This paper contributes to cross-cultural literature on work–family relationships by testing not only hypotheses about the impact of work and family demands and gender at individual level on work–family conflict (WFC), but also at country level. Concretely, several theories commonly used in the literature (role conflict, boundary management and social support theory) are used to analyzed how national culture dimensions affects WFC. Using information about employee residents in each of the countries interviewed in the Second European Quality of Life Survey and also GLOBE dimensions of national culture, the paper shows that the relationship between work and family demands and WFC is universal and equal phenomenon throughout Europe. In line with gender role theory, demanding and stressing work have stronger effects on women’s WFC than on men’s. While opposite to it, household hours also have stronger effect on women’s WFC than on men’s. Moreover, the paper shows that national culture affects how people perceive work–family relationships. In line with integration/segmentation hypotheses derived from boundary management theory, uncertainty avoidance decreases WFC. Moreover, in line with social support, human orientation decreases the level of WFC, especially for men. Eastern Europe and Mediterranean countries have higher levels of WFC, while Scandinavian countries are those that have lower levels of WFC.

In the context of the debate about the effectiveness of implementing new work practices, such as job rotation, teamwork and enhancing job autonomy, this article analyses their relationship with different dimensions of workers’ effort. Using two different but complementary data sets, our study reveals that in general these new work practices are associated to greater voluntary and involuntary mental effort, with a weaker link with involuntary physical effort. Besides this general trend our study also shows that different practices play different roles in different dimensions of employee effort.

Using ordered probit and Heckit models, this paper analyses the determinants of sports attendance, differentiating between professional and amateur sporting events and consumption in Spain. The results suggest that there are two main reasons for developing different strategies to attract more spectators and increase revenues. Firstly, the determinants for attendance at both sporting events are clearly different. Results show that attendance at professional sporting events is positively associated with regional income, individual socio-economic characteristics, fan motivation and sports supply. On the other hand, attendance at amateur sporting events is associated less strongly with income variables but more with social interactions motivation, children at home, sports participation and Internet usage at regional level. Secondly, consumer expenditure on attendance should be analysed in terms of two separate decisions: consumption and amount of money spent at sporting events. Both decisions are explained by different individual and regional variables.