How do managerial, task, and individual factors influence flexible work arrangement participation and abandonment?

Since the enactment of the Smartwork policy permitting flexible work arrangements (FWA), increasing numbers of Korean government agencies have allowed their staff to participate in FWA that help them achieve a good work/life balance. Yet, Korean public employees in general are reluctant to participate in FWA and many that initially participate wind up abandoning FWA. With a comprehensive theoretical framework, this article examines how managerial factors, task factors, and individual characteristics influence Korean public employee participation in and abandonment of FWA. With the 2016 Survey of Public Employee Perception on Smartwork, this article finds that all of these factors and characteristics affect Korean government employee participation in and/or abandonment of FWA. In particular, the findings present that supervisory support for balancing work/life issues increases FWA participation and decreases FWA abandonment. On the other hand, the findings illustrate that a hierarchical organizational culture is an obstacle to FWA participation and increases FWA abandonment. Key points: Supervisory support for balancing work and life issues is critical to enhancing the participation rate of flexible work arrangements (FWA) programs. Supportive organizational culture should take place to facilitate the public employee participation in FWA programs. Task characteristics matter for participation in and abandonment of FWA programs.