Date of Award

5-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Department

Psychology

First Reader/Committee Chair

Dr. Mark Agars

Abstract

Leaders play a central role in helping employees find a healthy balance between work and family responsibilities. Research has extensively examined the positive impact of family-supportive supervisory behaviors (FSSB), demonstrating that FSSB is effective in helping employees manage work-family domains. Because FSSB is a tool to aid employees, there has been limited examination of the potential negative implications for employees who receive FSSB. It is meaningful to consider how providing FSSB influences supervisory perceptions. Examining FSSB from a Role Congruity Theory perspective helps shed light on how a supervisor providing FSSB influences a favorable or unfavorable perception toward an employee and how these effects may differ depending on supervisory gender beliefs and employee gender. Results supported a positive relationship between FSSB and supervisors’ perceptions of employee organizational commitment. Results supported a negative relationship between FSSB and supervisors’ perceptions of employee work-family conflict. The findings demonstrated a three-way interaction between FSSB, supervisor gender beliefs, and employee gender on perceptions of employee engagement. These results demonstrate the importance of examining how employee and supervisory FSSB interactions influences supervisory perceptions of employee work outcomes.

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