INSTITUTIONAL AND RESOURCE DEPENDENCE DETERMINANTS OF RESPONSIVENESS TO WORK FAMILY ISSUES

Whether and how organizations choose strategies that address pressures from both their exchange and the institutional environments has recen tly become a central question in organization theory. We used the Nati onal Organizations Study to replicate and extend Goodstein's applicati on of Oliver's framework integrating resource dependence and instituti onal theories to explain organizational responsiveness to work-family issues. We found that organizations' responsiveness to work-family iss ues was determined by both the institutional environment and demands f or work-family programs from important exchange partners.