Flexibility I‐deals for whom? A critical exploration of the complexities of boundary management and unequal access to flexibility negotiation
本特刊探讨谁获得灵活性个性化协议、谁从中受益及条件，发现获取和结果因员工群体而异，尤其关注少数族裔、残疾、年长及弱势员工，并构建多阶段过程模型揭示谈判中的权力与不平等。
Abstract The central questions addressed in this special issue are who receives flexibility i‐deals, who benefits from them, and under what conditions. Although flexibility i‐deals are often portrayed as individualized arrangements that enhance well‐being and work–life integration, the articles in this issue show that access to and outcomes of such deals are unevenly distributed across employees and social groups. Collectively, the papers examine how flexibility i‐deals are shaped by individual, organizational, and societal barriers, with particular attention to underexamined groups such as ethnic minority employees, employees with disabilities, older workers, and workers with limited bargaining power. Across diverse contexts, the studies demonstrate that flexibility i‐deals are negotiated, granted, and enacted within relational systems structured by power, legitimacy, and status. Building on these contributions, this editorial develops a multilevel process model of flexibility i‐deals that captures barriers across the stages of requesting, negotiation, granting, implementation, and outcomes. By drawing attention to relational inequality of access to flexibility i‐deals, the special issue challenges the assumption of a symmetric bargaining space and reconceptualises flexibility i‐deals as arrangements that may either alleviate or reproduce organizational inequality.