Research indicates that supportive supervision, particularly work-family specific supervision, is key to reducing employees' work-family conflict (Allen, 2001; Eby et al., 2005; Thomas & Ganster, 1995). However, little research has examined the factors that contribute to supervisors' willingness or ability to provide this support. This study examined how supervisor job stress and perceptions of work-family climate influenced employee ratings of Family-Supportive Supervisor Behaviors (FSSB) using previously-collected data from a mid-western grocery chain. It was hypothesized that supervisor job stressors would impact FSSB, supervisor perception of work-family climate would impact FSSB, and the interaction of stressors and climate would impact FSSB. None of the hypotheses were supported. Potential explanations and directions for future research are discussed.

Occupational stress has become a world-wide epidemic exacting severe tolls on both businesses and employees alike. Of all the workplace stressors, the perceived dangerousness of one's job is ever present within the occupation of corrections. The current study examined the mediating process of perceived stress on the relationship between perceived dangerousness of the job and the negative employee well-being outcomes of work-family conflict and symptoms of psychological distress, as well as the moderating effects of family supportive supervisor behaviors on this process. As part of a larger study, survey data were collected from 1,370 state correctional officers. It was hypothesized that perceived stress would fully mediate the relationship between perceived dangerousness of job and the negative well-being outcomes and that family supportive supervisor behaviors would moderate this mediation such that increased levels of family supportive supervisor behaviors would mitigate the negative well-being outcomes. The mediation hypotheses were not found to be supported. However, family supportive supervisor behaviors were found to moderate the relationship between perceived dangerousness of the job and work-to-family conflict. Additionally, family supportive supervisor behaviors were found to moderate the relationship between perceived stress and physical symptoms of psychological distress.

This study attempted to obtain evidence on the construct validity of the Women Workers Scale (WWS), an attitude scale developed to measure male supervisors' attitudes toward women workers. As women enter the work world in increasing numbers, they are usually supervised by men. However, few studies have examined the attitudes of male supervisors toward women workers. At least one author (Bass, 1972) reported that there were significant differences among male managers in their attitudes toward women. Specifically, those male managers who had not worked with women held more favorable attitudes than male managers who had worked with women.

The present study explored the multilevel effects of supervisor learning adaptability on training effectiveness, and post-training employee job satisfaction in a work-family and safety-based intervention aimed at increasing family supportive supervisor behaviors (FSSB) and safety behaviors. Using a sample of 291 municipal public works field workers from two independent organizations, it was hypothesized that supervisor adaptability positively relates to post-training FSSB and employee job satisfaction. Specifically, it was hypothesized that learning adaptability prepares those supervisors to be more inclined to engage actively in training, thereby increasing employee reported FSSBs more significantly for those supervisors and leading to intervention target results, namely employee job satisfaction. Results did not support the hypothesized relationships. However, bivariate correlations between learning adaptability and FSSBs and job satisfaction are significant and positive, indicating that with a larger sample, learning adaptability may moderate training effectiveness. Theoretical rationale, methods, and scientific contributions are discussed.

In this dissertation, I investigated job satisfaction from a dynamic perspective. Specifically, I integrated the momentum model of job satisfaction with the affective shift model and crossover theory in an effort to move beyond traditional, static conceptions of job satisfaction and other constructs. Recent research and theoretical development has focused on the meaning of job satisfaction change for workers and how such change impacts their decisions to leave an organization. To extend this line of inquiry, I posited hypotheses pertaining to: (a) job satisfaction change with respect to positive work behavior (i.e., organizational citizenship behavior, family-supportive supervisor behavior); (b) the potential moderating effect of changes in negative work events (i.e., job demands, interpersonal conflict) on the relation between job satisfaction change and turnover intentions change and positive work behavior; and (c) the crossover of job satisfaction change from managers to employees and the potential underlying behavioral mechanisms. An archival dataset collected by the Work, Family & Health Network was used to investigate the aforementioned phenomena. Data were collected at two time points with a six-month interval via face-to-face computer-assisted personal interviews from individuals working at 30 facilities from a U.S. extended-healthcare organization. In total, data from 184 managers and 1,524 of their employees were used to test hypotheses. Data were analyzed using multilevel structural equation modeling. In an extension of the momentum model, I found that managers’ job satisfaction change positively related to changes in employee reports of their FSSB; in addition, I replicated prior findings in which job satisfaction change negatively related to turnover intentions change. Furthermore, based on my integration of the momentum model and the affective shift model, I tested the proposition that changes in negative work events (i.e., job demands, interpersonal conflict) would moderate the relationship between changes in job satisfaction and focal outcomes. For certain operationalizations of negative work events, hypothesis testing revealed significant interactions with respect to changes in all three outcomes: turnover intentions, OCB, and FSSB. The form of the interactions, however, deviated from my predictions for models including changes in turnover intentions and OCB, although my predictions were supported for models including changes in FSSB. In my integration of the momentum model and crossover theory, the associated hypotheses were met with very limited support. Specifically, the relationship between managers' job satisfaction change and employees' job satisfaction change approached significance, but the relationship between managers' level of job satisfaction and their employees' subsequent level of job satisfaction did not receive support. Similarly, the proposed mediational mechanisms (i.e., managers' OCB and FSSB) of these crossover relations went unsupported. In sum, while my contributions to the momentum model and the affective shift model were notable, my proposed integration of the momentum model and crossover theory was met with limited support. Overall, findings from this dissertation yield important implications for both theory and practice, as they may draw more attention to changes in job satisfaction, as well as the potentially beneficial role of changes in perceived negative work events.

Few studies to date have investigated associations among work, family, and sleep outcomes. The following dissertation includes three studies that attempt to further understanding of such relationships by utilizing data from information technology workers within the Work, Family, and Health Network study. In Study 1, which is published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, associations between work-to-family conflict, family-to-work conflict, family-supportive supervisor behaviors, and sleep outcomes, measured both subjectively and objectively, are examined in a cross-sectional sample. Study 2 investigates associations among work-to-family conflict, family-supportive supervisor behaviors, and subjective sleep outcomes within a seven-day daily diary framework. Furthermore, workplace characteristics are examined as moderators of these relationships. Study 3 explores the effect of a work-family intervention on sleep outcomes at the 18-month follow-up time point, in addition to mediators of the intervention effect on sleep outcomes over time.

Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of death in industrialized nations. Research indicates that job strain may be significantly related to cardiovascular disease in employees with little to no social support. Using the JDC-S model developed by Karasek (1979) and elaborated upon by Johnson and Hall (1988), the family-supportive supervisory behaviors (FSSB) measure created by Hammer et al., (2009), and the blood pressure wrist monitor device Omron317T, this study examined FSSB as a moderator of the relationship between job strain, job demands, job control and workers' blood pressure on work and non-work days. Sixty-nine grocery store workers from a Midwest grocery store chain participated in this study, fifty-six of which were included in the analyses. Though none of the interactions were significant at the .05 level, results indicate that FSSB is significantly related to a number of blood pressure readings at the grand centered mean of job strain, job control, and job demands.

The majority of literature on the work-family interface has focused on, and provided evidence of, the conflict associated with engagement in both work and family roles (Eby, Casper, Lockwood, Bordeaux, & Brinley, 2005). Research examining the positive aspects of work and family participation remains limited. The current study investigated how work-family positive spillover is transferred between members of the supervisor-employee dyad and subsequently how this affects employee sleep outcomes. It was hypothesized that work-to-family affective positive spillover experienced by supervisors would crossover to employees and increase their experiences of work-to-family affective positive spillover. In turn, this would allow for better employee sleep. It was also proposed that these relationships would depend on the level of employee perceptions of family-supportive supervisor behaviors (FSSB), such that higher levels of FSSB would result in higher levels of employee positive spillover and better employee sleep. As part of a larger study, survey data were collected in a sample of 696 workers supervised by 180 managers in the information technology sector. Contrary to expectations, results indicated that supervisor positive spillover was negatively related to employee positive spillover. Furthermore, FSSB moderated the association between supervisor positive spillover and employee sleep duration, such that the relationship between supervisor positive spillover and employee sleep duration was positive under high levels of FSSB, but negative under low levels of FSSB. Again, this finding was contrary to expectations. Alternative explanations are discussed.