Entitled or misunderstood? Towards the repositioning of the sense of entitlement concept in the generational difference debate

Article


Chatrakul Na Ayudhya, U. and Smithson, J. 2016. Entitled or misunderstood? Towards the repositioning of the sense of entitlement concept in the generational difference debate. Community, Work and Family. 19 (2), pp. 213-226. https://doi.org/10.1080/13668803.2016.1134116
TypeArticle
TitleEntitled or misunderstood? Towards the repositioning of the sense of entitlement concept in the generational difference debate
AuthorsChatrakul Na Ayudhya, U. and Smithson, J.
Abstract

This paper contributes to debates in the broad area of generational differences at work. Specifically, we locate this study within the literature of the work values and expectations of the ‘Millennial generation’, also known as ‘GenMe’ (Twenge, 2006; 2010). Much has been made in the media and popular practitioner literature about how the latest generation of workers have a ‘sense of entitlement’ and therefore expect more from the workplace than previous generations. In this paper, we argue that this mainstream view of the sense of entitlement as a concept is problematic and requires a more critical examination. We consider two divergent bodies of literature on the sense of entitlement in relation to generational differences at work – a manageralist approach, which conceptualises sense of entitlement to work-life balance (WLB) as a negative trait, and a second body, based on the seminal work by Sue Lewis and colleagues, that treats sense of entitlement as a situated process rather than an internal characteristic. We use data from a study of young adults leaving university in the UK, inspired by Sue’s work. Our analysis challenges the notion of today’s younger workers as more ‘entitled’ than previous generations. This study extends existing research by providing a contextualised analysis of young people’s situated accounts of sense of entitlement at work.

Research GroupDiversity and Gender group
PublisherTaylor and Francis
JournalCommunity, Work and Family
ISSN1366-8803
Publication dates
Online12 Feb 2016
Print14 Mar 2016
Publication process dates
Deposited19 Mar 2018
Accepted15 Dec 2015
Output statusPublished
Accepted author manuscript
Copyright Statement

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Community, Work & Family on 12/02/2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13668803.2016.1134116

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1080/13668803.2016.1134116
LanguageEnglish
Permalink -

https://repository.mdx.ac.uk/item/878z2

  • 27
    total views
  • 22
    total downloads
  • 0
    views this month
  • 0
    downloads this month

Export as