Babatunde Akanji, Chima Mordi and Hakeem Adeniyi Ajonbadi
Using social dominance theory as a conceptual lens, this study explores how female managers and professionals strive to defy the perceived career stereotypes in traditionally…
Abstract
Purpose
Using social dominance theory as a conceptual lens, this study explores how female managers and professionals strive to defy the perceived career stereotypes in traditionally male-dominated occupations.
Design/methodology/approach
The dataset comprises 30 interviews with female bank managers and senior engineers in Nigeria – a non-Western location and work group – a sample that is considered under-researched.
Findings
The qualitative analysis identifies how the interviewed women adopted three strategies in managing gender and career stereotypes, with some expressing concerns of experiencing emotional dissonance as they contend with occupational segregation based on gender.
Research limitations/implications
The extent to which the findings can be generalised may be constrained by the study’s limited sample size. Nevertheless, the findings shed light on the underlying importance of disclosing how working women exert themselves in navigating the social dominance ideology in Nigeria that is notable for extreme gender role differentiation. This often results in an intensification of the efforts made by female professionals in confronting the endemic nature of male chauvinism in Nigerian organisations.
Originality/value
Research on gender and career constraints has, in the main, restricted our understanding of the barriers that Nigerian women face in their careers as a result of the masculine hegemony perpetuated by social dominance. The present study aims to challenge, however, proponents of social dominance by unveiling the mitigating strategies that women living in an inegalitarian society adopt to confront occupational male-group ascendency.
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Babatunde Akanji, Chima Mordi, Hakeem Ajonbadi and Olatunji David Adekoya
In seeking to understand the impact of culture on conflict management (CM), extant organisational management research has, for the most part, confined itself to using the…
Abstract
Purpose
In seeking to understand the impact of culture on conflict management (CM), extant organisational management research has, for the most part, confined itself to using the one-dimensional collectivism/individualism model of Hofstede's cultural theory. The purpose of this present study is to extend this knowledge area by adopting the more comprehensive analysis of Hofstede's fourfold dimensional typology – power distance, individualism/collectivism, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity/femininity – as a conceptual lens to investigate how national culture impacts the interpersonal CM of those in leadership positions in higher education institutions. Specifically, this article explores the extent to which cultural values influence the CM practices of university heads of departments (HODs).
Design/methodology/approach
Adopting a qualitative approach, 36 interviews were conducted with heads of different departments across a variety of disciplines in selected Nigerian universities.
Findings
The study's results conceptualise how underlying cultural norms – promoting paternalism, servility and social relations – influence the conflict-handling strategies adopted by university HODs. It consequently emerged from the thematic analysis that in Nigeria, conflict-handling decisions are shaped by status-based dictates, a normative emphasis on communality, masculine hegemony and religious motivation – as opposed to Western cultures, where these benevolent and integrative values play a far smaller role.
Research limitations/implications
The study focussed on a small group of research subjects. Although the sample is not a sample that enables generalisation, the findings provide theoretical insights into how cultural ascendancy could frame conflict resolutions. This research is especially relevant as it runs in a culture significantly different from the ones that originally were investigated and in which managerial books and mainstream practices emerged and, thus, can contribute to challenge and enhance theory.
Originality/value
The study seeks to advance knowledge of the interface between culture and CM in a sub-Saharan African context where literature is scarce.
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Akanji Babatunde, Chima Mordi, Hakeem Adeniyi Ajonbadi and Emeka Smart Oruh
Drawing on the emotional labour theory, the purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of cultural orientation on emotion regulation and display processes for service…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on the emotional labour theory, the purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of cultural orientation on emotion regulation and display processes for service employees.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a Nigerian study where literature is scarce, data were gathered from semi-structured interviews conducted with 40 call centre service agents.
Findings
The findings identified three key values around reinforcing social cohesion, anticipated self-curtailment, hierarchy and expressions of servility based on broader societal needs to promote relational harmony when managing customer relations during inbound calls into the call centre.
Research limitations/implications
The extent to which the findings can be generalised is constrained by the limited and selected sample size. However, the study makes contributions to the service work theory by identifying the extent to which communication of emotions is informed in large parts by local culture and seeks to incite scholarly awareness on the differences of emotional display rules from a developing country other than western contexts.
Originality/value
This paper is among the first to focus on the interface between culture and emotional labour from a Sub-Saharan African context.
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Babatunde Akanji, Chima Mordi, Hakeem Ajonbadi and Olatunji Adekoya
Given the limiting gender role conditions arising from the prevalence of patriarchy in Nigeria and the shift to workers staying at home due to the deadly spread of coronavirus…
Abstract
Purpose
Given the limiting gender role conditions arising from the prevalence of patriarchy in Nigeria and the shift to workers staying at home due to the deadly spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), this article aims to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the work–life balance of professional mothers using the work–home resources model as a conceptual lens.
Design/methodology/approach
The qualitative data is based on telephone interviews with 28 married female university academics with children.
Findings
The findings reveal that the confinement policies enforced due to the need to combat the spread of COVID-19 and patriarchal norms deeply embedded in the Nigerian culture have exacerbated stress amongst women, who have needed to perform significantly more housework and childcare demands alongside working remotely than they did prior to the pandemic. The thematic analysis showed a loss of personal resources (e.g. time, energy, and income) resulting in career stagnation, health concerns, and increased male chauvinism due to the abrupt and drastic changes shaping the “new normal” lifestyle.
Research limitations/implications
The study relies on a limited qualitative sample size, which makes the generalisation of findings difficult. However, the study contributes to the emerging global discourse on the profound negative consequences of COVID-19 on the lives and livelihoods of millions, with a focus on the stress and work–family challenges confronting women in a society that is not particularly egalitarian – unlike Western cultures.
Originality/value
The article provides valuable insights on how the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically affected professional working mothers in the sub-Saharan African context, where literature is scarce.
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Toyin Ajibade Adisa, Chima Mordi and Babatunde Akanji
Work–family research has mainly focused on nuclear families, neglecting other types of families, such as single self-employed parents. To what extent does the freedom and…
Abstract
Purpose
Work–family research has mainly focused on nuclear families, neglecting other types of families, such as single self-employed parents. To what extent does the freedom and flexibility attached to being single and self-employed hinder or enhance single parents' work–family balance? Using role theory as a theoretical lens, this study examines single-self-employed parents' work–family balance.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on the accounts of 25 single self-employed parents in Nigeria, the article uses semi-structured interviews to examine how this group achieves work–family balance.
Findings
We found that the freedom and flexibility associated with being single and self-employed form a double-edged sword that increases the spate of singlehood and intensifies commitments to work, altogether preventing the participants in the study from achieving work–family balance. The findings also indicate that singlehood and a lack of spousal support cause and exacerbate work–family imbalance for this group. The findings further indicate that the reconstruction of functions, and the recreation of the traditional masculine gender role overwhelm single self-employed women in their entrepreneurial activities, thereby causing a lack of time and the energy required to function well in a family role, thus creating imbalance between the different spheres of life.
Research limitations/implications
The extent to which the findings of this research can be generalised is constrained by the limited sample and scope of the research.
Practical implications
While literature espouses freedom and flexibility as important ingredients needed to achieve work–family balance, this study shows that they enhance inter-role role conflict. The study suggests creation of private or family time, devoid of work or entrepreneurial engagements, for single female entrepreneurs. This will ensure quality time and energy for the family and for fresh relationship – all of which will impact business positively.
Originality/value
Rather than enhancing work–family balance, the freedom and flexibility attached to being single and self-employed remain the main source of work–family imbalance for Nigerian single self-employed parents.
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Toyin Ajibade Adisa, Emeka Smart Oruh and Babatunde Akanji
Despite the fundamental role of culture in an organisational setting, little is known of how organisational culture can be sometimes determined/influenced by professional culture…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the fundamental role of culture in an organisational setting, little is known of how organisational culture can be sometimes determined/influenced by professional culture, particularly in the global south. Using Nigeria as a research focus, this article uses critical discuss analysis to examine the link between professional and organisational culture.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses qualitative research approach to establish the significance of professional culture as a determinant of organisational culture among healthcare organisations.
Findings
We found that the medical profession in Nigeria is replete with professional duties and responsibilities, such as professional values and beliefs, professional rules and regulations, professional ethics, eagerness to fulfil the Hippocratic Oath, professional language, professional symbols, medicine codes of practice and societal expectations, all of which conflate to form medical professionals' values, beliefs, assumptions and the shared perceptions and practices upon which the medical professional culture is strongly built. This makes the medical professional culture stronger and more dominant than the healthcare organisational culture.
Research limitations/implications
The extent to which the findings of this research can be generalised is constrained by the limited and selected sample of the research.
Practical implications
The primacy of professional culture over organisational culture may have dysfunctional consequences for human resource management (HRM), as medical practitioners are obliged to stick to medical professional culture over human resources practices. Hence, human resources departments may struggle to cope with the behavioural issues that arise due to the dominant position taken by the medical practitioners. This is because the cultural system (professional culture), which is the configuration of beliefs, perceived values, code of ethics, practices and so forth. shared by medical doctors, subverts the operating system. Therefore, in the case of healthcare organisations, HRM should support and enhance the cultural system (the medical professional culture) by offering compatible operating strategies and practices.
Originality/value
This article provides valuable insights into the link between professional culture and organisational culture. It also enriches debates on organisational culture and professional culture. We, therefore, contend that a strong professional culture can overwhelm and eventually become an organisational culture.
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Chima Mordi, Babatunde Akanji and Hakeem Ajonbadi
Given the debilitating ways the COVID-19 global crisis altered peoples’ work–life affairs, this paper explores the effect of technology-related stress that UK academics…
Abstract
Purpose
Given the debilitating ways the COVID-19 global crisis altered peoples’ work–life affairs, this paper explores the effect of technology-related stress that UK academics encountered working from home during the lockdown. Drawing on boundary management theory, the study uncovered how the extreme deluge of teleworking heightened technostress that made it challenging to either segment or integrate work–life boundaries as both domains became exceedingly blurry, which necessitated a novel experience conceptualised as boundary violations with negative outcomes ensuing.
Design/methodology/approach
The dataset consists of semi-structured interviews with 32 academics in the UK. We rely on the interpretative paradigm using a qualitative research method.
Findings
The results reveal how the proliferation of technostress paved the way for a rising loss of boundary identity between professional and private affairs, morbidity and techno-isolation, which reinforced work–family conflict. The study’s findings highlight the processes involved in boundary disruption, as both domains were eroded in the wake of the unprecedented level of telework, which resulted in boundary violations (conceived as instances in which actions, conditions or situations either breach or neglect desired boundary management practices).
Research limitations/implications
The challenges involved in teleworking have seldom been the focus of work-life studies using role boundary management constructs in relation to the coronavirus pandemic. Hence, our study provides novel contributions to the contextually limiting conditions that have thwarted the well-established segmentation and integration processes of boundary management by conceptualising the boundary violations orchestrated by the invasive tendencies of virtual working environments and rising technostress caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Originality/value
While research on teleworking has consistently established more positive outcomes for both employees and organisations, the novelty of the present study is its contributions to the negative implications of remote working during the coronavirus pandemic, one of which is technostress. The study further discusses work–life implications for future research on the factors that made remote working particularly challenging during the coronavirus crisis.
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Babatunde Akanji, Chima Mordi and Hakeem Adeniyi Ajonbadi
Given the limiting conditions of the gender roles confronting professional working women and drawing on spillover theory, the purpose of this paper is to explore the experiences…
Abstract
Purpose
Given the limiting conditions of the gender roles confronting professional working women and drawing on spillover theory, the purpose of this paper is to explore the experiences of work-life balance with an emphasis on the causes of the imbalances, perceived stress, and coping techniques experienced by female medical doctors in an African context – Nigeria, a geographical location that is considered under-researched.
Design/methodology/approach
The qualitative data is based on one-to-one in-depth interviews with 52 Nigerian female medical doctors.
Findings
Based on the findings of the thematic analysis, it is clear that time squeeze, as a well-known factor in the medical profession, exacerbates negative work-home interference. However, other themes, such as patriarchal proclivities and task-pay disparity, that affect female doctors but are rarely considered in studies on work-life balance also emerged as sources of stress and work-family conflicts, leaving these doctors to devise individual coping methods as mitigating strategies.
Research limitations/implications
The study relies on a limited qualitative sample size, which makes the generalisation of findings difficult. However, the study contributes to the limited literature on the implications of stress and work-family incompatibilities facing women in a society that is not particularly egalitarian, with an extremely pronounced culture of masculine hegemony that is contrary to western cultures. The article unveils the socio-cultural difficulties of the work-life demands facing women specific to the Nigerian society and experienced with a different level of intensity.
Originality/value
The majority of the research on work-life balance has been undertaken in western countries and has focused on various professional groups and organisations, including the health sector. Nevertheless, work-life balance is a novel concept within the Nigerian work environment, where female medical doctors, as a professional group, are rarely studied. The article also provides valuable insights into the macro-contextual features influencing the work-life balance of Nigerian professional women.
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Babatunde Akanji, Chima Mordi, Afam Ituma, Toyin Ajibade Adisa and Hakeem Ajonbadi
The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of organisational culture (OC) on leadership styles in Nigerian universities. The study utilises the cultural dimensions theory…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of organisational culture (OC) on leadership styles in Nigerian universities. The study utilises the cultural dimensions theory (Hofstede’s insights) and the social exchange concept as theoretical lenses to examine the phenomena.
Design/methodology/approach
Using an exploratory qualitative approach, 40 interviews were conducted with senior academics and non-teaching staff working in Nigerian universities.
Findings
The findings reveal hierarchical, patriarchal, servile, and interdependent values as the underlying characteristics of organisation culture, shaping the choice of leadership styles in the management of Nigerian universities. As a result, it emerged from the study that positional, formalised exchanges, paternalism, relational approach and gendered reactions to leadership were typically adopted in university administration in this context.
Research limitations/implications
The study relies on a small qualitative sample size, which makes the generalisation of findings difficult. However, the study provides a good understanding of cultural hegemony, framing leadership styles different from those of western cultures.
Originality/value
The findings of this study help to bridge the research gap concerning the implications of OC, and its influence on leadership behaviours in the Sub-Saharan African context. Research within this subfield in Africa is rare. Specifically, the study also enriches our understanding of cultural dimensions, informing the leadership methods adopted in higher education institutions.
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Babatunde Akanji, Chima Mordi, Ruth Simpson, Toyin Ajibade Adisa and Emeka Smart Oruh
This study investigates the overarching ideology of work–life balance (WLB) or conflict as predominantly being a work–family affair. Based on a Nigerian study, and using…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates the overarching ideology of work–life balance (WLB) or conflict as predominantly being a work–family affair. Based on a Nigerian study, and using organisational justice as a theoretical lens, it explores perceived fairness in accessing family-friendly policies by managers and professionals who are single and do not have children – a workgroup conventionally ignored in research on WLB.
Design/methodology/approach
Relying on an interpretivist approach, the data set comprises of interviews with 24 bank managers and 20 medical doctors working in Nigeria.
Findings
The authors’ findings highlight employers' misconceptions concerning the non-work preferences and commitments of singles as well as an undervaluation by employers of their non-work time. Conceptualised as “time biases”, such time is routinely invaded by the organisation, with profound implications for perceptions of fairness. This fosters backlash behaviours with potential detrimental effects in terms of organisational effectiveness.
Research limitations/implications
The study is limited to investigating the WLB of singles in high-status roles, namely banking and medical careers. Future research may examine the experiences of a more diverse range of occupations. The sample comprises heterosexual, never-married professionals, whose experiences may differ from other categories of single workers, such as childless divorced people, widows, non-heterosexual singles and partners who have no children.
Practical implications
In order to avoid counterproductive behaviours in the workplace, WLB policies should not only focus on those with childcare concerns. Inclusive work–life policies for other household structures, such as single-persons, are necessary for improving overall organisational well-being.
Originality/value
The majority of WLB studies have been undertaken in Western and Asian contexts, to the neglect of the Sub-Saharan African experience. Additionally, research tends to focus on WLB issues on the part of working parents, overlooking the difficulties faced by singles.