Work-family conflict and the commodification of women's employment in three Chinese airlines

Foster, Deborah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5650-7423 and Ren, Xioani 2015. Work-family conflict and the commodification of women's employment in three Chinese airlines. International Journal of Human Resource Management 26 (12) , pp. 1568-1585. 10.1080/09585192.2014.949821

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Abstract

In the East, where gender is mediated by different family structures, societal institutions and economic development, the work–family conflict (WFC) metaphor remains appropriate. This paper investigates Chinese women's experiences of WFC in the fastest growing commercial airline sector in the world. It finds that, in contrast to the West, work-to-family, rather than family-to-work, conflict dominates. Liberalization, competition and commercialization have also had a significant gendered impact on jobs. The latter resulting in the commodification of women's aesthetic and emotional labour, job segregation, employment insecurity, poor career opportunities and increased WFC. We explore reasons why HR policies and practices in airlines fail to address women's workplace concerns and find that occupational status and lack of organizational power, together with the prevalence of traditional gendered norms and attitudes, play important roles

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Business (Including Economics)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Aesthetic labour; Chinese airlines; commodification; emotional labour; liberalization; women's work–family conflict.
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
ISSN:	0958-5192
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2016
Date of Acceptance:	14 July 2014
Last Modified:	07 Nov 2023 18:20
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/62869

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