female IBTs and drawing from social support theory, Puchmüller and Fischlmayr (2017) found that women mainly valued and used emotional and instrumental support; however, they did not target informational support. Regardless of gender, organisations are under pressure to consider an individual's family status ( Mäkelä, Bergbom, et al, 2015 ) and lifestyle ( Mayerhofer et al, 2010 ), allow lead times and flexibility ( Lirio, 2014 ), and facilitate efficiencies in work administration ( Mayerhofer et al, 2011 ) in order to limit the value-destructing nature of flexible global work.…”

\"Deixará pai e mãe e se unirá a sua mulher, e os dois formarão uma só carne\": a dual career sob a influência da religião

“…No entanto, a partir do estudo inicial de Rapoport e Rapoport (1969), nas últimas décadas o tema conquistou seu espaço na academia e conta atualmente com uma vasta literatura. Ainda hoje diversos estudos são realizados explorando as nuances dessa configuração familiar (CLARKE, 2015;MORTON, 2018;PUCHMULLER;FISCHLMAYR, 2017;TZANAKOU, 2017).…”

“…A literatura sobre dual career tem um contínuo interesse em explorar os dilemas e vivências de casais que compartilham trajetórias de carreira ao mesmo passo que mantêm uma união conjugal (CLARKE, 2015;MORTON, 2018;PUCHMULLER;FISCHLMAYR, 2017;TZANAKOU, 2017). Isso se deve ao fato de que, para eles, a família tem um significado importante para ambos os cônjuges assim como suas carreiras.…”