Seeing Eye to Eye on Family Supportive Supervisor Behaviors: The Impact on Employee Outcomes

In a context characterized by harsh competition, time pressure and increasing turnover of employees, a key issue for managers and organizations is to help employees in their juggling between work and family. As such, family supportive supervisor behavior (FSSB) has been established as a key element contributing to employees’ attitudes, well-being and behavior at work. Yet, employees and supervisors might not necessarily see eye to eye concerning FSSB. The main aim of this research is to explore the mechanisms and boundary conditions of how (mis)aligned perceptions of FSSBs relate to employees’ intrinsic motivation and turnover intentions. Furthermore, we integrate the role of work-family culture and segmentation preference as boundary conditions in these associations. Using polynomial regression analyses, we analyzed a matched data set of supervisors and their subordinates, collected in El Salvador. In doing so, this study contributes to research on FSSB, by a) demonstrating the importance of employees and supervisors seeing eye to eye on FSSB as a driver of intrinsic motivation and retention, and b) delineating two boundary conditions for the effectiveness of FSSB. From a practical point of view, we show that FSSB interventions need to clearly set expectations and behavioral guidelines that are mutually perceived by both supervisors and subordinates.