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Leisure time with colleagues may be beneficial on the job, researchers say
Melissa
Mitchell, News Editor
217-333-5491; melissa@illinois.edu
|
Released
6/4/07
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — If the 1961 Broadway hit “How to Succeed in Business Without Really
Trying” were updated to reflect today’s workplace realities,
the remake might feature the corporate-ladder climbing character “Finch”
bowling, returning tennis serves or simply tossing back beers with his
colleagues after work.
At least, that’s the script researchers at the University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign might write, based on results of a study published
in a recent issue of the Journal of Leisure Research.
While the U. of I. researchers focused their study on a more narrow
sector of the American workforce – Korean immigrants living in
Chicago – principal investigator Monika Stodolska, a professor
of recreation, sport and tourism, said they have reason to believe that increased leisure-time associations
with colleagues may universally lead to on-the-job success.
“One can postulate that its results can be applied not only to
minorities, but also to mainstream Americans as well,” Stodolska
and graduate student co-authors Matthew Marcinkowski and Jouyeon Yi-Kook
(now at Seoul National University) concluded in their report.
The objective of the study was to determine whether ethnic enclosure
in leisure among Korean immigrants had a negative or positive influence
on their economic advancement in the United States. In this context,
“ethnic enclosure” refers to the tendency of some immigrants
to live, work and socialize within the confines of tightly knit communities,
rather than assimilating and associating with “mainstream”
Americans.
The research indicated that Korean immigrants who socialized with non-Koreans
in leisure settings, who spent time with their mainstream co-workers
in leisure-related situations, and had close non-Korean friends had
significantly higher incomes than those who rarely ventured outside
their own group.
The U. of I. professor said that while much scholarship in the fields
of sociology and ethnic studies has focused on retention of ethnicity,
ethnic enclosure and related issues linked to immigrants’ mobility
and economic achievement, “nobody had studied the role of leisure.
It was this gap that we tried to fill.”
In their study, the researchers analyzed survey responses from 204 people
ranging in age from 18 to 81. Fifty-seven percent of respondents were
male; 43 percent, female. The majority (86 percent) of the respondents
were married or in a common-law relationship and had lived in the United
States for more than 10 years (76.8 percent). Nearly half (48 percent)
were high school graduates; 44 percent earned college degrees in Korea.
They were prompted to provide information regarding their leisure associations
not only among co-workers, but with mainstream American friends in general.
Their level of ethnic enclosure with respect to leisure choices was
evaluated on the basis of four criteria: the predominant language used
when engaging in leisure activities such as reading and viewing and
listening to television and radio programs; whether or not they had
friends outside their ethnic community; how often they participated
in leisure pursuits withnon-Koreans; and how often they socialized with
non-Korean co-workers in activities such as attending lunches, going
to bars after work, and attending parties and socials organized by their
employers.
Interestingly, Stodolska said, participants in this study – as
well as a related, qualitative study of Korean, Mexican and Polish immigrants
– indicated that they were very aware of the benefits of hanging
out with mainstream friends and associates.
“They are aware of the role of leisure in their upward mobility
and are making calculated choices to associate with people outside of
their communities,” she said. “In the other study, a lawyer
told us he knew he was passed over for promotion because he was not
a member of the inner circle.”
Similarly, the comments of a Chinese-American woman surveyed in another
study examining leisure trends in ethnically enclosed communities revealed
that she regarded spending time in bars with mainstream friends as a
means to an end, and nothing more.
“She reported she goes to bars for one reason,” Stodolska
said, sharing the young woman’s response: “Practice English.
It is a task. A burden. Something I push myself to do. It’s no
fun.”
Despite many respondents’ apparent knowledge that their chances
for economic advancement may improve if they are able to establish social
networks outside their communities, half of the sample in the study
of Korean immigrants indicated they had no friends outside their ethnic
group.
In many cases, members of certain immigrant communities, such as Latinos,
“may not always be allowed inside mainstream networks because
of racism,” Stodolska said.
In cases where significant levels of discrimination routinely occur,
members of those immigrant groups may actually fare better when they
remain within their ethnically enclosed communities, she said.
To better understand such dynamics, Stodolska advocates continued research
emphasizing cross-ethnic comparisons – “to examine whether
and to what degree minority groups differ in terms of leisure-time associations
and economic achievement.”
The current study was supported by a grant from the U. of I.’s
Campus Research Board.
