Share:


Investigating the impact of time allocation on family well-being in China

    Qianru Hong Affiliation
    ; Xukun Jiao Affiliation
    ; Xiaohang Qiu Affiliation
    ; Aiting Xu Affiliation

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the relationship between family time allocation patterns and subjective well-being of Chinese married women. Using the fixed-effect ordered logit model and data from CFPS 2014–2018, this study empirically explores the impact mechanism and heterogeneity of family time allocation patterns on married women’s well-being. The results indicate that the mode of working full-time and handling the majority of housework is an impact negatively for women, and this result is robust. Further heterogeneity analysis reveals that market work has a weaker impact on low-educated women’s well-being than housework, but this is reversed for high-educated women. In particular, the single-time poverty brought on by housework specifically reduces women’s well-being, more than that of dual-time poverty of work time and housework time. Also, the happiness efficiency resulting from women reducing housework time will increase with the rise in happiness levels. Accordingly, this paper highlights three policy implications: enhancing happiness effectiveness, optimizing family time allocation patterns, and raising women’s status. The conclusion clarifies the path to gender equality in family labor division and provides new recommendations for relevant nations on how to promote the equalized gender division of labor and enhance the standard of living for women.

Keyword : family time allocation, women’s well-being, conventional gender norms, time poverty, happiness effectiveness, fixed-effects ordered logit model

How to Cite
Hong, Q., Jiao, X., Qiu, X., & Xu, A. (2024). Investigating the impact of time allocation on family well-being in China. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 25(5), 981–1005. https://doi.org/10.3846/jbem.2024.22252
Published in Issue
Oct 18, 2024
Abstract Views
144
PDF Downloads
130
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Akerlof, G. A., & Kranton, R. E. (2000). Economics and identity. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 115(3), 715–753. https://doi.org/10.1162/003355300554881

Akerlof, G. A., & Kranton, R. E. (2010). Identity economics. The Economists’ Voice, 7(2). https://doi.org/10.2202/1553-3832.1762

Álvarez, B., Miles-Touya, D. (2015). Time allocation and women‘s life satisfaction: Evidence from Spain. Social Indicators Research, 129(3), 1207–1230. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-015-1159-3

Balbo, N., & Arpino, B. (2016). The role of family orientations in shaping the effect of fertility on subjective well-being: A propensity score matching approach. Demography, 53(4), 955–978. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-016-0480-z

Başlevent, C., & Kirmanoğlu, H. (2017). Gender inequality in Europe and the life satisfaction of working and non-working women. Journal of Happiness Studies, 18(1), 107–124. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-016-9719-z

Becker, G. S. (1981). Altruism in the family and selfishness in the market place. Economica, 48(189). https://doi.org/10.2307/2552939

Blanchflower, D. G., & Oswald, A. J. (2000). Well-being over time in Britain and the USA. Journal of Public Economics, 88(7–8), 1359–1386. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0047-2727(02)00168-8

Booth, A. L., & Van Ours, J. C. (2008). Job satisfaction and family happiness: The part‐time work puzzle. The Economic Journal, 118(526), 77–99. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0297.2007.02117.x

Bridges, S., & Owens, T. (2017). Female job satisfaction: Can we explain the part-time puzzle? Oxford Economic Papers, 69(3), 782–808. https://doi.org/10.1093/oep/gpw064

Bryson, A., & MacKerron, G. (2017). Are you happy while you work? The Economic Journal, 127(599), 106–125. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecoj.12269

Chapman, B., & Guven, C. (2016). Revisiting the relationship between marriage and wellbeing: Does marriage quality matter? Journal of Happiness Studies, 17, 533–551. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-014-9607-3

Chauhan, P. (2022) “I have no room of my own”: COVID-19 pandemic and work-from-home through a gender lens. Gender Issues, 39, 507–533. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12147-022-09302-0

Chen, S. P. (2020). Research on women’s happiness on main demographic variables. China Rural Education, (17) (in Chinese).

Cheng, C., & Wen, X. X. (2018). Relative income within household, gender identity and Chinese individual living happiness-empirical study based on CGSS data. Economic Review, (6), 127–139 (in Chinese).

Ciciolla, L., & Luthar, S. S. (2019). Invisible household labor and ramifications for adjustment: Mothers as captains of households. Sex Roles, 81(7), 467–486. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-018-1001-x

Davidson, M. J., & Burke, R. J. (2016). Women in management worldwide: Progress and prospects – An overview. In Women in management worldwide: Progress and prospects (pp. 1–18). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003062219-1

Díaz, M. Y. (2022). Making it work: How women negotiate labor market participation after the transition to motherhood. Advances in Life Course Research, 53, Article 100500. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.alcr.2022.100500

Diaz, T., & Bui, N. H. (2016). Subjective well-being in Mexican and Mexican American women: The role of acculturation, ethnic identity, gender roles, and perceived social support. Journal of Happiness Studies, 18(2), 607–624. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-016-9741-1

Du, F. L., Su, J. C., & Yang, X. S. (2020). Division of housework and family happiness. Studies in Labor Economics, (6), 64–86 (in Chinese).

Foster, G., & Stratton, L. S. (2019). What women want (their men to do): Housework and satisfaction in Australian households. Feminist Economics, 25(3), 23–47. https://doi.org/10.1080/13545701.2019.1609692

Foster, G., & Stratton, L. S. (2018). Do significant labor market events change who does the chores? Paid work, housework, and power in mixed-gender Australian households. Journal of Population Economics, 31(2), 483–519. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-017-0667-7

Gao, F. N. (2017). Research on the impact of income on the time allocation of urban double income families in China [Master’s thesis, Shaanxi Normal University] (in Chinese).

Graham, C., & Pettinato, S. (2001). Happiness, markets, and democracy: Latin America in comparative perspective. Journal of Happiness Studies, 2, 237–268. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011860027447

Gronau, R. (1977). Leisure, home production, and work – the theory of the allocation of time revisited. Journal of Political Economy, 85(6), 1099–1123. https://doi.org/10.1086/260629

Hori, M., & Kamo, Y. (2018). Gender differences in happiness: The effects of marriage, social roles, and social support in East Asia. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 13(4), 839–857. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-017-9559-y

Iqbal, F., Ahmad, M. B., Hussain, R. I., Aslam, S., & Ali, H. F. (2020). Time poverty among working females in Pakistan: A qualitative study. International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, 10(4), 170–175. https://doi.org/10.32479/ijefi.10251

Jiang, Y. L. (2019). The path analysis of the effect of education on subjective well-being. Advances in Psychology, 9(4), 726–738 (in Chinese).

Jongbloed, J. (2018). Higher education for happiness? Investigating the impact of education on the hedonic and eudaimonic well-being of Europeans. European Educational Research Journal, 17(5), 733–754. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474904118770818

Juhn, C., & Murphy, K. M. (1997). Wage inequality and family labor supply. Journal of Labor Economics, 15(1), 72–97. https://doi.org/10.1086/209847

Khalil, S., & Mansour, H. (2021). The impact of work and leisure importance on happiness in Egypt. International Journal of Happiness and Development, 6(4), 404–438. https://doi.org/10.1504/ijhd.2021.10041363

Khurshid, A. (2016). Domesticated gender (in) equality: Women’s education & gender relations among rural communities in Pakistan. International Journal of Educational Development, 51, 43–50. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2016.08.001

Krys, K., Vignoles, V. L., de Almeida, I., & Uchida, Y. (2022). Outside the “Cultural Binary”: Understanding why Latin American collectivist societies foster independent selves. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 17(4), 1166–1187. https://doi.org/10.1177/17456916211029632

Lašáková, A., Vojteková, M., & Procházková, L. (2023). What (de) motivates gen Z women and gen Z men at work? Comparative study of gender differences in the young generation’s motivation. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 24(4), 771–796. https://doi.org/10.3846/jbem.2023.20439

Le, A. T., & Miller, P. W. (2012). Satisfaction with time allocations within the family: The role of family type. Journal of Happiness Studies, 14(4), 1273–1289. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-012-9381-z

Lee, C. F., & Tang, S. M. (2022). What type of housework happiness do you prefer? Does gender and health matter? A Taiwanese study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(14), Article 8409. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19148409

Li, G. M. (2002). Collision and integration-modern diversion and value of traditional family ethic [Doctoral dissertation, Hunan Normal University] (in Chinese).

Li, Z. W., & Feng, X. L. (2021). Does a woman’s high family status make her happier? Statistical Research, (10), 121–133 (in Chinese).

Li, Z. (2021). Does family decision-making power improve women’s happiness? Journal of Family Issues, 43(8), 2016–2039. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513x211030025

Lin, B. R., & Ye, W. Z. (2015). A comparative study on gender equality consciousness of men and women – a case study of Southern Fujian. Journal of Fujian Provincial Committee Party School of CPC, (11), 66–73 (in Chinese).

Liu, A. Y., & Tong, X. (2014). The present situation of gender attitudes and the factors influencing them: Based on the third survey of women’s social status in China. Social Sciences in China, (2), 116–129 + 206–207 (in Chinese).

Liu, Y. C., & Hu, J. M. (2022). The influence of labor mobility on family happiness – Based on CFPS panel data of three periods. Journal of Changjiang University (Social Science Edition), (6), 105–114 (in Chinese).

Lundberg, S., & Pollak, R. A. (1993). Separate spheres bargaining and the marriage market. Journal of Political Economy, 101(6), 988–1010. https://doi.org/10.1086/261912

Mesaric, R., Mondal, A., Asmussen, K., Molloy, J., Bhat, C. R., & Axhausen, K. W. (2022). Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on activity time use and timing behavior in Switzerland. Transportation Research Record. https://doi.org/10.1177/03611981221087233

Mo, X., & Yang, Y. X. (2018). Subjective well-being of floating population from the perspective of stratified heterogeneity-empirical analysis based on hierarchical ranking model. Journal of Social Sciences of Hunan Normal University, (3), 91–98 (in Chinese).

Mogilner, C., & Norton, M. I. (2016). Time, money, and happiness. Current Opinion in Psychology, 10, 12–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.10.018

Muñoz-Comet, J., & Steinmetz, S. (2020). Trapped in precariousness? Risks and opportunities of female immigrants and natives transitioning from part-time jobs in Spain. Work, Employment and Society, 34(5), 749–768. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017020902974

Navarro, M., & Salverda, W. (2019). Earner position and job and life satisfaction: Do contributions to the household income have the same effect by gender and occupations? Journal of Happiness Studies, 20, 2227–2250. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-018-0045-5

OECD. (2021). OECD family database. https://www.oecd.org/els/family/database.htm

Okulicz-Kozaryn, A., & da Rocha Valente, R. (2017). Life satisfaction of career women and housewives. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 13(3), 603–632. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-017-9547-2

Onozaka, Y., & Hafzi, K. (2019). Household production in an egalitarian society. Social Forces, 97(3), 1127–1154. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soy066

Qing, S. S. (2019). Social-cultural roots of gender income difference in China: Evidence from the gender role attitudes. Sociological Studies, (1), 106–131+244 (in Chinese).

Salland, J. (2018). Income comparison, gender roles and life satisfaction. Applied Economics Letters, 25(20), 1436–1439. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504851.2018.1430305

Shi, H. M. (2006). The study on married women’s time allocation [Doctoral dissertation, Xiamen University] (in Chinese).

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (2020). The World’s women 2020: Trends and statistics. United Nations. https://www.un.org/en/desa/world’s-women-2020

Valente, R. R., & Berry, B. J. L. (2017). Acculturation of immigrant Latinos into the US workplace: Evidence from the working hours-life satisfaction relationship. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 12(2), 451–479. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-016-9471-x

Varshney, D. (2019). The strides of the Saudi female workforce: Overcoming constraints and contradictions in transition. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 20(2), 359–372. https://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol20/iss2/24

Vedder, O. (2023). Eliminating the gendered division of labor: The argument from primary goods. European Journal of Political Theory. https://doi.org/10.1177/14748851231200147

Wang, Q. Y., & Xu, W. (2019). You are happy, and so am I – A study on happiness spillover within households. China’s Economic Problems, (4), 124–136 (in Chinese).

Wang, S. G., Tian, X., & Chao, H. S. (2017). Marriage structure and marriage happiness: A comparison of the couples’ age, education and family background. South China Population, 32(4), 36–44 (in Chinese).

Wei, Q., Su, H. Y., Lv, J., Yao , J., & Jin, C. Y. (2020). Research on the influence of family size, social support, health status on the subjective well-being of rural Elderly women. Northwest Population, 195(5), 106–115 (in Chinese).

Wu, H. F. (2020). Relative income status within marriage and subjective well-being in China: Evidence from observational and quasi-experimental data. Journal of Happiness Studies, 22, 447–466. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-020-00237-5

Wu, S., & Zheng, X. (2020). The effect of family adaptation and cohesion on the well-being of married women: A multiple mediation effect. The Journal of General Psychology, 147(1), 90–107. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221309.2019.1635075

Xie, Y., & Hu, J. (2014). An introduction to the China family panel studies (CFPS). Chinese Sociological Review, 47(1), 3–29. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2753/CSA2162-0555470101.2014.11082908

Xu, S. Y., & Chen, P. (2017). Income, social status and happiness: Fairness perception perspective. Journal of Management Sciences in China, (12), 99–116 (in Chinese).

Xu, W. L., Li, C. J., Chai, Y. W., & Zhang, Y. (2021). Analyzing the changes in residents’ space-time behaviors and constraints factors under the influences of the COVID-19. Urban Development Studies, 28(3), 3–9+17 (in Chinese).

Zhang, Y. P. (2019). Research on the effect of labour hours on happiness of urban workers [Master’s thesis, Inner Mongolia University] (in Chinese).

Zhang, Y., Gao, Y., Zhan, C., Liu, T., & Li, X. (2022). Subjective well-being of professional females: A case study of Dalian high-tech industrial zone. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.904298

Zheng, F., & Lu, Y. (2013). Income satisfaction: Turning point estimation and policy guidance. Southern Economy, 8, 78–89 (in Chinese).

Zilanawala, A. (2016), Women’s time poverty and family structure: Differences by parenthood and employment. Journal of Family Issues, 37(3), 369–392. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X14542432