Family-Supportive Supervisor Behavior From The Perspective Of Upper Echelons

The support from the organization is of indispensable importance to employees.With the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the gradually loosed multi-child policy,people’s need for work-family balance has become even more intense.In this situation,it is increasingly critical for scholars in the field of organization management to explore effective approaches to improve employees’ work-family balance.Although some research questions in relation to organizational family support are being answered,more questions remain to be explored,especially for the informal work-family support at the organizational level.For example,the vast majority of current research in relation to family-supportive supervisor behavior focuses on the individual or team level.However,given that top managers have a disproportionate and sometimes dominant influence on management affairs within the organization,the investigation on family support at the organizational level may improve our understanding of upper echelons dynamics.This research aims to achieve three related research goals: firstly,to investigate family-supportive supervisor behavior from the perspective of upper echelons;secondly,to reveal what makes family supportive leadership at the organizational level;the final goal is to explore the organizational outcomes of family-supportive supervisor behaviors.In order to achieve the research goals above,two studies were conducted to investigate family-supportive supervisor behavior at the organizational level.The first study used qualitative research design to explore what behaviors are familysupportive supervisor behaviors from the perspective of upper echelons,how these behaviors are affected by contingency factors,and what outcomes these behaviors may have.Drawing from in-depth interviews with 15 CEOs from a wide variety of contexts,this study develops a model of family-supportive supervisor behaviors,contingencies and outcomes from the perspective of upper echelons.The results of the thematic analysis of the data reveal that statements of family-supportive supervisor behaviors provided by CEOs can be coded into two themes: in-role behavior and extra-role behavior.Participants describe these two types of familysupportive supervisor behavior in very different ways,which can be identified as six themes: gender concern,generational difference,family experience,executive identity,work-family culture,and firm size.These six contingencies not only influence the expression of family supportive supervisor behaviors,but also affect the effectiveness of these behaviors.In addition,four themes in relation to the outcomes of family-supportive supervisor behavior emerged from the statements of participants,which are impaired CEO effectiveness,subordinate taking for granted,intra-team conflict,and ambiguous impacts on organizational performance.Based on these findings,this study uncovers the family-supportive supervisor behavior in the eyes of upper echelons,providing a theoretical framework for further research on family supportive leaders at the organizational level.The second study applied a quantitative research design and collected a multiwave and multi-source field data from more than 100 firms in China.Based on the upper echelons theory,this study proposes a theoretical model including the relationships between CEO’s original family structure,CEO’s original family relationship,CEO’s work-home leadership perspective,CEO’s family supportive supervisor behavior,work-family culture and firm performance.Specifically,the model posits that CEO’s original family size(structure)and original family harmony(relationship)affect CEO’s exhibition of family supportive supervisor behavior through the mediating role of CEO’s work-home leader perspective,and the CEO’s family supportive supervisor behavior can have a further impact on firm business performance.Moreover,this study highlights the moderating role of CEO birth order in the relationship between original family antecedents and CEO’s work-home leader perspective and of work-family culture in relationship between CEO’s work-home leader perspective and CEO’s family supportive supervisor behavior.Ten hypotheses are proposed.To test these hypotheses,a dataset with 99 firm-level and 235 TMT-level samples was used in analysis.In the analysis section,reliability and validity were confirmed,followed by descriptive analysis and correlation table.Then,the validity of the measurement model had been confirmed,and optimal model was found by model comparisons.Finally,regression analysis and Monte Carlo simulation method were conducted to test the hypotheses.The main findings are as follows: When both the existing family size and family harmony were controlled,the original family size and the original family harmony positively related to CEOs’ family supportive supervisor behavior through their work-home leader perspective.CEO birth order weakened the positive relationship between CEO original family size and CEO workhome leader perspective,but not CEO original family harmony and CEO work-home leader perspective.Work-family culture hampered the positive relationship between CEO work-home leader perspective and CEO family supportive supervisor behavior.There were positive effects of CEO family supportive supervisor behavior on firm performance evaluated by chief financial officer(CFO),but not objective financial performance.The theoretical implications are as follows.First,by developing a thematic model of family supportive supervisor behavior from the perspective of CEOs,we extend our understandings of family supportive behavior at the organizational level.In addition,by revealing the critical role of CEO perspective in connecting the work and family domains,we respond to recent calls to expand the investigation of cognitive process in work-family interface domain.Second,this paper contributes to constructs and empirically tests a theoretical model of family support at the organizational level,and promoted the research in the field of organizational workfamily support.By associating the CEO’s original family structure and relationship with the CEO’s engagement in family supportive supervisor behavior,we explain why family-supportive supervisor behaviors are valued and implemented at the organizational level even not being required by formal responsibilities.Third,this paper contributes to literature on leadership development by discovering the important role of family experience in the process of CEO becoming a familysupportive leader.In addition,work-family culture was found to weaken the development of CEO family supportive supervisor behavior.Finally,this research focuses on and explores the relationship between CEO family supportive supervisor behavior and firm performance.In addition,as work-family support has increasingly been expected by society and employees,a deeper understanding of the organizational family support from upper echelons’ perspective is imperative for organizations and managers.The current research provides several practical implications to employees and organizations by extending the antecedents of work-family support behaviors of top managers,especially CEOs,to consider their original family experiences.Moreover,as a way to promote organizational effectiveness and enterprise well-being,familysupportive supervisor behavior at the organizational level deserves top managers’ attention.The findings of our research suggest that CEOs can improve firm performance in the form of supporting TMT members to achieve work-family balance.