Family-Specific Social Support at Work: The Role of Open and Trustworthy Communication

2020 ◽  
pp. 232948842095517
Author(s):  
Charlotte Schulz-Knappe ◽  
Claartje Ter Hoeven

Family-friendly organizational policies are important for employees to manage work and family responsibilities. Besides formal policies, research has emphasized the importance of informal social support by organizational actors. The positive effects of organizational and supervisor support are already known, but findings are limited regarding family-specific support by coworkers. Taking a communicative perspective, this study tests the assumption that social support is contingent on trustworthy and open communication. To test this, 724 German employees participated in an online survey. Results confirm the relationship between family-specific support and the outcomes job satisfaction, policy use, and work-family conflict, through open and trustworthy communication. Additionally, the study illuminates the distinct roles of organizational actors’ (i.e., coworker, supervisor, organization) support on employee outcomes in the German context.

2021 ◽  
pp. 104-114
Author(s):  
Shu-Ya CHANG ◽  
Chan-Fu CHUANG ◽  
Huan-Chang LIN ◽  
Hsiang-Chen HSU

Expatriates, during expatriation, would appear inadaptable feelings on work, life, and diet in different environment. Besides, expatriates, in medical technology industry, leaving home might neglect the family to result in imbalance between work and family. In this case, work-family conflict reveals the importance on expatriates. Expatriates in medical technology industry would appear psychosocial stress and conflict between work and life due to expatriation. Taking expatriates’ supervisors and expatriates in medical technology industry in southern Taiwan as the research object, total 360 copies of questionnaire are distributed, and the 278 valid copies are retrieved, with the retrieval rate 77%. The research results show that social support presents negative and significant effects on work-family conflict, work-family conflict reveals negative and remarkable effects on intention to stay, and social support appears positive effects on intention to stay. According to the results to propose suggestions, it is expected to provide healthy workplace in medical technology industry to improve expatriates’ work-family conflict and turnover.


2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-74
Author(s):  
Kim Hwayeon ◽  
Nam Taewoo

The number of female employees in the Korean workforce has risen. However, the Korean corporate climate, characterized by collectivism, hierarchism, and senior and masculine privilege, leads them to experience worklife conflict and even halt their careers. This climate stems from a social and organizational culture deeply rooted in traditional Confucianism. In Korea, where housework and childcare have long been considered the province of women, female employees find it more difficult to balance office work and family life. The Korean corporate climate welcomes overtime work, and women who work outside the home must juggle this and family responsibilities. We conceptualize behavior such as acquiescing to overtime work as submissive loyalty and elucidate work-family conflict and decreasing job and life satisfaction as consequences thereof. The analysis, based on a structural equation model, revealed that submissive loyalty increases work-family conflict, which decreases job and life satisfaction.


2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 903-920 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Maria Ferri ◽  
Matteo Pedrini ◽  
Egidio Riva

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore whether and how the actual use of supports available from the state, organisations and families helps workers reduce perceived work–family conflict (WFC), explored from both works interfering with family (WIF) and family interfering with work (FIW) perspectives. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on a survey of 2,029 employees at six large Italian firms. To test hypotheses, a hierarchical regression analysis was performed. Findings WFC should be explored considering its bi-directionality, as supports have different impacts on WIF and FIW. Workplace instrumental support elicits mixed effects on WFC, whereas workplace emotional support and familiar support reduce both FIW and WIF. Research limitations/implications The study is limited to the Italian national context, and data were collected in a single moment of time, which did not allow for observing changes in employees’ lives. Practical implications Human resource managers, as well as policy makers, will find this study’s results useful in designing effective work–life balance policies and supports, in which attention is devoted mainly to promoting workplace emotional supports and facilitating familiar support. Social implications The study highlights that by reducing pressures from work and family responsibilities that generate WFC conditions, organisational and familiar supports elicit different effects, which should be considered carefully when defining policies and interventions. Originality/value This study is one of the few that compare the role of supports provided by actors in different sectors on FIW and WIF, thereby allowing for an understanding of whether the bi-directionality of the conflicts is a relevant perspective.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. e0248109
Author(s):  
Karla Williams ◽  
Dennis Eggett ◽  
Emily Vaterlaus Patten

Healthcare professionals provide paid care at work and potentially have caregiving responsibilities outside of work; work responsibilities in addition to child and/or elder care is considered double- or triple-duty care. Employees may experience conflict and/or enrichment as their work and family responsibilities interface. This study’s purpose is to explore the work and family interface of Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs), determine the prevalence of work-family conflict and enrichment, and identify characteristics associated with higher work-family conflict and enrichment scores. A survey instrument assessing caregiving responsibilities and work-family conflict and enrichment was distributed electronically to 4,900 RDNs throughout the United States. Frequencies, means, correlative relationships, and ANCOVA were calculated using SAS software 9.04. Of 1,233 usable responses, nearly two-thirds of RDNs (65.5%) reported providing either double-duty or triple-duty care. About half of RDNs (47.2%) reported work-family conflict and fewer (14.8%) reported family-work conflict. Additionally, most RDNs (79.4%) reported work-family enrichment and even more (85.2%) reported family-work enrichment. Higher work-family conflict scores had correlative relationships with higher levels of burnout, lower life satisfaction, and higher intent to quit. Higher work-family enrichment scores had correlative relationships with lower burnout, higher job satisfaction, higher career satisfaction, higher life satisfaction, and lower intent to quit. Understanding the unpaid caregiving responsibilities of RDNs and the interface of work/family responsibilities may provide insight into career planning for RDNs and guide managers of RDNs in efforts to amplify the contribution of RDNs.


1999 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 491-511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Aryee ◽  
Dail Fields ◽  
Vivienne Luk

Recent efforts to more fully understand the mechanisms through which work and family experiences and their cross-over effects influence well-being have stimulated the development of integrative models of the work-family interface. This line of research is represented by the model which Frone, Russell, and Cooper (1992) tested with a sample of U.S. employees. In the current study, we examine the cross-cultural generalizability of this model among married Hong Kong employees. Results of the analyses suggest that many of the relationships among work and family constructs are similar across the two cultures, but that the nature and effects of the cross-over between family and work domains on overall employee well-being may differ. That is, life satisfaction of Hong Kong employees is influenced primarily by work-family conflict, while that of American employees is influenced primarily by family-work conflict. Limitations of the study and implications of the findings for assisting employees integrate their work and family responsibilities as a source of competitive advantage are discussed.


1970 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 245
Author(s):  
Ana Šimunić ◽  
Maja Pandža ◽  
Ljiljana Gregov

The general aim of this study was to examine the contribution of perceived social support from family, the quality of family functioning, attitudes about marital roles, and striving for achievement to the perceived conflict between work and family roles by using a dyadic approach. Namely, the interaction of spouses’ perceptions was taken into account (actor and partner effects) in predicting work-to-family and family-to-work conflicts. This study was conducted on a sample of 176 employed married couples in the territory of central and western Herzegovina and central Dalmatia. Self-assessment questionnaires were used. In women, social support from family was a significant predictor for both examined types of work–family conflicts, and partner effects were greater than actor effects, especially for family-to-work conflict. Both partners’ striving for achievement was a positive predictor of family-to-work conflict in women, while there was only a contribution of the actor striving for achievement to both types of work–family conflict in men. In men, the only partner effect was obtained in the relationship between social support from family and family-to-work conflict. In general, the results indicated that the assessments of male spouses were more related to their wife’s work–family conflict than vice versa, and that these variables were more related to family-to-work conflict than to work-to-family conflict.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvie St-Onge ◽  
Victor Y. Haines III ◽  
Felix Ballesteros-Leiva ◽  
Gwénaëlle Poilpot-Rocaboy

PurposeBased on the conservation of resources (COR) theory (Hobfoll, 1989, 2002), this study first investigates the direct influence of core self-evaluations (CSEs) on work-to-family (W → F) and family-to-work (F → W) conflicts. Second, it tests the mediating impact of Social support from work and home domains in the associations between CSEs and both directions of work-family conflict. This study finally examines the moderating influence of CSEs in the associations between work and home domain social support and both directions of work-family conflict.Design/methodology/approachHuman resources professionals (629), and engineers (169) employed in Canada completed an online survey. Both directions of work-family conflict were measured as well as CSEs, and work and home domain social support.FindingsResults indicate that higher CSEs are associated with lower W → F and F → W conflicts. They also suggest an indirect association between CSEs and W → F conflict through supervisor support. The indirect association between CSEs and F → W conflict through home domain social support was also supported. Besides, it appears that CSEs moderate the association between home support and F → W conflict.Research limitations/implicationsOur findings underscore the relevance of considering both dispositional and environmental factors together in work-life research. Results question within- vs. cross-domain conceptualizations of work-life spillover. They also indicate how both differential choice and effectiveness operate in conjunction with managing work-life domains.Originality/valueThe research presents a comprehensive model linking work-family conflict, social support and CSEs. It draws from an integrative personality framework (Judge et al., 1998) and COR theory (Hobfoll, 1989) to explore the underlying processes of CSEs, often inferred but not specified or incorporated into work-life research.


2017 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 237802311770553 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morgan C. Matthews ◽  
Kathryn J. Lively

How do state legislators working in a volunteer political institution cope with work and family responsibilities? This article complicates the conventional notion of work-family conflict by illustrating how another dimension of work, performed voluntarily in the political sphere, is managed in concert with paid employment and domestic responsibilities. Based on interviews conducted with state representatives in 2014, we analyze the patterns of work-family conflict in a “citizen” legislature. We find that working under nearly voluntary conditions results in a variety of coping strategies that are uniquely structured by an absence of salaries and administrative resources. Gender constrains the range of coping strategies available to women legislators in practice and has implications for women’s representation in political organizations. Our findings make a sociological case for expanding how we think about work and family mechanisms that affect women’s representation in politics.


This study examines the intersectional relationship between work-family conflict and career progress of married women employed in the financial sector within Kathmandu Valley. Although both work and family are important dimensions of human life, in Nepalese context the intersectional relationship between gender roles, work and family responsibilities and career progress has been inadequately studied. Hence, this research aims to conceptualize work-family conflict by examining the intersectional relationship between socio-demographic factors, antecedents of work-family conflict and career progress of married women employees in the context of Nepalese Financial Sector. In this study intersectional research design has been used to analyze relationships between variables together with ninety (N=90) married women employees as research participants. Results of both descriptive and inferential statistics indicate that asymmetry still remains prevalent and permeable among married women employees regarding their work-family interfaces and involvements. Hence, antecedents of work family conflict intersect a predictive association with subsequent existential experiences, ambition gaps and perceptions that negatively influences career progress of married women. Based on the findings, this study recommends a sustainable corporate culture and human resources management practices that remains sensitive to gender issues and also assimilates complex and conflicting necessities of both work and family involvements. Keywords: Work-family conflict, Career progress, Sustainable corporate culture, Human resource practices


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