Essays on Professionals' Temporal Autonomy

Professionals struggle to control their work time, despite often (1) having relatively greater control over their work tasks, and (2) wanting to control their work time. My dissertation addresses this empirical and theoretical puzzle by refining our understanding of why professionals face difficulties expanding their temporal autonomy, and identifying mechanisms and processes that can address these barriers. I draw upon data from four separate ethnographic studies of STEM professionals. In my first essay, I identify conditions under which managers either support or limit employees’ use of flexible work policies, and in turn, facilitate increases in professionals’ temporal autonomy. In my second essay, I show how professionals— independent of managers—collaborate to expand control over their work hours. In my third essay, I show how professionals’ temporal autonomy is shaped by family responsibilities. Overall, I contribute to the literature on professions, as well as related literatures on temporality and time in organizations, flexible work schedules, and the work-life interface. This dissertation also contributes to our understanding of gender inequality by showing how gendered experiences of time subtly disadvantage women.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctoral

Department dc:contributor.department

Sloan School of Management

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2021

Author dc:creator

• Conzon, Vanessa Mariangela

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Kelly, Erin L.
• Silbey, Susan S.

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
• Copyright MIT

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/139192

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/139192