Prioritizing work for family: A Chinese indigenous perspective

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper was to develop an indigenous understanding of work-family interface (WFI) that reflects the drastic changes and evolving social context in China over the past three decades and challenge the existing conceptualizations of WFI and identify societal impact of the changing nature of the WFI. Design/methodology/approach – We conducted literature review, content and thematic analyses. Findings – The core idea of prioritizing work for family (PWF) is that Chinese employees, especially Chinese male employees, tend to integrate work and family roles as well as deal with WFI issues at the family level. Thus, Chinese employees can be strongly committed to the family while simultaneously prioritizing work performance. Research limitations/implications – The proposed indigenous perspective of PWF may furnish a contextualized theory for future research. The proposed measurement approaches may help developing indigenous scales for the perspective of PWF for future empirical studies. ...