Abstract:

Family supportive supervisor behavior (FSSB) has important impacts on employees’ performance, behavior, and well-being. However, FSSB's incremental predictive effects and its mechanisms have not received enough attention in the literature. Conservation of resources theory, social exchange theory, and affective event theory all can provide distinctive theoretical arguments, while meta-analysis offers a methodological tool to analyze these two issues. We thus conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the incremental predictive effects of FSSB on employees' task performance, innovative behavior, and life satisfaction as well as mechanisms inherently embedded in those three theoretical perspectives.

In this study, we used four methods to search and screen studies about FSSB. Following these steps, 164 qualified articles were included. These articles comprise 204 independent studies and 340 effect sizes, with a total sample size of 91145. Based on these studies, we conducted publication bias analysis, main effect analysis, relative weight analysis, incremental validity analysis, and meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM). Specifically, we first used Begg's intercept, Egger’s regression, and fail-safe number to test publication bias. Second, Hunter and Schmidt’s method was used to analyze the main effects of FSSB. Third, we conducted relative weight analysis and incremental validity analysis to examine the relative validity of FSSB. Finally, MASEM was conducted.

As shown in Table 1, the results suggested that the meta-analytic relationships examined are robust to publication bias. Main effect analysis showed that FSSB was positively correlated with employees' task performance ($\bar{ρ}$= 0.34, 95% CI = [0.40]), innovative behavior ( $\bar{ρ}$= 0.33, 95% CI = [0.40]), and life satisfaction ($\bar{ρ}$ = 0.33, 95% CI = [0.39]). Table 2 summarizes the analyses of the incremental validity of FSSB over GSSB. The results showed that FSSB strongly predicted employees' task performance (β = 0.28, p < 0.001, ΔR² = 0.05), innovative behavior (β = 0.24, p < 0.001, ΔR² = 0.04), and life satisfaction (β = 0.22, p < 0.001, ΔR² = 0.03), even after controlling for the effects of general supportive supervisor behavior (GSSB). As displayed in Figure 1, the results of path analysis showed that work-to-family conflict functioned as a mediator linking FSSB with task performance and life satisfaction. The indirect effects were 0.03 and 0.07, with 95% Monte Carlo confidence intervals (CIs) [0.04] and [0.09], respectively. LMX mediated the relationships linking FSSB with task performance, innovative behavior, and life satisfaction. The indirect effects were 0.16, 0.11, and 0.27, with 95% Monte Carlo CIs [0.18], [0.14], and [0.30], respectively. Affective commitment played a positive mediating role in the relationships linking FSSB with task performance and innovative behavior. The indirect effects were 0.04 and 0.16, with 95% Monte Carlo CIs [0.05] and [0.18], respectively.

Our meta-analytic findings demonstrated that FSSB was more strongly associated with task performance, innovative behavior, and life satisfaction than GSSB. In addition, we compared three distinct pathways by which FSSB influenced the above three outcomes, including work-to-family conflict, LMX, and affective commitment. Specifically, FSSB significantly predicted task performance via all of these three mediators. The association between FSSB and innovative behavior was mediated by LMX and affective commitment. Work-to-family conflict and LMX served as mediators in the link between FSSB and life satisfaction. These findings not only deepen our understanding of the construct validity and influence mechanisms of FSSB, but also produce meaningful practical implications for leaders regarding how to lead in more effective ways to facilitate better employee outcomes.

Key words: family supportive supervisor behavior, meta-analysis, work-to-family conflict, leader-member exchange, affective commitment