When will social support be maladaptive?: a moderated-mediation model of work-family conflict

Abstract

Work-family conflict is a type of interrole conflict in which psychological stress arises when demands from work domain interfere with one’s capability to carry out responsibilities associated with family. Social support, on the other hand, is commonly regarded as a valuable coping resource that can alleviate job stress. In the past few decades, different models have been proposed to understand the role of work-family dynamics in the workplace. However, some of these models are mutually exclusive. While some studies found that either positive or negative experience from one domain will spill to the other domain, a different stream of research found that the negative experience from one domain can be compensated by the positive experience from another domain. In an attempt to understand the underlying mechanism of work-family conflict, a moderated-mediation model was proposed. The model encompasses the indicators, the consequences, and the moderators into the study of work-family conflict. More importantly, the model puts forward the importance of a situational fit between the source of stress and the type of social support being offered (Study 1). It also emphasizes the significance of relationship closeness in affecting the effectiveness of social support (Study 2).

Adopting the Job Demand-Resources model, Study 1 attempted to test the contextual variability of social support. In particular, the buffering role of two types of domain-specific support, namely the coworker support and family support, were tested in the work context. The results showed that there is a domain difference of the effectiveness of social support. The moderating effect of within-domain social support was stronger than the cross-domain social support. Coworker support was found to buffer against the linkage between job demands and psychosomatic symptoms, whereas family support was found to strengthen the lethal impact of the same relationship.

Based on a sample with two time points of 18- to 20-month interval, Study 2 further tested the impact of relationship closeness on social support. Work-family conflict was found to be a mediator between the linkage of job demands and psychological well-being. A main effect was shown for both coworker support and family support in which the both types of social support from Time 1 significantly predicted Time 2 work-family conflict reported by participants. Peer support was found to be a negative buffer in the moderated mediation model in which a higher level of peer support was shown to intensify the negative relationship of job demands on psychological well-being through work-family conflict.

The findings from the current research challenge the perspectivethat views social support as favorable at all times. In particular, the proposed model showed that receiving social support in a right context, or social support from significant others will be beneficial to employees’ psychological well-being, whereas social support from non-significant others in a misfit context will be hazardous.