Impact of value congruence on work-family conflicts: the mediating role of work-related support

Based on past research regarding the relationship between person-environment fit and work-family conflict (WFC), we examined the mediating effects of perceived organization/supervisor support on the relationship between person-organization/supervisor value congruence and WFC. A structural equation model was used to test three hypotheses using data collected from 637 workers in Taiwan. Person-organization value congruence regarding role boundaries was found to be positively correlated with employee perception of organizational support, resulting in reduced WFC. Person-supervisor value congruence regarding role boundaries also increased employee perception of organizational support, mediated by perceived supervisor support. Research and managerial implications are discussed.     

LMX,Breach Perceptions,Work-Family Conflict,and Well-Being: A Mediational Model

Despite research advances, work-family scholars still lack an understanding of how leadership constructs relate to an employee's ability to effectively manage the work–family interface. In addition, there remains a need to examine the process through which leadership and work-family conflict influence well-being outcomes. Using a sample of 312 workers, a mediated process model grounded in social exchange theory is tested wherein the authors seek to explain how leaders shape employee perceptions, which, in turn, impact organizational fulfillment of expectations (i.e., psychological contract breach), work-family conflict, and well-being. A fully latent structural equation model was used to test study hypotheses, all of which were supported. Building on existing theory, findings suggest that the supervisor plays a critical role as a frontline representative for the organization and that work-family conflict is reduced and well-being enhanced through a process of social exchange between the supervisor and worker.     

家庭支持型主管行为对员工工作态度的影响:有调节的中介效应分析

采用问卷法调查了358名企业员工,探讨家庭支持型主管行为(FSSB)对工作满意感和离职意愿等工作态度的作用机制。结果表明:(1)FSSB对工作满意感有显著正向影响,对离职意愿有显著负向影响。(2)工作-家庭增益在FSSB与工作满意感之间起着中介作用,而工作-家庭冲突的中介作用不显著;工作-家庭增益与冲突在FSSB与离职意愿之间的中介作用均不显著。(3)边界控制感调节了FSSB—工作-家庭增益—工作满意感这一中介过程。本研究提示可通过干预FSSB来提升员工的工作态度。     

Which Dominates? The Relative Importance of Work-Family Organizational Support and General Organizational Context on Employee Outcomes

Recent research has examined the influence of organizational work-family context on employee outcomes. However, this construct has not been investigated in concert with broader indicants of organizational context. Thus, it remains unexplored whether work-family context accounts for unique variance in employee outcomes or whether its potential effects are confounded by, or better explained by, general organizational context. This study used dominance analysis to investigate the relative effects of general organizational context and work-family context on several important employee outcomes. Results indicate that work-family context is important in explaining variance in work-family specific outcomes such as work-to-family conflict. However, work-family context fails to explain unique variance in job satisfaction and affective commitment when studied alongside three broader indicants of general organization context (perceived organizational support, perceived fair interpersonal treatment, and trust). These findings have implications for both research and practice.     

Supported Supervisors Are More Supportive,but Why? A Multilevel Study of Mechanisms and Outcomes

This study examines organizational support theory as it extends to supervisor support by (1) testing two explanations for the relationship between supervisors’ perceived organizational support and their supportive supervision and (2) examining perceived supervisor support in relation to subordinate performance and commitment. Multisource survey data from a correctional facility, with a matched sample of 51 supervisors and 283 subordinates, were collected. Multilevel structural equation modeling was used for analysis. Supervisors were more supportive when they felt supportive treatment was preferred by the organization and less supportive when they felt obligated to help the organization. Perceived supervisor support was associated with subordinate performance and commitment at the subordinate level (i.e., among employees reporting to the same supervisor) but not at the supervisor level (i.e., across supervisor-follower groups). Employees who feel supported by their supervisor perform better and are more committed to their employer. To encourage supervisor support, organizations should both model support to supervisors and communicate the expectation for supervisor support. Supervisors who feel obligated to reciprocate to a supportive organization may be less inclined to support their subordinates. This study examines the prevailing, yet untested, mechanism (felt obligation) used to explain the relationship between supervisor’s perceptions of organizational support and their supportive supervision, as well as an alternative explanation based on social information processing. The study provides a nuanced multilevel analysis of perceived supervisor support as related to subordinate outcomes and extends previous models by including subordinate withdrawal and commitment.     

组织支持感对工作投入与工作家庭冲突关系的调节作用

在国内外研究的基础上,以207名企业员工为被试,运用问卷调查法和分层回归分析统计方法,考察了工作投入与工作家庭冲突的关系,并考察了组织支持感在工作投入与工作家庭冲突之间的调节作用。结果表明：工作投入对时间冲突和行为冲突都具有显著的负向预测作用。组织支持感在工作投入与行为冲突的关系中起调节作用。     

CONTRIBUTORS TO STRESS RESISTANCE

This study integrated work-family research with the stress resource perspective and organizational leadership theory. Based on the premise that stress is a major contributor to work-family conflict, this research examined resources likely to reduce the stress and work-family conflict women experience. Family emotional support, leader-member exchange, and hardiness were explored as potential resources. The 206 participants were recruited in daycare centers, a business community, and a university setting. The sample was diverse in terms of ethnicity and occupation. However, the majority of the women were married (68%) with children (82%). Path analytic tests supported most of the relationships in the hypothesized model. Findings suggest that having a high-quality relationship with one's supervisor may have complex implications for work-family conflict.     

When supervisors feel supported: relationships with subordinates' perceived supervisor support, perceived organizational support, and performance

The authors surveyed full-time retail employees and their supervisors to investigate relationships of supervisors' perceived organizational support (POS) with subordinates' perceptions of support from their supervisors (perceived supervisor support [PSS]), POS, and in-role and extra-role performance. The authors found that supervisors' POS was positively related to their subordinates' perceptions of supervisor support. Subordinates' PSS, in turn, was positively associated with their POS, in-role performance, and extra-role performance. Beyond these bivariate relationships, subordinates' perceptions of support from the supervisor mediated positive relationships of the supervisors' POS with the subordinates' POS and performance. These findings suggest that supervisors who feel supported by the organization reciprocate with more supportive treatment for subordinates.     

工作场所中他人感知的员工工作-家庭冲突：刻板印象视角

以往研究发现工作场所中他人感知的员工工作-家庭冲突对员工工作结果具有重要影响, 但相关研究处于起步阶段。在文献回顾的基础上, 从刻板印象理论出发, 提出可能影响他人感知员工工作-家庭冲突的工作、家庭相关因素; 采用能力-热情维度框架探讨他人感知员工工作-家庭冲突的作用机制及其结果。今后研究可在整合工作-家庭冲突研究和刻板印象理论的基础上, 对他人感知员工工作-家庭冲突的形成及人际效用机制等方面进行拓展。     

Influences on employee perceptions of organizational work–life support: Signals and resources

This study examined predictors of employee perceptions of organizational work–life support. Using organizational support theory and conservation of resources theory, we reasoned that workplace demands and resources shape employees' perceptions of work–life support through two mechanisms: signaling that the organization cares about their work–life balance and helping them develop and conserve resources needed to meet work and nonwork responsibilities. Consistent with our hypotheses, we found that higher demands (work hours and work overload) were associated with reduced perceptions that the organization was supportive of work–life integration. Resources (job security, fit between employees' needs and the flexible work options available to them, supervisor support and work group support) were positively associated with perceptions of organizational work–life support. The results of this study urge further scholarly attention to work-based demands and resources as predictors of perceived organizational work–life support and yield implications for managerial practice.     

Flexing Work Boundaries: The Spillover and Crossover of Workplace Support

Using boundary theory and conservation of resources theory, we examined how job incumbents’ perceptions of supervisor instrumental support and organizational segmentation support influence outcomes for both the incumbent and the spouse. First, we examined how supervisor instrumental support and organizational segmentation support shape incumbents’ perceived ability to flex work boundaries and thus affect their experience of family functioning and their organizational commitment. Second, we examine the effects of supervisor instrumental support and organizational segmentation support on spousal martial satisfaction and the spouse's commitment to the incumbent's employing organization as mediated through boundary flexibility and the spouse's perception of successful boundary management by the incumbent. Using a matched set of 503 subordinates and their spouses, this study found that both supervisor instrumental support and organizational segmentation support contribute to work boundary flexibility. Further, for the incumbent, family functioning and organizational commitment were enhanced through work boundary flexibility, whereas for the spouse, marital satisfaction and commitment to the incumbent's organization were enhanced through both incumbent work boundary flexibility and the spouse's perception of successful boundary management by the incumbent. We discuss the study's implications for theory, research, and practice while suggesting new research directions.     

Event justice perceptions and employees' reactions: perceptions of social entity justice as a moderator

Building on 2 paradigms in organizational justice research and on fairness heuristic theory, the author argues that employees' perceptions about the fairness of social entities (their supervisor and their organization) moderate the relationship between their perceptions about the fairness of specific events and their reactions. A survey of 265 supervisor-employee pairs in 4 companies was conducted to test this argument. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses showed that when employees perceived their organization to be generally fair, this perception moderated the relationship between the perceived justice of a particular event and their reactions to the organization (organizational commitment and organization-directed citizenship behavior). In addition, employees' perceptions of the fairness of their supervisor were found to moderate the relationship between the perceived justice of a particular event and their supervisor-directed responses (trust in managers and supervisor-directed citizenship behavior) and their organization-directed responses. The results suggest that employee attitudes and behavior can be better understood when both event justice perceptions and social entity justice perceptions are considered together.     

Role of personality and affect on the social support and work family conflict relationship

The relationship between support and work family conflict has been studied extensively, but previous studies have not examined if personality moderates this relationship. In this research, we examine the moderating influence of personality on the relationship between contextual support and work-family conflict across two studies. In Study 1, we examine if core self-evaluations (CSE) moderate the relationship between four different types of workplace support, 1. family friendly work policies (FFOP), 2. family supportive organizational climate (FSOC), 3. perceived organizational support (POS), and 4. perceived supervisor support (PSS), and work interfering with family conflict (WIF) using a sample of working adults (N=435). In Study 2, we examine if Big Five personality traits and negative affect moderate the relationship between co-worker support and (WIF) using a large national sample (N=1130) of working respondents from the “midlife in the US” (MIDUS) study of health and well-being. Taken together, the current research examines the moderating effect of several key personality variables on the relationship between important forms of social support and work family conflict. Results based on these two samples indicate CSE moderates the relationship between POS and WIF, and PSS and WIF, but does not moderate the relationship between FFOP and WIF, or FSOC and WIF. Further, conscientiousness and agreeableness moderate the relationship between co-worker support and WIF. Co-worker support and WIF is stronger for individuals with higher levels of negative affect. We discuss the implications for research and practice relating to work family conflict.     

Interpersonal Conflict and Organizational Commitment: Examining Two Levels of Supervisory Support as Multilevel Moderators1

Using a stressor‐strain framework, this research examined the role of supervisory support at 2 organizational levels in the relationship between the work stressor of interpersonal conflict and organizational commitment in a military sample. In all analyses, supervisory support at both levels was conceptualized and modeled as a shared group attribute. Results indicated that perceptions of interpersonal conflict within the organization were related negatively to both affective and continuance commitment. Support from both first‐line supervisors and midlevel managers was related to employees’ affective commitment. First‐line supervisor support was related also to employees’ continuance commitment. Furthermore, midlevel management support attenuated the relationship between interpersonal conflict and continuance commitment. Implications for the assessment of different levels of supervisory support, different variants of organizational commitment, and interpersonal conflict are discussed.     

Work-family Conflict,Work-family Culture,and Organizational Citizenship Behavior Among Teachers

Two hundred three teachers completed measures of work-family culture, work-family conflict, organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Pearson correlations indicated that OCB was related negatively to work-family conflict, and positively to work-family culture, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that work-family culture predicts work-family conflict, and that various forms of work-family conflict predict OCB. Analyses also showed that work-family culture predicts both organizational commitment and OCB, and that organizational commitment does not mediate the relationship between work-family culture and OCB. The findings support the importance for schools to foster a positive work-family culture.     

What Works for the Gander Does Not Work as Well for the Goose: The Effects of Leader Behavior

This study examines the effects of leader behaviors and leader gender on employees' perceptions of support from the organization and employee commitment to the organization. Ninety-one employees completed a survey measuring leader behaviors, perceived organizational support, and organizational commitment. Results confirmed the hypothesis that a high interpersonal orientation and high task orientation had the most positive effect on employee attitudes. However, the high interpersonal orientation and high task orientation were not equally effective for both female and male leaders. Employees perceived more support from the organization when their supervisors, either female or male, used a high consideration–high initiating structure style than when they used a low consideration–low initiating structure style. On the other hand, only those employees who work for a male supervisor who is high in consideration and high in initiating structure were more committed to the organization.     

The role of the supervisor in career and organizational commitment

Supervisors are increasingly required to support employees in their learning and career development. This study investigated relationships between supervisor support activities and their subordinates' career and organizational commitment. Findings suggested that employees who saw their supervisors as giving them trust and the authority to do the job were more committed to their organization, as were those who perceived their supervisors to engage in feedback and goal-setting. This suggested the potential organizational benefits of performance feedback from managers and the importance of supervisors developing the confidence and skills to delegate effectively and have trust in their subordinates. No relationships were found between supervisor support and career identity, career resilience or career planning. The relationship between perceptions of overall supervisor support and organizational commitment was moderated by employee gender. The findings suggested a positive linear relationship between support and commitment for women, but the association between support and commitment was less straightforward in the male sample.     

Intergroup predictors of older workers' attitudes towards work and early exit

Using self-determination theory (Deci &; Ryan, 2008) as the guiding theoretical framework, the present study tested a model that incorporates workers' perceptions of organizational support and supervisor autonomy support, global and domain specific (i.e., work) motivation, work satisfaction, and turnover intentions. The hypothesized model was tested using a sample of 735 workers (362 men and 373 women). Results revealed that work motivation was significantly related to both intraindividual (global motivation) and contextual factors (organizational support and supervisor autonomy support). In addition, perceived organizational support and work autonomous motivation were positively related to work satisfaction, whereas turnover intentions were negatively related to perceived organizational support and work autonomous motivation, and positively related to work controlled motivation. The present results underscore the importance of understanding the mechanisms through which higher turnover intentions and lower worker satisfaction take place, eventually leading to appropriate interventions.     

Reducing work-family conflict through different sources of social support

The present study examines the relationship between four sources of social support (i.e., spouse, relatives and friends, supervisor, and colleagues) and time and strain-based work-to-family and family-to-work conflict among 444 dual-earners. Gender differences with respect to the relationship between social support and work-family conflict were examined as well. The relationship between the sources of support and work-family conflict was tested using multiple regression analyses. Results showed that women reported more strain-based work-to-family conflict than men. Social support from spouse and from colleagues were related to family-to-work conflict, while none of the sources of social support were related to work-to-family conflict. Social support from supervisor and from colleagues were related differently to work-to-family conflict (time-based) and family-to-work conflict (strain-based) for men than for women. We conclude that social support is especially important in reducing family-to-work conflict.     

Work–family conflict, perceived supervisor support and organizational commitment among Brazilian professionals

The current study examines a variety of relationships pertaining to work–family conflict among a sample of Brazilian professionals, in order to shed light on work–family issues in this cultural context. Drawing from the cultural values of Brazil and social identity theory, we examine the relationships of two directions of work–family conflict (work interference with family and family interference with work), perceived supervisor support, and sex with affective and continuance organizational commitment. Work interference with family was related to higher continuance commitment and perceived supervisor support was related to higher affective commitment. An interaction between family interference with work and perceived supervisor support predicting continuance commitment revealed a reverse buffering effect such that the relationship was stronger under conditions of high support. Results are discussed within the Brazilian context.