Conference Agenda

Twenty percent of people currently working part-time in Europe are looking to increase their working hours (Eurostat, 2022). This group is known as involuntary part-timers or “time-related underemployed”: workers who are willing to work more hours than they currently do, but are yet unable to realize this preference due to personal circumstances, structural limitations, and/or other factors (Wilkins, 2007). Recent research suggests that these involuntary part-time workers are a “hidden workforce” (Fuller et al., 2023), which could be leveraged to address labor shortages in key public institutions such as healthcare, childcare and education (Somers et al., 2024), while decreasing hiring and employment costs (Belenzon & Tsolmon, 2016; Blatter et al., 2012). Additionally, affected employees would gain greater financial independence (Lamolla et al., 2021) and more positive career prospects (Kauhanen & Nätti, 2015).

While extensive research has investigated the individual and environmental predictors of preferred and actual working hours, research on organizational influences has so far remained fragmented (Antal et al., 2024; Campbell & van Wanrooy, 2013). These findings open the question of what are organizational factors affecting employees’ (1) desired working hours, (2) actual working hours and (3) the (mis)match between them?

To answer this question, this paper combines a systematic literature review of the organizational factors influencing employees’ preferred and actual working hours, as well as the (mis)match between them, with qualitative interview data using the Delphi method. The goal of this paper is threefold: First, we aim to identify the organizational factors determining employees’ preferred and actual working hours, highlighting the extent of an organizations’ influence on employee working time. Second, we aim to determine key moderators and mediators to this influence, both within and outside the organization. Lastly, based on the work-time capabilities framework (Lee & McCann, 2006), we seek to synthesize these findings into a conceptual model, outlining the organizational antecedents of employees’ preferred and actual working hours, the process through which their influence occurs and how organizational characteristics interact to shape employee working time.

This paper forms part of a PhD dissertation in the Dutch Nationaal Groeifonds (“National Growth Fund” project “Meer uren werkt,” (“More hours works”), which aims to develop interventions to enable involuntary part-time workers in Dutch healthcare, childcare and education organizations to work more hours. The conceptual model developed in this paper will form the foundation of empirical studies within this dissertation, using data collected from these three sectors. At the time of the EGPA 2025 conference, the authors aim to present initial findings, as well as a preliminary conceptual model.

In a globalized world, more people migrate for work. Although international employees help organizations in mitigating urgent workforce shortages (Linos, 2018), it also creates challenges, particularly with integration and inclusion (Farndale et al., 2015). Findings show that international employees often struggle with adaptation and adjustment to new work environments (Ng et al., 2023), while their receiving managers consider it challenging to include them into the workplace (Dræbel et al., 2024).

While research increasingly focuses on the inclusion of international employees, we lack knowledge about whether challenges and solutions vary across public, private and non-profit organizations and where the blind spots are, not least from a public sector perspective. Existing studies have addressed inclusion and inclusive leadership more broadly (Veli Korkmaz et al., 2022), within racially diverse (Trochmann et al., 2023) or gender-diverse teams (Santos et al., 2022), but no review has yet covered inclusion of international employees in general. Gaining comprehensive understanding of the matter is important, as inclusion directly influences both individual and organizational level outcomes such as job satisfaction, psychological safety, and performance (Li et al., 2024). For international employees, inclusion is especially relevant due to their susceptibility to challenges of cultural adaptation, language barriers, and social integration (Pressley et al., 2022). Failing to address inclusion can lead to increased conflict, lower group cohesion, and ultimately result in decreased individual and organizational performance and higher turnover (Ashikali et al., 2021; Carmeli et al., 2010).

Moreover, focusing on cross-sector comparison allows us to examine and theorize about potential differences between public, private and non-profit organizations and their implications for organizations and managers working with the inclusion of international employees. This is particularly important for the public sector, which places high importance on social equity and legitimacy by being representative of the societal characteristics (Groeneveld & Verbeek, 2012).

The aim of this systematic literature review is to gain an overview of the existing literature on the inclusion of international employees across sectors and based on the results, point out relevant directions for future research and practice. Specifically, we will focus on the main concepts, measurements, antecedents, moderators, and mediators, and outcomes. Additionally, we will analyze the theoretical approaches and methods used. This review will help us highlight research gaps and agenda points for future research, as well as practical and policy recommendations. Currently, the literature search is ongoing. The findings will be presented at the conference.