Microsoft Word Socialized Choices 31-12 pod docx

Chapter 8 - Synthesis: overview and discussion 
189 
likely a person is to show that behaviour.  Ajzen (1991) recognised that most 
behaviour also depends, at least to some degree, on other factors which are not 
related to motivation, such as the availability of necessary opportunities and 
resources, such as time, money, skills and the cooperation of others (Ajzen, 1991, 
p.182). This observation is especially pertinent when looking at behaviour 
through the lens of the number of hours worked per week by mothers. The 
acknowledgement that behaviour can be determined by external factors, such as 
people’s earning capacity and their professional and care networks, corresponds 
with micro-economic and sociological theories that emphasised the contexts and 
constraints wherein action takes place (e.g. Becker, 1965; Cunningham et al., 
2005; Reynolds, 2003; Tomlinson, 2006).  
Firstly, the quantitative findings show that the preferred number of work 
hours was the only factor that related significantly to a mother’s participation 
decision. None of the background characteristics of a mother had any direct effect 
on her employment decision; they were all mediated by her preferred number of 
hours. This outcome underlined the expectation within this study that a mother’s 
work preference is a good predictor of labour market behaviour, based on the 
assumption that this variable covers what mothers like, what they conceive as 
possible, and what they perceive that others expect them to do.  
For the number of hours worked, most background characteristics did play a 
role, like a mother’s age, her partner’s income, and her levels of educational and 
religiousness. Yet, the number of preferred work hours also had by far the 
strongest relationship with the number of hours a mother actually works. These 
findings are in line with research that empirically examined the theory of planned 
behaviour and also reported strong correlations between intention and behaviour 
(beta 0.5 -0,8) (Ajzen and Fishbein, 2005; Irvine and Evans, 1995; Sheeran, 2002; 
Swanborn, 1996). 
Nonetheless, the qualitative research demonstrate how work preferences can 
be overruled by a mother’s personal constraints, for example by relatively low 
perceived behavioural control or sense of self-agency (Ajzen, 1991; Bandura, 
2001). The stay-at-home mothers who were interviewed generally preferred small 
part-time jobs, but they were not able to put their work preferences into practice. 
This was mainly influenced by previous tiresome work experiences, their having 
a large number of children or hard-working spouses, and their insecurity about 
whether they would be able to overcome these constraints.  In addition, their 
work histories could be characterised as ad hoc or haphazard, lacking significant 
recognisable motivation or consistency with their earlier educational and 
professional choices. The mismatch between the preferences and behaviour of 
stay-at-home mothers is interesting, and could not be revealed with the 
quantitative research analysis, since in the linear model, there was (high) 
correspondence with mothers work preferences and behaviour. Nonetheless, the 
findings confirm earlier research on this subject (Portegijs et al., 2008b; Risman 
et al., 1999; Thompson, 1989). “Women who face blocked mobility or other 
problems, are ‘pushed’ toward domesticity” (Risman, 1999, p.323).  

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Socialized Choices - Labour Market Behaviour of Dutch Mothers  
190 
Most previous research that addressed the mismatch between preferred and 
actual number of hours worked demonstrated that the preferred number of hours 
are often not realised due to, for example, a lack of (affordable) childcare, 
parental leave schemes, standardised work weeks, or insufficient supply of 
suitable jobs (Charles and Harris, 2007; Crompton and Harris, 1998; Drago et al., 
2009; Jacob, 2008; Reynolds, 2003; Stone, 2007). These mostly large-scale 
survey studies did not generally include how an individual’s perception of these 
institutional and personal constraints influence one’s work preferences and 
subsequent behaviour. Additionally, the qualitative findings of this study revealed 
that the preferred number of work hours is partly based on personal values and 
attitudes that existed a priori of people’s entrance into the labour market. This 
conclusion is further explored in describing the main findings and outcomes of 
testing the second hypothesis.  
8.3 
A mother’s preferred number of work hours is influenced by 
her general gender values and personal gender and work 
attitudes 
The second aim of the study was to reveal the relationship between a mother’s 
general values and personal attitudes on the one hand, and her work preference on 
the other. For this purpose, the theory of Ajzen and Fishbein (1973, 1991, 2005) 
appeared again relevant, since they argued that intention (or preferences) is 
affected by attitude toward behaviour, the subjective norm and perceived 
behavioural control (Ajzen and Fishbein, 2005, p.194). Nonetheless, the 
hypothesis is primarily based on previous sociological studies, which have 
demonstrated that in understanding female employment behaviour we must 
include women’s relevant attitudes towards work and their ideal family roles for 
men and women (Beets et al., 1997; Hakim, 2000, 2003a-d; Hooghiemstra, 2000; 
Marks and Houston, 2002a; Portegijs, 2008b; Risman et al., 1999).  
Personal gender attitudes and general gender values 
In this study, general gender values refer to what people consider to be 
appropriate for other people regarding the division of tasks between spouses, 
while personal gender attitudes refer to a person’s ideal or preferred division of 
labour within their own family life (Hakim, 2000, 2003a and 2003b). Personal 
gender attitudes appear to be more strongly related to labour market behaviour 
than general gender values (Hakim, 2003a; Marks and Houston, 2002a; Risman et 
al., 1999). By including both types of attitude in the analysis of Dutch mothers’ 
labour market preferences, their relative impact can be compared. A personal 
work attitude is in this study termed as the personal motivation to pursue paid 
work. 
The qualitative and quantitative findings confirmed the expected relationship 
between work preferences and personal gender and work attitudes. In cases when 

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