How national context moderates the impact of family-supportive supervisory behavior on job performance and turnover intentions
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to examine how national context moderates the impact of family supportive supervisory behavior (FSSB) on employee’s job performance and turnover intentions. The authors consider direct and indirect (through work–family positive spillover) effects of FSSB. Our model is based on conservation of resources (COR) theory and boundary theory. The authors conceptualize national context as contributing resources to or threatening with loss of resources for individuals. To test the model, the authors use data from three Latin American countries – Brazil, Chile and Ecuador.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a cross-sectional study based on a survey of almost 988 individuals. The authors first test the direct and indirect effects (via bi-directional positive spillover) of FSBB on performance and turnover intentions without considering the moderating effects of national context (mediation analysis). Then, the authors test the effect of national context in our baseline model by conducting a moderation analysis of direct and indirect effects. The authors use seemingly unrelated regressions and account for control variables and country-level effects.
Findings
The results confirm that national context affects the relationships between FSSB and outcomes. As unemployment rises, the effect of FSSB on turnover intentions is stronger and the effect of FSSB on performance, via bi-directional work–family positive spillover, is stronger. When social expenditures increase, the relationship between FSSB and performance via work–family positive spillover becomes weaker. In addition, the authors find some unexpected results.
Originality/value
The authors advance the understanding of how national context affects the impact of FSSB on outcomes, specifically in Latin America. The authors conceptualize national context as providing or threatening individuals’ resources, using publicly available data on unemployment and social expenditures.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Miguel Canela for his statistical support, and Monique Valcour, Taryn Stanko, Anat Drach-Zahavy and Tracy Dumas for their helpful feedback at different stages of this paper. The authors want to acknowledge that this research has been done with the Support of a Unit P3 – Marie Curie Reintegration Grants, FP7-MC-IRG, Project No: 256489. They also acknowledge the help in data collection form Prof Monica Torresano, from IDE Business School, Ecuador; M. José Bosch, PhD, from ESE Business School in Chile, and Erica Rolim, from ISE Business School in Brazil.
Citation
Las Heras, M., Trefalt, S. and Escribano, P.I. (2015), "How national context moderates the impact of family-supportive supervisory behavior on job performance and turnover intentions", Management Research, Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 55-82. https://doi.org/10.1108/MRJIAM-06-2014-0556
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited