Breaking the Persistence of Extra-Long Working Hours in Elite Management Consulting Firms: Learning from the Danish Case

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Georg Schreyögg (†)
• Subject Area: Accounting and Finance
• Term: from 2015 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 264980500

This follow-up project deals with the possibilities for breaking the extra-long (>60 h/week) working hours regime prevalent among elite management consulting firms in Germany. Major aim is to explore the deviant case of the Danish subsidiaries of the same firms because of the radically different working time patterns observed there. We thereby build on the findings of our initial DFG-funded project on industry level dynamics of path dependence as a potential explanation for the persistence of long working hours in Germany. In so doing, we seek to contribute to the rather slim literature on breaking path dependence by exploring and theorizing the conditions that allow for the emergence of alternative, more humanly sustainable working time arrangements in the Danish context. Methodologically, we pursue a comparative case-study approach, expanding our original focus on Germany by an empirical investigation of the contrasting Danish case. Drawing on in-depth interviewing and participant observation in Denmark, we expect to identify the central mechanisms and processes underlying the deviant working time regimes.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants