Browsing by Author "Kobayashi K"

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Changing overwork culture: Stakeholder management for employee wellbeing and social sustainability in large Japanese companies
(ERP Environment and John Wiley and Sons Ltd, 2024-05-13) Kobayashi K; Eweje G; Tappin D
Effectively addressing overwork culture in business remains a challenge, despite growing concerns about its negative impacts on employee wellbeing and productivity. This paper investigates corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives and stakeholder management promoted by large Japanese companies to address overwork culture. Based on interviews with managers and stakeholders from 31 companies, the study reveals that despite being part of CSR, overwork reduction initiatives often come into conflict with entrenched institutional pressures. These pressures are embedded in a cultural-cognitive and institutional context that prioritises quality and cooperation over individual productivity. We argue that improving stakeholder relationships is vital for developing a healthy and productive workstyle and for reactivating institutional dynamics that are fundamental to employee wellbeing, productivity and broader social sustainability. By clarifying the role and processes of stakeholder management, this paper contributes to the discourse on overwork and CSR, offering new insights into how to effectively address overwork culture.
Gender equality discourse: a Japanese context
(Emerald Publishing Limited, 2025-12-15) Eweje G; Toyosaki H; Kobayashi K; Chen SM; Hosoda M
Purpose This review paper aims to critically examine the discourse on gender equality in Japan, focusing on its socio-cultural, economic and political dimensions. By synthesising existing literature, it provides a comprehensive understanding of the complexities and barriers that influence the gender equality debate in Japan, while identifying gaps and opportunities for future research and specifying where practice can be recoupled to policy. Design/methodology/approach An integrative literature review was conducted across four key institutional domains – markets, government/public sector, families and education – analysed at the macro, meso and micro levels. The synthesis is integrative rather than exhaustive, prioritising analytic coverage over completeness. Findings The dynamic relationship between institutional pressures and cultural norms reinforces traditional gender roles across domains. While global pressures and progressive policies have catalysed some change, entrenched routines and weak enforcement often constrain substantive transformation. Decoupling is concentrated at two interfaces: macro to meso (policy to organisation) and meso to micro (organisation to household). Originality/value This study integrates institutional multiplicity with the three-cycle social innovation lens to demonstrate how Japan’s competing logics sustain policy–practice decoupling and to identify where recoupling can begin. It specifies two actionable interfaces (macro to meso and meso to micro), aligns practical levers to each and proposes illustrative indicators that make early recoupling observable for internal monitoring and public reporting, providing usable guidance for policymakers and organisations.
SME employee perceptions about future work–life flexibility: findings from New Zealand
(Taylor and Francis Group, 2025-06-17) Scott J; Macpherson W; Tootell B; Kobayashi K; Kelly S
Employees of New Zealand small and medium enterprises (SMEs) desire more work–life flexibility and are seeking change in the workplace. Applying institutional theory and the related concept of institutional work as our theoretical frame, we explored employee perceptions about working arrangements and found a substantial desire for change. Specifically, 71% of 619 employees surveyed wanted more work–life flexibility, with the research highlighting three constructs that contribute to employee perceptions about their work and nonwork interface: working pattern control, job flexibility, and a sense of being respected. The findings are significant and novel as they illustrate a renewed desire on the part of employees to change work arrangement practices in response to recent lived experiences. Given these demands for flexibility are now being driven from an employee rather than employer perspective, this could lead to the development of new normative expectations that would place pressure on SMEs to change work arrangements in response to employees’ active agency. In current high-employment environments, employee flexibility is likely to facilitate a recruitment and retention advantage, and each of the identified constructs will potentially play a fundamental major role in employee–employer relationships.
Survey reveals two-thirds of NZ employees want more work-life flexibility – How should employers respond?
(The Conversation Media Group Ltd, 2022-09-16) Macpherson W; Tootell B; Scott J; Kobayashi K
The Future of Work: Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Workplace. (Report 16). BusinessFirstNZ
(2023-11-21) Scott J; Macpherson W; Kobayashi K
This report summarises the fourth BusinessFirstNZ workshop for 2024, and 17th in the series, hosted by the Massey Business School to engage local businesses. The initiative seeks to assist business leaders to highlight business problems and seek practical solutions in their pursuit of business excellence and sustainable competitive advantage. In this half-day workshop, Associate Professor David Brougham from the School of Management gave attendees an overview and update of AI before helping them explore how it can be used in their working and daily lives for greater efficiency, effectiveness, and ultimately productivity. David drew on his expertise and research in the future of work to take participants through an afternoon of considering how emerging technologies might impact their workplace. The focus of the workshop was supporting attendees to think about the challenges and opportunities their business is likely to face in the next ten years, the jobs that might be automated in their industry, and to focus on the future of automation in their line of work. Highlights of the workshop included: • An overview of disruptive technologies, their impact on companies, and understanding the adoption of new ideas, products, and activities • Discussion on the different ways businesses already engage with AI tools, such as ChatGPT • Brainstorming about the ways in which businesses might use AI tools in the future • Implications for businesses as AI tools continue to become more mainstream