FSSBs and Elderly Care: Exploring the Role of Organizational Context on Employees’ Overall Health and Work–Family Balance Satisfaction

Abstract

Fierce competition coupled with an increasing presence of dual-earning couples and blurred boundaries between work and family, increasingly render work-family lives of employees important. In this context, one strategy to enable employees achieve greater work-family interface is via Family Supportive Supervisor Behaviors (FSSBs), defined as supervisors' informal discretion to implement family-friendly policies at work. Inspired by the growth in research on FSSBs, the over-arching goal of this study is to explore (a) the triggers of FSSBs from an organizational context perspective and (b) the role of FSSBs as a mechanism to translate the impact of organizational context on subordinates' overall health and work-family balance satisfaction. Furthermore, we expand our model by integrating the (c) role of supervisors' and subordinates' elderly care responsibilities as an individual boundary condition to explain how the FSSBs unfold and for whom they are most effective. Using the Work-Home Resources model (i.e., W-HR model; Ten Brummelhuis & Bakker, 2012), we test our hypotheses with matched data of subordinates and their supervisors collected in El Salvador and Peru. Our model was largely supported. Findings point to the importance of organizational and supervisor support as well as the importance of involvement with elder-care responsibilities in driving FSSBs and enhancing employee perceptions of health and their work-family balance satisfaction.

The Relationship Between Telework, Job Performance, Work–Life Balance and Family Supportive Supervisor Behaviours in the Context of COVID-19

“…FSSB constitutes a key factor for employees to achieve WLB and thus impacts organizational and individual outcomes (Idrovo & Bosch, 2019). Therefore, FSSB makes it easier for workers to cultivate a better work-family interface and, consequently, an adequate WLB (Rofcanin et al, 2020). Consequently, with the findings of the relationships between FSSB and WLB, on the one hand, and job performance, it was also found that WLB exerts a mediating effect on the relationship between FSSB and job performance.…”

“…In organizations that offer benefits for their employees to improve WLB, supervisor support is very important, as it promotes their employees' perception that the supervisor recognizes their efforts and cares about their well-being (Talukder et al, 2018). Recent research reaffirms that there is a positive relationship between FSSB and satisfaction with work-family balance (Idrovo & Bosch, 2019;Rofcanin et al, 2020). FSSB increases employees' energy, enthusiasm and positive mood at work (Straub et al, 2019).…”

Family‐supportive organisational culture, work–family balance satisfaction and government effectiveness: Evidence from four countries

“…We account for the role of family‐supportive environments by considering the individual perceptions of the extent to which an organisation is characterised by work family‐friendly culture (WFFC; Rofcanin, Heras, Escibano, & Stanko, 2019; Valcour, Ollier‐Malaterre, Matz‐Costa, Pitt‐Catsouphes, & Brown, 2011). Perceptions of WFFC include two elements: demonstrating career support and enabling employees to work with flexible work schedules.…”

Work‐life balance and corporate social responsibility: The evaluation of gender differences on the relationship between family‐friendly psychological climate and altruistic behaviors at work

“…However, research on both topics has been mainly carried out in developed Northern Europe countries and the English speaking world. Researchers have studied different aspects related to family‐friendly companies in some Southern European and Latin American countries (e.g., Adame, Caplliure, & Miquel, 2016; Bosch et al, 2018; Las Heras, Van der Heijden, De Jong, & Rofcanin, 2017; Poelmans, Chinchilla, & Cardona, 2003; Rofcanin, Las Heras, Escribano, & Stanko, 2020).…”

“…In a recent study, Rofcanin et al (2020) explored the role of organizational context on employees' overall health and work–family balance satisfaction using data of 822 subordinates and 346 supervisors collected in a financial services company in El Salvador and one retail company in Perú. Results using multilevel analysis underline the importance of supervisor support in promoting family‐supportive supervisory behaviors, employee perceptions of health and work–family balance satisfaction.…”