{"title":"Could the 4-day week work? A scoping review","authors":"Tesha Jahal, E Anne Bardoel, John Hopkins","doi":"10.1111/1744-7941.12395","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>The 4-day work week (4DWW) was popularised in the 1970s, but has recently gained significant global attention again, with a growing number of organisations experimenting with the 4DWW in response to increasing demand for more flexible work arrangements (FWA) in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. The emergence of generative AI tools like ChatGPT, with their potential to support worktime reduction strategies, are also refuelling interest in a shorter working week. This renewed interest motivated this scoping review of 1769 4DWW records from the past 52 years and enabled the authors to identify five major themes: employee acceptance, allocation of time, leisure, gender and career advancement, and productivity. These themes are used to consider specific forms of 4DWW in terms of whether days of work are fixed or flexible, whether the 4DWW is an employee option, and whether total weekly hours worked or pay are reduced. Conservation of resources theory is used as a lens for interpreting the themes. The authors believe these themes and lessons have significant implications for a growing number of scholars and practitioners, who are investigating, trialling, and implementing 4DWW arrangements, in response to growing demand for more FWA options from employees across all sectors.</p>","PeriodicalId":51582,"journal":{"name":"Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.9000,"publicationDate":"2023-11-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1744-7941.12395","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1744-7941.12395","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS & LABOR","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The 4-day work week (4DWW) was popularised in the 1970s, but has recently gained significant global attention again, with a growing number of organisations experimenting with the 4DWW in response to increasing demand for more flexible work arrangements (FWA) in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. The emergence of generative AI tools like ChatGPT, with their potential to support worktime reduction strategies, are also refuelling interest in a shorter working week. This renewed interest motivated this scoping review of 1769 4DWW records from the past 52 years and enabled the authors to identify five major themes: employee acceptance, allocation of time, leisure, gender and career advancement, and productivity. These themes are used to consider specific forms of 4DWW in terms of whether days of work are fixed or flexible, whether the 4DWW is an employee option, and whether total weekly hours worked or pay are reduced. Conservation of resources theory is used as a lens for interpreting the themes. The authors believe these themes and lessons have significant implications for a growing number of scholars and practitioners, who are investigating, trialling, and implementing 4DWW arrangements, in response to growing demand for more FWA options from employees across all sectors.
期刊介绍:
The Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources adheres to a rigorous double-blind reviewing policy in which the identity of both the reviewer and author are always concealed from both parties. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources is an applied, peer-reviewed journal which aims to communicate the development and practice of the field of human resources within the Asia Pacific region. The journal publishes the results of research, theoretical and conceptual developments, and examples of current practice. The overall aim is to increase the understanding of the management of human resource in an organisational setting.