IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/gender/v24y2017i2p171-193.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Narratives of Spousal Support for the Careers of Men in Managerial Posts

Author

Listed:
  • Suvi Heikkinen
  • Anna‐Maija Lämsä

Abstract

This article analyses the narratives of men managers to see how they perceive their wives' support in relation to their careers. Our aim is to focus on different forms of spousal support and explore how the support can evolve in the course of the men's careers. We are also interested in what kind of gender relations men produce when narrating their experiences of spousal support for their career. The research material comprises interviews with 29 managers who are fathers. In contrast to many previous studies, the results here suggest that spousal support is not a fixed or uncomplicated phenomenon but is constructed as various and flexible by men: negotiated, enriching and declining. The narrative analysis, in which we detected three different story‐lines — romance, ‘happily‐ever‐after’ and tragedy — shows that the most positive narratives in terms of life satisfaction and career success were those in which spousal support was constructed as negotiated and men were willing to be flexible and adaptable in their gender relations with their spouse. More attention to a father's work and family integration is needed in the field of management and organizations.

Suggested Citation

  • Suvi Heikkinen & Anna‐Maija Lämsä, 2017. "Narratives of Spousal Support for the Careers of Men in Managerial Posts," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 171-193, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:24:y:2017:i:2:p:171-193
    DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12157
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12157
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/gwao.12157?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jackie Ford & David Collinson, 2011. "In search of the perfect manager? Work-life balance and managerial work," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 25(2), pages 257-273, June.
    2. Grossbard-Shechtman, Shoshana A. & Izraeli, Dafna N. & Neuman, Shoshana, 1994. "When do spouses support a career? A human capital analysis of Israeli managers and their spouses," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 23(1-2), pages 149-167.
    3. Gherardi, Silvia & Poggio, Barbara, 2001. "Creating and recreating gender order in organizations," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 245-259, October.
    4. Gina Gaio Santos, 2015. "Narratives about Work and Family Life among Portuguese Academics," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 1-15, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Suvi Heikkinen & Anna-Maija Lämsä & Charlotta Niemistö, 2021. "Work–Family Practices and Complexity of Their Usage: A Discourse Analysis Towards Socially Responsible Human Resource Management," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(4), pages 815-831, July.
    2. Julia Gruson‐Wood & Carla Rice & Jess Haines & Gwen E. Chapman, 2022. "The emotional toll of postfeminist fatherhood," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 256-272, January.
    3. Shah, Dhara & de Oliveira, Rui Torres & Barker, Michelle & Moeller, Miriam & Nguyen, Tam, 2022. "Expatriate family adjustment: How organisational support on international assignments matters," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(2).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thais França & Filipa Godinho & Beatriz Padilla & Mara Vicente & Lígia Amâncio & Ana Fernandes, 2023. "“Having a family is the new normal”: Parenting in neoliberal academia during the COVID‐19 pandemic," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 35-51, January.
    2. Bitbol-Saba, Nathalie & Dambrin, Claire, 2019. "“It’s not often we get a visit from a beautiful woman!” The body in client-auditor interactions and the masculinity of accountancy," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    3. Marta Equi Pierazzini & Linda Bertelli & Elena Raviola, 2021. "Working with words: Italian feminism and organization studies," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(4), pages 1260-1281, July.
    4. Himanshi Tiwari, 2019. "Encounters with Gendered Realities in Career Decision-making While Scouting Women Participation in the Indian Workforce," Business Perspectives and Research, , vol. 7(2), pages 147-162, July.
    5. Daniel Wheatley & Zhongmin Wu, 2014. "Dual careers, time-use and satisfaction levels: evidence from the British Household Panel Survey," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(5), pages 443-464, September.
    6. Ionuț Viorel Herghiligiu & Ioan-Bogdan Robu & Marinela Istrate & Maria Grosu & Camelia Cătălina Mihalciuc & Adrian Vilcu, 2023. "Sustainable Corporate Performance Based on Audit Report Influence: An Empirical Approach through Financial Transparency and Gender Equality Dimensions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-28, September.
    7. Katharina Silberbauer, 2015. "Benefits of Dual-Career Support for Expatriate Spouses," International Journal of Business and Management, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences, vol. 3(2), pages 66-84, May.
    8. Ingeborg C. Kroese, 2023. "Sex/gender‐blind training maintains and creates inequity," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 917-936, May.
    9. Rachel Gordon & Carolyn Heinrich, 2009. "The potential of a couples approach to employment assistance: results of a nonexperimental evaluation," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 7(2), pages 133-158, June.
    10. Barry Chiswick & Yew Lee & Paul Miller, 2005. "“Parents and Children Talk: English Language Proficiency within Immigrant Families”," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 3(3), pages 243-268, September.
    11. Theresa Moyo & Rogers Dhliwayo, 2019. "Achieving Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Sub-Saharan Africa: Lessons from the Experience of Selected Countries," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 35(2), pages 256-281, June.
    12. Anke Strauβ & Ilaria Boncori, 2020. "Foreign women in academia: Double‐strangers between productivity, marginalization and resistance," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(6), pages 1004-1019, November.
    13. Anna Maaranen & Janne Tienari, 2020. "Social media and hyper‐masculine work cultures," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(6), pages 1127-1144, November.
    14. Gwen Daverth & Catherine Cassell & Paula Hyde, 2016. "The Subjectivity of Fairness: Managerial Discretion and Work–Life Balance," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(2), pages 89-107, March.
    15. Marita Haas & Sabine T. Koeszegi & Eva Zedlacher, 2016. "Breaking Patterns? How Female Scientists Negotiate their Token Role in their Life Stories," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(4), pages 397-413, July.
    16. Susan Marlow & Maura McAdam, 2012. "Analyzing the Influence of Gender upon High–Technology Venturing within the Context of Business Incubation," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 36(4), pages 655-676, July.
    17. Heikkinen, Suvi & Lämsä, Anna-Maija & Hiillos, Minna, 2014. "Narratives by women managers about spousal support for their careers," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 27-39.
    18. Janssens, Maddy & Cappellen, Tineke & Zanoni, Patrizia, 2006. "Successful female expatriates as agents: Positioning oneself through gender, hierarchy, and culture," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 133-148, June.
    19. Cuervo-Cazurra, Alvaro & Dieleman, Marleen & Hirsch, Paul & Rodrigues, Suzana B. & Zyglidopoulos, Stelios, 2021. "Multinationals’ misbehavior," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 56(5).
    20. Mussolino, Donata & Cicellin, Mariavittoria & Pezzillo Iacono, Mario & Consiglio, Stefano & Martinez, Marcello, 2019. "Daughters’ self-positioning in family business succession: A narrative inquiry," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 72-86.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:24:y:2017:i:2:p:171-193. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0968-6673 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.