Chapter 8 - Synthesis: overview and discussion
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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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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