Non-standard work arrangements and national context

•Culture, institutions, public policy and non-standard work arrangements.•Multinational comparative context.•Flexibility and work-family balance.

SummaryNational context is an important component of organizational settings. Employing a sample of 1893 companies operating in 15 countries we draw from institutional and cultural approaches to examine the relationship between public expenditure on national family-leave policies, employment legislation and culture on one hand and use of two bundles of non-standard work arrangements (NSWAs), namely flexibility patterns and part-time options, in firms on the other. Utilizing hierarchical linear modeling, we find that all three national level measures influence the use of NSWAs in organizations. The specific relationships vary depending on both context and type of NSWA. These results provide evidence on the diverse impact of public expenditure on family-leave policies, employment protection laws and culture when dealing with NSWA use in organizations.