Creating new perspectives on work-home interface : a cross-cultural comparison of Malta, Serbia and the Netherlands

Cultural context plays an important role in the way employees combine work and home duties. Insights in the role of cultural context are highly relevant for setting up effective interventions and policies to reduce negative work home interface and improve health and well-being of individuals. Data for the studies in this thesis were collected in Malta, Serbia and The Netherlands. Besides work and home characteristics, such as work demands and family situation, cultural context plays an important role. The role of culture is impacting the negotiation of combining work and home demands, and this negotiation is intertwined with the cultural norms and expectations, gender and age. Different aspects appear to be relevant in different cultures. For example, colleague support is important in the Netherlands, and in other contexts it is not. Convergence of policies at EU level will not contribute to better work-home interface. A culturally sensitive approach in policies and interventions is called for.