Lecture
Factors Influencing Maternal Employment After Childbirth: A Comparative Analysis between Japan and Three European Countries
- Date
- Thursday 30 April 2026
- Time
- Series
- LIAS Lunch Talk Series
- Location
-
Herta Mohr
Witte Singel 27A
2311 BG Leiden
Abstract
This study examines the factors and processes influencing the length of continued employment after childbirth (“employment continuity”). Two hypotheses are tested. First, supervisors’ servant leadership is expected to have a positive effect on employment continuity. Second, supervisors’ servant leadership is expected to enhance employees’ psychological safety, which in turn promotes proactive voice behavior and ultimately contributes to longer employment continuity. The study presents a comparative analysis between Japan and three European countries, namely the Netherlands, France, and the United Kingdom, based on questionnaire survey data collected from women who remained employed after childbirth. The analysis includes responses from 129 women in Japan and 326 women in the three European countries. The results show that Hypothesis 1 is not supported in either Japan or the three European countries, whereas Hypothesis 2 is supported only in Japan.
About the speaker
Youngjae Koh is a professor at the School of Cultural and Creative Studies at Aoyama Gakuin University and has been a visiting scholar at the Leiden University Institute for Area Studies since August 2025. She specializes in innovation management and organizational theory within the field of business management. Her research explores key challenges in contemporary workplaces, including the factors influencing women’s continued employment and career development after childbirth, as well as the dynamics of breaking organizational inertia to foster technological innovation through cognitive disruption. In addition, her work examines the determinants of work-from-home performance and investigates how the introduction of AI systems can create constraints on organizational flexibility.