The Effect of Task, Organizational, and Family Factors on Taking Parental Leave: Gender Differences among Employees

Abstract

Parental leave is one of most important policies for employees working in nations like Japan that suffer from a low birthrate. Despite the various plans implemented by the Japanese government, fathers take much less parental leave than mothers. In the Japanese culture, which emphasizes gender role differentiation, male employees are more afraid than their female counterparts of providing unfavorable signals to their employers about their motivation for work and performance if they take parental leave. The present research examined data from 1553 Japanese employees, revealing that individual work and family factors influence the behaviors of female employees but not those of male employees. However, the perception of organizational support and knowledge, which reduces the fear of unfavorable signals for taking parental leave, impact both male and female employees.