Dutch or English?

Judging from the statistics quite a few visitors to this site are probably not familiar with the Dutch language – and I’m not just thinking of that single follower from Russia. Secondly, my supervisor has advised me to write my PhD thesis in English, and I could do with a little practice. Thirdly, most Dutch visitors are able to read English anyway. So I’ve chosen English as the main language for this site.

The employee, however, is protected by Dutch law. He may apply for a second opinion from an independent organisation, in this case UWV (implementing employee insurances). In my thesis I shall investigate the factors that contribute to these conflicts, and the reason why the parties involved prefer to resolve them with the help of a third party.
In a broader sense this subject has been researched before, and I feel particularly drawn to the concept of job embeddedness, which argues why individuals stay at an organization. Mitchell et al. distinguish various factors affecting the extent to which individuals feel embedded in their jobs. I’m very interested in the so-called ‘off-the-job’ factors, such as the links between the employee and the community, and the sacrifices involved in leaving an organization. If these factors contribute to one’s absence from work, they may also help explain why the absence sometimes leads to a conflict with an employer.

Of-the-job factors are 'Link to the community' (the significant influence of family and other institutions), 'Fit of the community' (how well a person fits the community and surrounding environment) and 'Sacrifice' (if one has to  relocate, how easy it is to leave certain gains).

This site is very much meant to be a communication platform, so feel free to offer your comments on this opening statement - or anything I'll be posting in the future!