Abstract
Background:
Family-friendly policy is an important tool to alleviate work-family conflict, however, less is known about the micro-mechanism of policy enabling process.
Objective:
This study examines the underlying dynamic of family-friendly policy on work-family conflict by considering the mediator role of boundary/time management efficacy and the moderating role of policy attribution on family-friendly policy empowerment.
Methods:
To reduce the common method bias, the study adopted a three-stage data collection method. In the first stage of the study, 800 questionnaires were distributed and 703 valid questionnaires were collected. In the second stage, 703 valid samples in the sample bank were questioned, and 635 valid questionnaires were collected. Then 635 valid samples were sent the third stage questionnaire, 321 valid questionnaires were recovered, and 303 samples were successfully matched in three stages. Each stage of data collection lasted for one week and was separated by three months.
Results:
(1) a sense of efficacy, as a given manifestation of policy empowerment, mediates family-friendly policy and work-family conflict. (2) policy attribution moderated the empowerment level of family-friendly policies. Specifically, the schedule/boundary management efficacy will be improved significantly by a family-friendly policy when attributing policy to employes’ well-being, compared with the group that attributed the policy to the benefit of the organization.
Conclusions:
This study reveals the psychological process and mechanism underlying the role of family-friendly policies in balancing work-family relationships. It demonstrates the importance of integrating the instrumental and value rationality of policies so that policy formulation and implementation can optimize resource allocation while also meeting the urgent needs of the different stakeholder groups.
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