Flexible work arrangements, national culture, organisational characteristics, and organisational outcomes: A study across 21 countries

• Published date: 01 January 2018
• Author: Ariel Levi,Yitzhak Fried,Hilla Peretz
• Date: 01 January 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12172

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Flexible work arrangements, national culture,

organisational characteristics, and organisational

outcomes: A study across 21 countries

Hilla Peretz

1

|Yitzhak Fried

2

|Ariel Levi

3

1

Department of Industrial Engineering and

Management, Ort Braude College, Israel

2

Rawls College of Business, Texas Tech

University, USA

3

School of Business Administration, Wayne

State University, USA

Correspondence

Hilla Peretz, Department of Industrial

Engineering and Management, Ort Braude

College, Snunit 5 St., P.O. Box 78, Karmiel

21982, Israel.

Email: hillap@braude.ac.il

Funding information

Society for Human Resource Management

Foundation

Abstract

Using a contingency perspective, we investigated two complemen-

tary topics: (a) the influence of the GLOBE national cultural values

and key organisational variables on employee use of flexible work

arrangements (FWAs), and (b) the contribution of the level of con-

gruence between cultural values and FWA use on absenteeism

and turnover. The results, based on Cranfield Network on Compar-

ative Human Resource Management—a large data set across multi-

ple countries—supported the hypothesised effects of the cultural

values on employee use of FWAs and the moderating effects of

these cultural values on FWA use and organisational outcomes.

Specifically, we found that national cultural values and

organisational characteristics were related to outcomes via FWA

use; and employees' use of FWAs had the overall effect of reducing

absenteeism and turnover, but this effect was weakened when the

FWAs were not consistent with cultural values. Theoretically, our

results add to our knowledge and understanding of the effects of

FWA use on absenteeism and turnover under different degrees of

“fit”with cultural context. From a practical perspective, our results

suggest that organisations should consider national cultural charac-

teristics before implementing FWAs. A misfit between national cul-

ture and FWAs would potentially reduce employee use of FWAs

and increase the likelihood of absenteeism and turnover.

KEYWORDS

absenteeism, flexible work arrangements,national culture,

organisationalcharacteristics, turnover

1|INTRODUCTION

In an attempt to attract and retain talented employees and enhance their competitiveness, employers worldwide have

increasinglyadopted flexible workarrangements (FWAs) for thebenefit of both the organisationand its employees (e.g.,

Received: 1 January 2015 Revised: 30 June 2017 Accepted: 4 August 2017

DOI: 10.1111/1748-8583.12172

182 © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Hum Resour Manag J. 2018;28:182–200.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hrmj

Den Dulk, Groeneveld, Ollier‐Malaterre, & Valcour, 2013; Kassinis & Stavrou, 2013; Stavrou, 2005; Stavrou, Parry, &

Anderson, 2015). Most commonly, these FWAs have included flextime (in which some working hours are determined

by the employees),job sharing (in whichthe tasks of one job are coveredby two or more employees),compressed work-

week (in whicha standard numberof hours is compressed into a reducednumber of days per week), and teleworking(in

which employeeswork away from theworkplace for some or all ofthe workweek, while beingelectronically linkedto the

workplace).

A major issue underlying research on work–life issues generally, and FWAs in particular, is whether the preva-

lence and effects of human resource (HR) practices on organisational outcomes are primarily universalistic in nature

(e.g., Pfeffer & Veiga, 1999), or contingent on particular contexts (cf. Donaldson, 2001). One key contextual variable

that can affect the impact of HR activities, including FWAs, is the societal culture in which the firm is embedded (e.g.,

Peretz & Fried, 2012; Peretz, Levi, & Fried, 2015; Peretz & Rosenblatt, 2011; Rabl, Jayasinghe, Gerhart, & Kuhlmann,

2014). Although research has shown that FWAs have the potential to improve psychological and behavioural out-

comes such as burnout, retention, and organisational performance indicators (e.g., Stavrou, 2005), several studies

have also shown that the use and effects of FWAs differ significantly across nations with different societal cultural

characteristics. Employees are more likely to use FWAs and respond to them positively in some nationalcultures than

others (e.g., Kassinis & Stavrou, 2013; Masuda et al., 2012; Ollier‐Malaterre, Valcour, Den Dulk, & Kossek, 2013;

Powell, Francesco, & Ling, 2009; Stavrou et al., 2015).

As Ollier‐Malaterre and Foucreault (2017) have stated in their recent review and synthesis of research on work–

life research and FWAs, several gaps remain in our understanding of the role of societal values in relation to global

firms' use of FWAs and the effects of FWAs on employee and firm outcomes. One of these gaps concerns the limited

range of national cultural values that have been investigated in relation to FWAs. For example, the individualism–col-

lectivism value dimension, as defined by Hofstede (2001) and refined by House, Hanges, Javidan,Dorfman, and Gupta

(2004), in their GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organisational Behaviour Effectiveness) project, has been extensively

researched in relation to FWAs, but several other value dimensions, such as power distance and performance orien-

tation, which are likely to be important for explaining the implementation and use of FWAs, have been relatively

neglected by researchers. These gaps are in part due to a major limitation of previous studies—their use of samples

from organisations that are based primarily in the United States or Europe (see, e.g., Den Dulk et al., 2013), neglecting

the increasing prevalence of FWAs across the world in response to global competition (e.g., Kassinis & Stavrou, 2013;

Stavrou, 2005).

Ollier‐Malaterre and Foucreault (2017) also noted that research findings on the effects of social structures (e.g.,

legal systems) on the provision and effects of FWAs have been mixed, with some studies showing positive and others

negative effects. Ollier‐Malaterre and Foucreault (2017) recommended a systemic multilevel research agenda that

examines both organisational‐level and country‐level variables, as well as potential moderating effects of these vari-

ables, to account for FWAs and their effects on organisational outcomes. Thus, from both a theoretical and an applied

perspective, it is important to advance our understanding of the use of FWAs and their effect on organisational out-

comes, so that firms competing in the global economy have a valid basis for adjusting their implementation of FWAs

according to societal cultural context and organisational and structural constraints.

In the current study, we address some of the key issues raised by Ollier‐Malaterre and Foucreault (2017). First,

using a multilevel method, we examine the full set of nine GLOBE cultural dimensions (House et al., 2004)—several

of which have not previously been investigated—on employees' use of FWAs. We examine the degree to which

employees working in organisations located in countries with different national cultures are likely to use FWAs, when

their organisations make FWAs available. Second, we examine the degree to which organisational characteristics con-

tribute to the use of FWAs. Thus, we examine simultaneously the effect of the macronational cultural dimensions and

meso organisational characteristics on FWA use. Relatedly, we examine the mediating role of FWA use on the rela-

tionship of the focal cultural dimensions and organisational characteristics with the important organisational out-

comes of absenteeism and turnover. Finally, consistent with the contingency approach (cf. Donaldson, 2001), we

examine the effects of FWA use under different degrees of “fit”with cultural context, specifically how the different

PERETZ ET AL.183

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