Recently, the collaborative research “Work-family interference in urban China: gender discrimination and the effects of work-family balance policies” was published online in npj Urban Sustainability, sub-journal of Nature. Professor Xu Yuehua was the first and corresponding author, and PhD student Zhang Shujie and master’s student Li Manyuan were the co-first authors, along with Associate Professor Liu Depeng, and Professors Zhao Haichuan and Tang Guiyao. The research is a result of interdisciplinary collaboration between faculty and students of the School of Management.
Family responsibility discrimination is a form of discrimination against both men and women for taking on the responsibility of caring for children or the elderly. Unlike previous researches that have focused on Western contexts, the research shifts the focus to the Chinese context where men and women experience different kinds of discrimination in work-family interference. Traditional stereotypes in Chinese society tend to assume that women should be primarily responsible for taking care of the family and household chores, while men should focus on their careers. Such stereotypes contribute to unequal treatment of men and women in the workplace, especially when work and family responsibilities conflict. Through four experiments (N = 2577), the research found that in urban areas of China, men suffer more discrimination than women when they take on family responsibilities but face work-family interference.
The research also explores whether the implementation of work-family balance policies by firms can alleviate such discrimination. These policies aim to create a more supportive and inclusive work environment for employees with family responsibilities, regardless of gender. By implementing measures such as flexible working hours, parental leave provisions and childcare support, firms can foster a culture of work-family balance and gender equality. The results suggest that the policy mitigates discrimination by leaders against men who experience family interference at work, but not by other bystanders (e.g. neighbors in the same community) against men who experience work interference in family. A post-experiment and further testing (N = 931) validated the stability of the research’s findings and provided additional insights. Overall, the research provides new insights into the problem of gender discrimination in non-Western settings and relevant solutions.
npj Urban Sustainability, journal of the Nature Publishing Group, is a comprehensive high-quality journal for urban science that focuses on sustainable urbanization and how urban areas can address major economic, social and environmental challenges. The journal has a very low publication volume, with only 130 articles in the last three years, of which only 20 articles have been published by Chinese scholars as the first or corresponding authors.
Xu Yuehua is a professor and doctoral supervisor at the School, a Qilu Young Scholar, a leader of the Young Innovation Team of Shandong Education Department, and a chief expert of the key programs of the National Social Science Fund of China. Her main research areas include governance mechanisms with Chinese characteristics, corporate social responsibility, strategic leadership and rural enterprises. Currently, she is leading and participating in many national programs, among which the program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) she led and completed was rated as “Excellence”. Her research results have been published in Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Management, Journal of Business Ethics, Management World, etc.
Liu Depeng is an associate professor at the School. His research interests are organizational ethics and organizational behavior, and he has undertaken five programs of the NSFC, including the Youth Program and General Program. In recent years, he has published more than ten academic papers in the journals of Management World, BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT JOURNAL (BMJ), Acta Psychologica Sinica, etc.
Zhao Haichuan is a professor and doctoral supervisor of the Department of Marketing, a Mount Taishan Scholar Young Expert, and a Qilu Young Scholar of Shandong University. He is currently a member and deputy director of the Platform Management Committee of the China Information Economics Society. His main research interests include consumer behavior, e-commerce, intelligent recommendation, online review, brand community and artificial intelligence marketing. He has published many papers in journals such as Information Systems Research, Journal of Interactive Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Marketing Science, and Journal of Management Sciences in China. He has presided over several national and provincial programs, such as the General Program and Youth Program of the NSFC, and humanities and social sciences programs of the Ministry of Education of PRC.
Tang Guiyao is Vice Dean, Professor and Doctoral Supervisor of the School, Executive Dean of Shandong Institute of Talent Development Strategy, Director of Global Strategic Talent Development Research Center of Shandong University, Mount Taishan Scholar Young Expert, and selected candidate of the Shandong Province One Hundred Theoretical Talents. Her research fields are strategic human resource management, green human resource management, leadership and talent development strategy. She has published more than 70 papers in Personnel Psychology, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Human Resource Management, Journal of Business Ethics, Management World, Nankai Management Review, Journal of Management Sciences in China, Chinese Journal of Management, etc.
Link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s42949-023-00137-6
