When Work-Family Support is Misallocated: The Key Role of Supervisor-Employee Value Congruence

Abstract

To better manage our work demands and family demands, we often erect mental or physical “boundaries” to help manage our experiences. However, preferences for preserving these boundaries differ across individuals (e.g., some individuals may prefer to segment work/family roles, while others may prefer to integrate these roles) and employees may not always have similar preferences/values as their supervisors. We investigated the process through which employee-supervisor value congruence regarding boundary management strategies impacts work-family conflict (WFC) and job attitudes. We anticipated that value congruence would mitigate WFC through the receipt of family-supportive supervisor behavior (FSSB). We analyzed data from 815 staff members from four southern universities using PROCESS (Preacher & Hayes, 2008) and found that value congruence indirectly affects WFC, job satisfaction, and affective commitment through the mediating mechanism of FSSB.