title: How important are work-family support policies? A meta-analytic investigation of their effects on employee outcomes.
abstract: This meta-analysis examines relationships between work-family support policies, which are policies that provide support for dependent care responsibilities, and employee outcomes by developing a conceptual model detailing the psychological mechanisms through which policy availability and use relate to work attitudes. Bivariate results indicated that availability and use of work-family support policies had modest positive relationships with job satisfaction, affective commitment, and intentions to stay. Further, tests of differences in effect sizes showed that policy availability was more strongly related to job satisfaction, affective commitment, and intentions to stay than was policy use. Subsequent meta-analytic structural equation modeling results indicated that policy availability and use had modest effects on work attitudes, which were partially mediated by family-supportive organization perceptions and work-to-family conflict, respectively. Additionally, number of policies and sample characteristics (percent women, percent married-cohabiting, percent with dependents) moderated the effects of policy availability and use on outcomes. Implications of these findings and directions for future research on work-family support policies are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Management, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019-0467, USA. mbutts@uta.edu
authors.forename: Marcus M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Butts
authors.forename: Wendy J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Casper
authors.forename: Tae Seok
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002654:Child Care / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D054541:Family Conflict / Q000523:psychology; D017407:Family Leave / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008297:Male; D010558:Personnel Loyalty; D010563:Personnel Turnover / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012944:Social Support