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Individualism and working from home

Bietenbeck, Jan LU ; Irmert, Natalie LU and Nilsson, Therese LU (2025) In Economic Inquiry
Abstract
We show that culturally transmitted individualism is an important determinant of working from home (WFH). Using individual-level data from the U.S. Current Population Survey (CPS) and the European Social Survey (ESS), we compare immigrants and their descendants from different cultural backgrounds residing in the same location. A 10-point increase in country-of-origin individualism (0–100 scale) increases the likelihood of WFH by 3.9 percentage points and WFH hours by 1.12 per week in the CPS, and frequent WFH by 2 percentage points in the ESS. Individualism appears to affect WFH partly through higher educational attainment and occupational selection.
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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
epub
subject
in
Economic Inquiry
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
ISSN
1465-7295
DOI
10.1111/ecin.70037
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
59dd3322-bec8-4f9b-a8b2-fdbe2a5ff6b3
date added to LUP
2025-12-16 09:23:35
date last changed
2025-12-19 16:06:44
@article{59dd3322-bec8-4f9b-a8b2-fdbe2a5ff6b3,
  abstract     = {{We show that culturally transmitted individualism is an important determinant of working from home (WFH). Using individual-level data from the U.S. Current Population Survey (CPS) and the European Social Survey (ESS), we compare immigrants and their descendants from different cultural backgrounds residing in the same location. A 10-point increase in country-of-origin individualism (0–100 scale) increases the likelihood of WFH by 3.9 percentage points and WFH hours by 1.12 per week in the CPS, and frequent WFH by 2 percentage points in the ESS. Individualism appears to affect WFH partly through higher educational attainment and occupational selection.}},
  author       = {{Bietenbeck, Jan and Irmert, Natalie and Nilsson, Therese}},
  issn         = {{1465-7295}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Economic Inquiry}},
  title        = {{Individualism and working from home}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ecin.70037}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/ecin.70037}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}