The Research on the Effects of Work-Family Support on Employees' Creativity

Abstract

Creativity is one of the central issues in organizational behavior and human resource management research. Nowadays, employees are paying more and more attention to the balance between work and family. As a result, many organizations hope to provide more family support to help employees devote themselves to the job, and thus improve their creativity. However, work-family support is a two-way concept, so the family support that plays an important role in this process should also be concerned. This research focused on work-family support which means the support from organization and family, and discussed the impact of employees' perceived work-family support on employees' creativity as well as the effect of work engagement as mediator. At the same time, we took personality into consideration and examined the moderating effects of creative personality in the process. Based on the existing literature, our study was conducted with matching questionnaires. The questionnaire for employees included work-family support, work engagement and creative personality, while employees' creativity was rated by direct supervisors. Data was collected in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and other cities among 773 groups of employees and their direct supervisors. After analyzing the data, we have found the following conclusions. (1) In the context of our Chinese culture, work-family support consists of four factors which are organizational support, leadership support, emotional support and instrumental support. Organizational support and leadership support are defined as work support, while emotional support and instrumental support are defined as family support. (2) Demographic variables had distinct influence on employees' perceived work-family support and work engagement. (3) Employees' perceived work-family support had significantly positive effect on work engagement. (4) Work engagement mediated the effects of work support on employees' creativity. (5) Creative personality moderated the effects of work engagement on employees' creativity. The creativity of individuals with high creative personality was strongly influenced by work engagement compared to individuals with low creative personality. The present study demonstrated the impact of employees' perceived work support on employees' creativity as well as the effect of work engagement as mediator It is indicated that in order to enhance employee's creativity, organizations should provide Family Friendly Policies besides selecting and training. Furthermore, it would be effective and meaningful to guide the immediate supervisors, who are regarded as representatives of the organization, to help employees balance between work and family. On the other hand, although the impact of family support on creativity was not significant, the positive effect of family support on work engagement should not be ignored. It is worthwhile for organization to develop a family friendly culture which helps employees' to gain the support from family. The last contribution of this study is that the effect of work engagement was moderated by creative personality has been proved. For practical implications, it should be encouraged for managers to provide more work support for employees with high creativity personality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved)(journal abstract)