ATTITUDE ON WORK-LIFE-BALANCE PROBLEM AMONG MALE FULL-TIME WORKERS IN JAPAN CONSIDERATION FROM THE FRAMEWORK OF “SUBSTITUTABILITY” AT HOME AND “EMPLOYABILITY” AT WORK
Abstract
The objectives of this research were 1) clarifying the factors that influence the WLB awareness and decision-making of male full-time workers by interviews and 2) building a conceptual framework (a 2-by-2 matrix) based on the findings from the interviews. A total of 17 male graduate students working full-time at a company participated in the study. In-depth interviews revealed two factors that they are concerned about when deciding to take childcare or elderly care leave: which is role substitutability at home and employability at work. Role substitutability is defined as a concept that expresses the degree to which another person (e.g. Person B) can substitute the role of Person A at home, or the degree to which the role of Person A and the role of Person B are interchangeable. Employability is “the sum of the ability to enable labor mobility and the ability to be exerted within the company and enable continuous employment (Dan, 2003)”. This research then developed a 2-by-2 matrix using high-low levels of substitutability and employability. When categorizing the results of the interviews into the four quadrants of the matrix (Quadrant A to D), several key findings are identified. Based on the analysis of the matrix, conclusions and some future implications are stated at the end of the paper.
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