Beyond the Bottom Line: Don’t Forget to Consider the Role of the Family

Abstract

Our work investigates the influence of supervisor bottom-line mentality (SBLM) (i.e., a one-dimensional focus on bottom-line outcomes to the exclusion of other organizational priorities) on employees’ organizational commitment via the work-family interface as well as the crossover effects of SBLM on the organizational commitment of the employees’ spouse. More specifically, we examined how SBLM contributes to work-family conflict (WFC) and impacts the experienced commitment of the dyad along three paths. We conducted two studies across three samples (Study 1, Sample A: 186 employees; Study 1, Sample B: 258 employees; Study 2: 399 employee-spouse dyads) to demonstrate the unique role of SBLM in this context and find support for the hypothesized relationships. First, the resource drain of SBLM had a spillover effect through WFC to decrease the employee’s commitment at work. Second, it crossed over to the spouse to reduce their own organizational commitment due to the employee being a source of family undermining, which subsequently influenced the spouse’s family-work conflict (FWC). Third, SBLM impacted the spouse such that it crossed back to contribute to decreased organizational commitment for the employee. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed as well as directions for future research.

Supervisor Bottom-Line Mentality, Performance Pressure, and Workplace Cheating: Moderating Role of Negative Reciprocity

“…In line with previous studies on BLM ( Mawritz et al, 2017 ; Babalola et al, 2020a , 2022a , b ; Quade et al, 2021 ), and to improve the generalizability of our research findings ( Johns, 2006 ), we tested our hypotheses in two field studies on different populations. Data were collected from Pakistan and United States for Study 1 and Study 2, respectively.…”

“…As research on BLM is advancing, it shows that this construct is highly generalizable to a wide range of jobs, industrial sectors, and managerial levels ( Quade et al, 2021 ). Investigations have been made in multiple industries including, but not limited to, information technology ( Greenbaum et al, 2021 ); food chain ( Lin et al, 2022 ); banking ( Babalola et al, 2020b ); financial services ( Eissa et al, 2019 ); and real estate ( Mawritz et al, 2017 ) at different leadership positions.…”

“…In fact, Quade et al (2020) reveal that managers possessing high BLM may have a negative influence on an organization’s bottom-line attainment due to poor quality of leader–member exchange with their subordinates. Additionally, research indicates that SBLM may have adverse effects on employee’s organizational commitment and work–family conflict ( Quade et al, 2021 ).…”

The Relationship Between Supervisor Bottom-Line Mentality and Subordinate Work Performance: Linear or Curvilinear Effects?

“… 19 Individuals with BLM usually have two important characteristics, one is pursuing the sole goal of bottom-line results, and the other is a competitive mindset of winning. 20 , 21 …”

Corporate Social Responsibility and Cheating Behavior: The Mediating Effects of Organizational Identification and Perceived Supervisor Moral Decoupling

“…While bottom-line mentality can potentially benefit organizations, it has many negative implications on performance ( Eissa et al, 2019 ; Quade et al, 2020 ; Lin Y. et al, 2021 ). For example, when supervisors are engrossed with solely bottom-line goals, their followers suffer from negative experience, such as insomnia, work-family conflict, and emotional exhaustion ( Farasat et al, 2021 ; Quade et al, 2021 ; Wan et al, 2021 ). Supervisor bottom-line mentality also provokes unethical problems on the part of employees ( Mesdaghinia et al, 2019 ; Babalola et al, 2021 ).…”