The Impact of Global Economic Crisis and Austerity on Quality of Working Life and Work‐Life Balance: A Capabilities Perspective

Abstract

This paper draws on the capabilities approach as a framework for examining the impact of the global economic crisis and austerity on quality of working life and work-life balance. Our paper focuses on Greece, an extreme case of a country in economic crisis, characterized by a weak institutional basis. We build on the work of Barbara Hobson and colleagues who first applied the capabilities approach to explore work-life balance capabilities. Our study contributes to the development of theory by emphasizing the sense of entitlement concept within the capabilities approach and by proposing a modified conceptual framework that encapsulates the link between capabilities, agency, and the sense of entitlement, where the latter acts as a cognitive 'filter' that enhances or weakens an individual's perception of her/his agency to enact on her/his capabilities. Drawing on the accounts of twenty Greek professional and managerial workers, we illustrate how the crisis and austerity measures have eroded working conditions and thus the sense of entitlement, leading to the weakening of our participants' agency and capabilities to achieve quality of working life and work-life balance.

Effect of corporate social responsibility scores on bank efficiency: The moderating role of institutional context

“…Banks are interested in CSR issues. They are key actors for economic growth because they serve as financial intermediaries, monitor borrowers, manage financial risk, organize payment systems, and price and value financial assets, thereby significantly influencing economic outcomes (Carretta, Farina, Gon, & Parisi, 2012; Chatrakul Na Ayudhya, Prouska, & Alexandra Beauregard, 2017). In carrying out these activities, they draw on considerable social resources and are thus required to provide more feedback to the community than other industries.…”

Varieties of crisis and working conditions: A comparative study of Greece and Serbia

“…The situation was very different, however, in the transitional economies (Wood et al, 2016) of eastern European countries, such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia which were characterised by severe employment cuts. The 'Mediterranean' economies (Amable, 2003) of Cyprus, Greece, Spain, and Portugal suffered the greatest hit, with a near collapse of their economic systems, and austerity measures having a critical impact on the labour force, particularly amongst younger workers (Chatrakul Na Ayudhya et al, 2017). However, even within this group of countries there was variation in the impact of the crisis due to institutional legacies affecting policy implementation in the crisis period (Papadopoulos, 2016).…”

Where’s the community in community, work and family? A community-based capabilities approach

“…For example, several authors use the CA to highlight the gendered and classed expectations inherent in many parental leave policies (Javornik & Kurowska, 2017;Koslowski & Kadar-Satat, 2018). Similarly, at the organizational level, while policies can be a resource, they dictate implicitly or explicitly who is entitled to make use of policies (Abendroth & Pausch, 2017;Chatrakul et al, 2017;Hobson, 2014;Moran & Koslowski, 2019;Takahashi et al, 2014). Further research is needed to understand the normative reference points of local policies.…”

“…work-life balance, enrichment, reconciliation; or similarly the avoidance of work-life conflict or role conflict) towards whether individuals have the real opportunities (capabilities) to do this and processes that lead to these capabilities. Earlier applications of the CA have brought important contributions to work-family scholarship (Abendroth & Pausch, 2017;Annink, 2016;Chatrakul et al, 2017;Hobson, 2011Hobson, , 2014Hobson et al, 2011;Hoogenboom, Kruiswijk, & Yerkes, 2015;Javornik & Kurowska, 2017;Koslowski & Kadar-Satat, 2018;McLean et al, 2017;. For example, Hobson (2014) and others (Chatrakul et al, 2017;Takahashi et al, 2014) demonstrate the key role played by work organizations for parents combining paid employment with childcare.…”