The Effect of Flexible Work Arrangements on MNC Employees’ Job Engagement: The Moderating Roles of In-group Collectivism and Institutional Collectivism

Abstract

This study examined the effect of flexible work arrangements (FWAs) on employees’ job engagement. Based on the person-environment fit theory, FWAs would be expected to help employees fit well in their job environments because they are resources that help employees to achieve a better work-life balance and to better satisfy the needs and demands of their personal lives. Accordingly, in this study it was hypothesized that FWAs would increase job engagement. This study also analyzed the cultural factors, in-group collectivism and institutional collectivism, to determine whether they moderate the effect that FWAs have on job engagement. This study analyzed data from the Generations of Talent Study Database compiled by the Sloan Center on Aging and Work at Boston College and the GLOBE database. The total sample was collected from 7,701 employees working in multinational enterprises in the US, the UK, China, India, Brazil, Japan, the Netherlands, Mexico and Spain. The result supported the hypothesis that FWAs increased job engagement. The result further revealed that in-group collectivism weakened the positive effect of FWAs on job engagement.