ANTECEDENTS OF EMPLOYEE USE OF FLEXTIME ARRANGEMENTS: POLICY AVAILABILITY AND WORKPLACE SUPPORT
Open Access
- Author:
- Wu, Su-Wen
- Graduate Program:
- Human Resources and Employment Relations
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- April 07, 2010
- Committee Members:
- Helen Liu, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Helen Liu, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor - Keywords:
- workplace support
policy availability
flextime - Abstract:
- While the benefits of flextime arrangements are well documented, we do not know enough about which factors encourage employees to use these arrangements to their fullest extent and which factors may prohibit employees using flextime. The aims of this study are to determine the factors that affect employee use of flextime arrangements. The study investigates four kinds of policy availability—no policy, informal policy, simple formal policy, and elaborated formal policy—and their impacts on employee use of flextime. Moreover, the study examines the effect of organizational support, managerial support, and coworker support on flextime use. Finally, this study tests whether there is joint effect between policy availability and workplace support. The results show that in organizations in which formal or informal flexible policies exist, workers use flextime arrangements more frequently. More specifically, employee use of flextime arrangements is highest in organizations that have detailed formal policies, followed by organizations with simple formal policies. It is lower for organizations that have informal policies, and lowest for organizations that lack flextime policies. Moreover, findings suggest that when there is strong organizational support, workers use flextime arrangements more than when these conditions do not exist. Finally, organizational support moderates the relationship between policy availability and flextime use. This study contributes to a better understanding of how organizational policies and work environment enhance or inhibit the employee exercise of flextime arrangements.