Many stay-home parents opt not to re-enter the workforce even when their family circumstances permit and when they are still capable of working. They represent a significant yet underutilized resource in the labor market, but have surprisingly received little attention from management scholars. Our paper seeks to address this gap by developing a conceptual model to propose various learning behaviors that stay-home parents may engage in during their career break. By drawing on theories of emotions and spousal interactions, we explore how regret and spousal support shape these learning behaviors and subsequent attempts to seek re-employment. We hope our work sparks further academic dialogue and research on how to better support stay-home parents in their careers when they are available and keen to re-enter the workforce.
