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1 This article was downloaded by: [Dongguk University], [Hyondong Kim] On: 03 October 2013, At: 18:34 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: Registered office: Mortimer House, Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK The International Journal of Human Resource Management Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: The effects of family-friendly practices and gender discrimination on job attitudes: the moderating role of support Hyondong Kim a, Jong-Keon Lee b & Sanghyeon Sung a a Business School, Dongguk University, Seoul, Republic of Korea b College of Business & Economics, Chung-Ang University, Anseong, Republic of Korea Published online: 16 May To cite this article: Hyondong Kim, Jong-Keon Lee & Sanghyeon Sung (2013) The effects of familyfriendly practices and gender discrimination on job attitudes: the moderating role of support, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 24:20, , DOI: / To link to this article: PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the Content ) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &

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3 The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 2013 Vol. 24, No. 20, , The effects of family-friendly practices and gender discrimination on job attitudes: the moderating role of support Hyondong Kim a, Jong-Keon Lee b * and Sanghyeon Sung a a Business School, Dongguk University, Seoul, Republic of Korea; b College of Business & Economics, Chung-Ang University, Anseong, Republic of Korea This study examined the effects of family-friendly practices and gender discrimination on female employees job attitudes and the moderating role of support. The results of our analysis, based on a sample of 1556 female employees in Korea, indicate that family-friendly practices and workplace environments reflecting gender discrimination are significantly related to their job satisfaction and workplace benefits stress. In addition, support moderated the effects of family-friendly practices and workplace environments reflecting gender discrimination on Korean female employees job satisfaction and work stress. These results suggest that perceived organizational support has considerable influence on the job attitudes of Korean female employees through its interactions with support. Therefore, firms should consider the fit between organizational support and y roles to enhance Korean female employees job satisfaction and to reduce their work stress. Keywords: family-friendly practices; gender discrimination perception; perceived organizational support (POS); women-friendly ; work family-specific Given that women play a critical role in Korea s economic and social development, their need to strike a balance between work and family obligations has been a critical issue. In Korea, shifting labor market demographics have produced an increasing number of female employees (Lim, Moon and Kim 2007). Many new human resource management (HRM) trends heightening workplace stress have made it critical for managers to better understand formal workplace support (i.e. work family practices, such as on-site childcare service) and informal workplace support (i.e. support) linkages to female employees job attitudes (Kossek, Pichler, Bodner and Hammer 2011). Although the number of female employees has increased sharply, Korean firms have generally maintained traditional values with respect to gender roles (Lim et al. 2007). Korean female employees typically encounter a glass ceiling, indicating that they are less likely to find higher paying jobs and to be promoted in comparison to their male counterparts. These barriers include discriminatory HRM policies and practices (Hong, Lee, Kim, Yoo and Lee 2009). Existing literature has shown the significance of organizational programs and policies specifically in enhancing the work family balance of female workers (Kossek, Colquitt and Noe 2001; Kim and Cha 2009). Moreover, Ibarra, Carter and Silva (2010) reported that working women with advanced education and skills still face disadvantages against male counterparts in terms of career advancement. Previous studies have also suggested that such organizational support can play a critical role in female employees efforts to *Corresponding author. jkeonlee@cau.ac.kr q 2013 Taylor & Francis

4 3922 H. Kim et al. achieve a balance between their work and family in conjunction with support (Kossek et al. 2001; Anderson, Coffey and Byerly 2002; Hoobler, Wayne and Lemmon 2009; Kim and Cha 2009). The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of organizational support on job attitudes of Korean female employees. More specifically, we investigated the relationships between female employees perceptions of family-friendly practices and gender discrimination and their job satisfaction and workplace benefits stress by analyzing a survey sample of 1556 Korean female managers. Furthermore, our study examined the moderating effect of support on the relationship between organizational support and job attitudes of Korean female employees. We also provide a comparison of different types of support such as women-friendly support and work family-specific support to offer a better understanding of the y role in implementing organizational support for female employees. The fit between organizational and support could raise employees job satisfaction to a much higher level and reduce workplace benefits stress to a much lower level. Therefore, by focusing on Korean firms, this study contributes to the literature by elaborating on how Korean firms facilitate organizational and y support to promote and foster desired job attitudes among female employees. Theory and hypotheses Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchison and Sowa (1986) developed perceived organizational support (POS) to highlight the importance of employees beliefs about organization s commitment to them. POS is defined as the extent to which employees believe that an organization values their contribution and cares about their well-being. Scholars suggest that POS positively affects employer employee relations because it creates feelings of obligation within employees to care about the organization and help it reach its goals (e.g. Eisenberger, Armeli, Rexwinkel, Lynch and Rhoades 2001; Rhoades and Eisenberger 2002). POS stems from the notion of reciprocity that people are ready to provide help and make commitment to partners who take appreciation of their work. POS motivates employees to make positive inferences about organizations that reinforce instrumentality and organizational commitment (Eisenberger et al. 1986). Employees perceive POS when their companies are willing to provide personal care for their contributions. In order to foster POS of female employees, companies make substantial investment in achieving work family balance (Greenhaus and Powell 2006). Therefore, recently, there has been growing interests in balancing employees work family obligations. Firms have been implementing various family-friendly policies and practices, which are designed and established to satisfy the needs of female employees. Korean companies also make efforts to achieve gender equality in its employee management by providing substantial support for female employees career development. When companies respect the quality of their employees personal lives, they are motivated to make contribution to their memberships. Organizational support may foster mutual trust and commitment, which in turn facilitates a work family balance. Therefore, firms are required to provide organizational support where the value of work family balance is appreciated. Family-friendly practices Traditional work family models separate work responsibilities from family obligations (Hoobler et al. 2009). This separation assumes that work and family obligations are

5 The International Journal of Human Resource Management 3923 incompatible, i.e. they have a conflicting relationship. As female employees have had to take responsibility for their jobs as well as their family members, they tend to face challenges from work family conflicting relations. A number of early studies found that social support can operate as a buffer against or have direct effects on occupational stress. Haly (2009) insisted that work family-specific support in the workplace can explain a majority of work stress claims. Ter Doest and De Jong (2006) suggested that an increase in the level of social support enhances job satisfaction and reduces emotional burnout. Social support can play a role as a key resource or coping mechanism that helps individuals to reduce the effects of stressors (Anderson et al. 2002). In 2006, the Korean government implemented an affirmative action policy to foster demographic diversity in the workplace. Since then, firms have actively executed familyfriendly policies and programs to provide female employees with necessary assistance. Previous studies have suggested that such policies and programs can help female employees to achieve work family balance. The Korean Women s Development Institute (KWDI) provided a comparison of the work family balance among female employees in Korea, Sweden and the UK (Hong et al. 2009) and found that those in Korea were more likely to struggle with dual work family roles. Several studies of female employees in Korea have found that family-friendly practices can help them to make commitment to their job tasks and responsibilities (Kim and Cha 2009). According to Igbaria and Greenhaus (1992), female employees are more likely to be terminated or laid off, and less likely to be promoted or given a raise than their male counterparts. Female employees family responsibility may interfere with their work, which can lower their job performance (Kossek et al. 2001). Work-related social supports are likely to enable employees to better integrate their work and family roles. Supportive programs at work have been shown to play an important role in the extent to which multiple roles negatively influence employees well-being (Kirrane and Buckley 2004). When family-friendly practices are in place, female employees may facilitate their efforts to achieve a work family balance. Thus, such family-friendly practices may have positive effects on female employees job attitudes. In this regard, we propose the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 1a: Hypothesis 1b: Gender discrimination Family-friendly practices will be positively related to job satisfaction. Family-friendly practices will be negatively related to workplace benefits stress. A substantial body of literature reports that female workers confront gender stereotyping in the workplace: they are underprivileged against their male partners with similar education and careers. For example, Ibarra et al. (2010) also showed that although female managers and workers have a better chance to acquire support and guidance from the organizations, they have difficulty in verifying endorsements for their future careers. Gender stereotyping still appears to be an invisible barrier to career advancements of female workers. Previous work family literature has investigated the perceptual influences over work family balance. Powell and Greenhaus (2010) revealed that female employees who are salient to family roles were willing to participate in family-related activities at the expense of career interests. Perceptions of female employees about work family balance provide significant effects on their career progress.

6 3924 H. Kim et al. Recently, Korean companies have made efforts to establish diversity in the workplace. But gender discrimination remains a serious issue. Gender discrimination reduces female employee s morale and loyalty and worsens their work stress. Korean society s traditional values are based on Confucianism, which distinguishes gender roles by separating work responsibilities from family obligations. The Korean government has implemented various affirmative action programs to mitigate gender discrimination in workplaces. However, because it is difficult to make cultural changes in the short run, Korean female employees still confront a glass ceiling in their employments that reduces their job satisfaction and intensifies stress related to workplace benefits. Korean female employees may perceive that traditional notions of work home separation still prevail in the workplaces. Although Korean companies put emphasis on gender equality in the workplace, female employees perceptions about gender discrimination still determine their job attitudes by affecting work family balance in the workplace. Hypothesis 2a: Hypothesis 2b: Perceived gender discrimination will be negatively related to job satisfaction. Perceived gender discrimination will be positively related to workplace benefits stress. Moderating role of support HRM research has increasingly focused not only on formal HR policies but also on informal employee perceptions of support at work (Kossek et al. 2011). A firm should facilitate and provide necessary assistance for y roles in work family balance to achieve synergy effects through organizational support (Grandey, Cordeiro and Crouter 2005). Supervisors who value work- and family-oriented women-friendly support are likely to provide female employees with necessary assistance. By contrast, when s do not recognize the importance of women- and family-friendly support, there may be large gaps between what is planned and what is implemented. Unless firms motivate s to be concerned about the quality of subordinates work family lives, female employees may not appreciate the firms efforts toward work family obligations that provide damaging effects on their job attitudes. To motivate female employees, a firm should combine family-friendly organizational programs with support. In this regard, the present study examines the y role in facilitating job attitude of female employees from the contingency perspective. Recently, several studies were conducted to highlight the importance of s in such efforts, particularly in Eastern Asia (Farh, Hackett and Liang 2007; Lu et al. 2009). The present study compares different roles of women-friendly and work family-specific s that highlight its importance in such efforts. The results of the study add value to existing literature by assessing the synergy effect between organizational support and its contingent y roles in job attitudes of female employees. Supervisors are considered as agents responsible for providing information on the organization s goals and values. Supervisors are in regular contact and form relationships with their subordinates. The quality of such relationships can be a source of motivation for employees to show better performance and develop positive attitudes (Ladebo 2008; Lu et al. 2010). Recently, as female employees emerge as key human capital, Korean companies intend to provide female employees with organizational support. However, unless

7 The International Journal of Human Resource Management 3925 s provide appropriate support for achieving a work family balance, female employees may not realize the benefits from organizational support that is intended. Thus, family-friendly practices should accompany support to foster positive perceptions of female employees about companies efforts toward their work family balance. In this regard, we propose the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 3: Hypothesis 4: Women-friendly will positively moderate the relationship between family-friendly practices and job satisfaction and workplace benefits stress. Work family-specific will positively moderate the relationship between family-friendly practices, and job satisfaction and workplace benefits stress. Existing literature has researched gender discrimination and its effects on the careers of female employees. Female employees continue to earn lower wages and receive fewer promotions compared to their male counterparts with similar education and job positions. Yap and Konrad (2009) examined the importance of gender and race in the promotion process of 22,000 full-time workers for four years. White females and minority females were 4.5% and 16%, respectively, less likely to be promoted than white males with similar education and work experience. Although, recently, many companies make substantial investment in promoting female employees careers, they are still disadvantaged in hiring, compensation, performance evaluation and promotion. Pichler, Simpson and Stroh (2008) found that gender discrimination still posed an invisible barrier against female employees careers even in HR field regarded as women-friendly occupation. Given Korea s enactment of affirmative action and the increasing number of female employees, firms have actively taken measures to mitigate gender discrimination in the workplace. However, due to the dominance of s having low work familyspecific support with Korean firms, female employees may not notice such efforts by their employers. Barsness, Diekmann and Seidel (2005) showed that female employees with male s are more likely to engage in ingratiatory and image-enhancing behaviors toward their s. But mixed-sex dyads (female employees and male s) still reduce the positive effects of the self-enhancing behavior of female employees in terms of their job competence and accomplishments. Hoobler et al. (2009) showed that the subordinate s sex and the s perception of work family conflicts can determine the career outcome of a subordinate. These findings highlight the important role played by s in gender discrimination and its related effects on career outcomes. Because y support is advantageous for female employees, y support for the work family balance may mitigate the negative effects of gender discrimination on their job attitudes. By contrast, when a manager shows no interest in the work family balance, female employees gender discrimination perceptions may exacerbate its negative effects on work family balance and its related job attitudes. That is, y support may have considerable influence on the relationship between female employees perception of gender discrimination and their job attitudes. In this regard, we propose the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 5: Women-friendly will positively moderate the relationship between perceived gender discrimination, and job satisfaction and workplace benefits stress.

8 3926 H. Kim et al. Hypothesis 6: Work family-specific will positively moderate the relationship between perceived gender discrimination, and job satisfaction and workplace benefits stress. Methods Sample and procedure We used a survey conducted by the KWDI in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. The KWDI is a government-sponsored research institute that promotes gender equality in the workplace and provides female employees with career development assistance ( The objective of the KWDI is to survey female employees careers and to provide new knowledge and ideas on how the Korean government and industry could leverage female employees potential (Hong et al. 2009). The KWDI takes several steps to establish panel data on female employees careers. Before administering the KWDI, a KWDI research team conducts literature review and interviews female employees to develop questionnaire items. Most of the questionnaire items are adapted from previous research on work family issues for female employees. In addition, the team conducts interviews with six groups, each of which is composed of three female managers and three female employees. After the initial survey, the team conducts a pre-assessment using survey items to verify the validity and reliability of the items. It then launches the Korea Women Manager Panel (KWMP) survey. The team selects firms with at least 100 workers. It then contacts HR managers and explains the objectives and implications of the KWMP data set, requesting their participation. After receiving their approval, the team sends the questionnaire to female managers and employees. The KWMP survey was conducted from August 2008 to March The team employs a wide range of methods to increase the response rate, including mailed questionnaires, online questionnaires and personal interviews. The original sample included 3616 female employees from 315 firms. However, we excluded those with missing data, and thus, we were left with the final sample of 1556 female employees for this study. According to Korean national statistics, female employees with a university degree record a 70% employment rate in their late 20s (Min, Oh and Lee 2010). However, many such female employees quit their jobs by the age of 30, and their employment rate drops to 57% thereafter (Min et al. 2010). Because of household and child-rearing responsibilities, many female employees with a university degree quit their jobs and make a commitment to their family responsibilities. Measures Although the KWDI develops its questionnaires in Korean, a KWMP research, which conducted the survey, includes survey items drawn from major journals published in the USA and Korea (e.g. the Journal of Applied Psychology and the Academy of Management Journal). The team s bilingual experts employ the back-translation procedure to ensure accuracy and address any discrepancies. However, some questionnaire items are developed from interviews with female employees because those items reflect the unique aspects of their work family balance issues in the Korean workplace. Family-friendly practices We operationalized family-friendly practices to the extent to which female employees had opportunities to make use of family-friendly policies and programs. We selected the

9 The International Journal of Human Resource Management 3927 following nine policies to represent family-friendly policies and practices: (1) maternity leave; (2) childcare/parental leave; (3) family care leave; (4) on-site childcare services; (5) subsidized childcare; (6) flexible benefits programs; (7) reduced working hours for working parents; (8) flextime; and (9) telecommuting. We assessed these programs based on whether they were provided and whether they were actually used. We coded these questions as 1 if the programs were used and 0 if they were provided but not used. We measured family-friendly practices by adding programs provided to those actually used. By determining the extent to which female employees made use of family-friendly practices, we measured female employees perception of family-friendly policies and practices. Perceived gender discrimination We surveyed workplace environments that can exacerbate gender discrimination to measure female employees exposure to gender discrimination in the following areas: (1) employment; (2) job placement; (3) compensation; (4) training and development opportunities; (5) promotion; and (6) performance appraisals. We assessed gender discrimination based on whether female employees actually experienced gender discrimination in the workplace. We coded these questions as 1 if female employees experienced gender discrimination and 0 otherwise. We assessed gender discrimination by the sum of all items. Supervisor support We considered two different types of support (women-friendly s vs. work family-specific s) to examine the role of s in female employees job attitudes. Reporting to a women-friendly was measured with five items each rated on a five-point Likert scale (1¼strongly disagree, 5 ¼ strongly agree): (1) my treats male and female employees fairly for performance appraisals, (2) my provides equal training and development opportunities for male and female employees, and (3) my listens when I talk about my problems. These items were taken from Eisenberger et al. (1986) and Lambert (2000). Reporting to a work family-specific was assessed with two items each rated on a five-point Likert scale (1 ¼ strongly disagree, 5 ¼ strongly agree): (1) I have difficulty spending time with my family because my wants me to socialize with coworkers after working hours and (2) my makes me feel nervous when I come home early for my family. Kossek et al. (2011) generated work-family-specific to provide specific explanations about y roles and work family balance of company workers. Work family-specific is defined as the degree to which s are willing to take care of work family balance of individual workers. Two items are closely associated with y roles and work family balance of female workers that belong to the definitions of work-family-specific. To make a work family-specific scale, we reversed coding (1 ¼ strongly agree, 5 ¼ strongly disagree). Several studies use the reverse coding to measure y support for work family balance. Frye and Breaugh (2004) used reversed scores to measure support for work family balance (p. 206). Warner and Hausdorf (2009) also used reverse coding to measure y support for work life issues (p. 145). After reviewing previous literatures, we decide to use reverse coding to operationalize work-family-specific measure.

10 3928 H. Kim et al. Korean firms typically have longer working hours than their Western counterparts. Because collectivism and power distance are deeply embedded in the culture of Korean firms, Korean employees are likely to be fully committed to their jobs while paying little attention to their family. Korean firms are very different from their Western counterparts in terms of the work family balance. In this regard, Korean working context should consider the possible work family-specific support in the analysis of Korean female employees job attitudes. Job attitudes By combining job satisfaction and workplace benefits stress, this study made a comprehensive assessment of the job attitudes of female employees. Female employees were asked to evaluate their jobs with regard to the degree to which they were satisfied. Job satisfaction was measured with three items each rated on a five-point scale (1 ¼ strongly disagree, 5 ¼ strongly agree). The measure of job satisfaction was taken from Judge, Ilies and Scott (2006). Workplace benefits stress measured the degree to which female employees were satisfied with company benefits programs. It was assessed with four items each rated on a five-point scale (1 ¼ strongly disagree, 5 ¼ strongly agree). The measure of workplace benefits stress was taken from Toppinen-Tanner, Kalimo and Mutanen (2002) and Choi (2008). Control variables This study also controlled for several variables that might affect the hypothesized relationships, including major industry type, firm size, age, education, marital status, children, job position and gender. For example, Kossek et al. (2001) included individual demographic variables to control the effects on work life balance of nurses. Hoobler et al. (2009) also selected children, marital status and gender as control variables. Moreover, because female employees in Korea tend to be skewed in terms of their industry memberships and jobs, we controlled for firm data such as industries, firm size and job positions (Min et al. 2010). The industry type was dummy coded into four groups: manufacturing, retail, financial and service sectors. Company size was measured with a three-point scale (1 ¼ workers, 2 ¼ workers and 3 ¼ over 1000 workers). Age was measured by the natural logarithm of an employee s age. Education was measured with a four-point scale (1 ¼ high school degree, 2 ¼ college degree, 3 ¼ master s degree and 4 ¼ doctoral degree). Marital status was coded as 1 if married and 0 otherwise. Number of children was dummy coded as 1 for with children and 0 for without children. Job position was measured with a five-point scale (1 ¼ assistant manager, 2 ¼ manager, 3 ¼ assistant director, 4 ¼ director and 5 ¼ executive). Supervisor gender was also dummy coded as 1 for male and 0 for female s. Results Descriptive statistics Table 1 presents the means, standard deviations and correlations among the study variables. The average age of the respondents was 33. On average, their annual gross income was $31,000, and 56% were married. Overall, the respondents were highly educated. For example, 76% had at least a bachelor s degree and 12% had a master s

11 The International Journal of Human Resource Management 3929 Table 1. Descriptive statistics and correlations. Variables Mean SD Manufacturing Retailing Financials Other service industry 5. Company size Age Education Marriage Children Job position Supervisor gender 12. Family-friendly practices a 13. Perceived gender discrimination 14. Women-friendly Work family specific 16. Job satisfaction Workplace benefits stress Note: N ¼ All correlations above 0.06 and 0.07 are significant at p, 0.05 and p, 0.01, respectively. Manufacturing was coded as manufacturing ¼ 1, non-manufacturing ¼ 0; retailing was coded as retailing ¼ 1, non-retailing ¼ 0; financials was coded as financials ¼ 1, non-fi nancials ¼ 0; marriage was coded 1 for married and 0 for unmarried; children was coded 1 for female employees with children and 0 for female employees without children; gender was coded 1 for male and 0 for female. a Used and provided family-friendly policies and programs.

12 3930 H. Kim et al. degree. In addition, 38% worked for service providers, 28% for financial services firms, 27% for manufacturers and 7% for retailers. Furthermore, 56% were assistant managers, 30% were managers, 10% were assistant directors and only 4% were directors. In terms of firm size, 46% worked for firms with employees, 23% for firms with employees and 31% for firms with more than 1000 employees. Finally, 33% had been employed with the firm for 6 9 years, 26% for 3 5 years, 24% for more than 10 years and 16% for less than 2 years. Validity and reliability analyses We conducted a principal component analysis to examine the validity of the measures. The results indicated four factors providing support for validity of the survey measures. In addition, the factor loadings generally satisfied the validity requirements. Eigenvalues in factors 1 4 are 3.59, 1.03, 1.09 and 1.77, respectively. Changes in variances in factors 1 4 are 32.68%, 9.34%, 9.93% and 16.11%, respectively (Table 2). The coefficient a reliability of women-friendly and work family-specific scales were 0.85 and 0.65, respectively. The coefficient a of job satisfaction and workplace benefits stress scales were 0.75 and 0.68, respectively. Thus, all the variables demonstrate sufficient validity and reliability. Table 2. Results of factor analyses. Items Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3 Factor 4 Factor analysis 1: Women-friendly My treats male and female employees fairly for performance appraisals. My provides equal training and development opportunities for male and female employees. My listens when I talk about my problems. Factor analysis 2: Work family-specific I have difficulty spending time with my family because of the need to socialize with co-workers after working hours. When I come home early for my family, I feel nervousness. Factor analysis 3: Job satisfaction I am satisfied with my co-workers I am satisfied with my job tasks I am satisfied with working environments Factor analysis 4: Workplace benefits stress My job fails to provide enough benefits My job fails to offer chance for career development. My job conditions are dangerous and unhealthy. Eigenvalues D Variance (%) Note: Boldface factor loadings indicate the items retained for each scale.

13 The International Journal of Human Resource Management 3931 Furthermore, we have common-method bias issue, as predictors, moderators and criterion variables are gathered from self-reported surveys. Several statistical techniques help researchers to minimize the potential effects of common-method variance (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Lee and Podsakoff 2003). A number of studies checked for mono-method bias when the data for those studies were collected from the same source such as self-reported questionnaires (Elangovan and Xie 1999). To check mono-method bias, we added a method factor to four-factor model (women-friendly, work family-specific, job satisfaction and workplace benefits stress) and compared with only four-factor model. We used AMOS to conduct confirmatory analyses to compare model validity and check with mono-method bias. The x 2 statistics for fourfactor model was (df ¼ 38) and fit indexes were better than acceptable levels (GFI ¼ 0.97, CFI ¼ 0.96, TLI ¼ 0.95). Adding method factor, the x 2 statistics was (df ¼ 28) and fit indexes were also better than acceptable level (GFI ¼ 0.98, CFI ¼ 0.98, TLI ¼ 0.96). x 2 differences are significant (Dx 2 ¼ , Ddf ¼ 10). But incremental fit index is so small that it suggests insignificant improvement (DGFI ¼ 0.01, DCFI ¼ 0.02, DTLI ¼ 0.01). Furthermore, factor loadings on four-factor model were significant after the method effects were partialed out. Therefore, although data for this study were collected from self-reported questionnaires, common-method bias may not have significant effects on the research model. Test of hypotheses Table 3 reports results of the hierarchical regressions conducted to test the hypotheses. We considered three models for each dependent variable. The results for Model 1 in Table 3 indicate that family-friendly practices had significant effects on job attitudes (job satisfaction: b ¼ 0.13, p, 0.05; workplace benefits stress: b ¼ 20.06, p, 0.05). Perceived gender discrimination also had significant effects on job attitudes (job satisfaction: b ¼ 20.19, p, 0.001; workplace benefits stress: b ¼ 0.18, p, 0.001). Thus, Hypotheses 1 and 2 were supported. The results in Model 3 of Table 3 show interactions between family-friendly practices and perceived gender discrimination and the moderating variables (women-friendly vs. work family-specific s). The results indicate that family-friendly practices and womenfriendly and also work family-specific had no interaction effects on job satisfaction (women-friendly : b ¼ 20.03, n.s.; work family-specific : b ¼ 0.02, n.s.) and workplace benefits stress (women-friendly : b ¼ 0.01, n.s.; work family-specific : b ¼ 20.03, n.s.). Hypotheses 3 and 4 were not supported. With regard to perceived gender discrimination, women-friendly support had significant interaction effects on two variables: job satisfaction (b ¼ 20.09, p, 0.01) and workplace benefits stress (b ¼ 0.08, p, 0.01). Perceived gender discrimination and work family-specific support also had significant interaction effects on job satisfaction (b ¼ 0.08, p, 0.01) and workplace benefits stress (b ¼ 20.07, p, 0.01). Hence, Hypotheses 5 and 6 were supported. To plot the interaction effects, we followed the suggestions in previous research (e.g. Cohen, Cohen, West and Aiken 2006). That is, we used the non-standardized regression coefficients from the regression equations to predict the job attitudes of female employees because the predictors varied from the mean by 21 to þ1 standard deviation. Using the calculated results, we plotted the relationships between the dependent and moderating variables at low (one standard deviation below the mean) and high (one standard deviation above the mean) levels.

14 3932 H. Kim et al. Table 3. Results of hierarchical regression analyses. Job satisfaction Workplace benefits stress Variable Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Control Manufacturing 20.04** Retailing *** 20.07*** 20.06** Financials **** 20.18**** 20.18**** Company size 0.10**** 0.11**** 0.10*** 20.17**** 20.18**** 20.17**** Age 0.07** 0.07** 0.07** Education *** 0.08*** 0.08*** Marriage Children 0.14**** 0.12**** 0.12**** 20.11*** 20.10*** 20.10*** Job position Supervisor gender 20.06** ** Independent effects Family-friendly practices 0.13** 0.11**** 0.11**** 20.06** * Perceived gender discrimination 20.19**** 20.09**** 20.10**** 0.18**** 0.12**** 0.14**** Moderators Women-friendly 0.33**** 0.33**** 20.19**** 20.20**** Work family-specific 0.08** 0.07** Interactions Family-friendly practices women-friendly Family-friendly practices work family-specific Perceived gender discrimination women-friendly 20.09*** 0.08*** Perceived gender discrimination work family-specific 0.08*** 20.07*** Adjusted R R DR F 17.34**** 33.97**** 27.66**** 27.28**** 29.42**** **** DF (df1, df2) (2,1541) 4.50 (4,1537) (2,1541) 3.42 (4,1537) Note: N ¼ Standardized coefficients (betas) are reported. Manufacturing was coded as manufacturing ¼ 1, non-manufacturing ¼ 0; retailing was coded as retailing ¼ 1, nonretailing ¼ 0; financials was coded as financials ¼ 1, non-financials ¼ 0; marriage was coded 1 for married and 0 for unmarried; children was coded 1 for female employees with children and 0 for female employees without children; gender was coded 1 for male and 0 for female. *p, 0.10, **p, 0.05, ***p, 0.01, ****P,

15 The International Journal of Human Resource Management 3933 (a) Job satisfaction Job satisfaction (b) Workplace benefits stress Low Perceived gender discrimination Workplace benefits stress Low Perceived gender discrimination High High High women-friendly Low women-friendly Low women-friendly High women-friendly Figure 1. Interactive effects of perceived gender discrimination and women-friendly on (a) job satisfaction and (b) workplace benefits stress. Figures 1 and 2 illustrate the moderating effect of y support (womenfriendly vs. work family-specific s) on the relationship between perceived gender discrimination, and job satisfaction and workplace benefits stress. Figure 1(a) shows that at high levels of women-friendly, environments where gender discrimination was prevalent reduced job satisfaction. In Figure 1(b), at high level of women-friendly, gender discrimination exacerbated the workplace benefits stress of female employees, while there were few changes at low level. Figure 2(a) shows at low level of work family-specific, gender discrimination was negatively associated with job satisfaction, while there were few changes at high level. In Figure 2(b), comparing with high level of work family-specific, the slope became increasing at low level of work family-specific in the gender discrimination workplace benefits stress relationship. In sum, the results of this study suggest that y support plays a critical role in job attitudes of female employees by mitigating negative effects from gender-discriminating environments. Discussion The purpose of this study was to deepen insight into the effects of work family practices and perceived gender discrimination on job satisfaction and workplace benefits stress, with a focus on the moderating role of support. Our study yielded following key results: first, family-friendly practices and perceived gender discrimination exerted

16 3934 H. Kim et al. (a) 3.70 Job satisfaction Job satisfaction (b) Workplace benefits stress High work-family-specific Low Perceived gender discrimination Workplace benefits stress Low High High 3.47 Low work-family-specific 3.03 Low work-family-specific High work-family-specific Perceived gender discrimination Figure 2. Interactive effects of perceived gender discrimination and work family-specific on (a) job satisfaction and (b) workplace benefits stress. significant influences over job satisfaction on workplace benefits stress; second, y support types moderated the perceived gender discrimination job satisfaction and gender discrimination workplace benefits stress relationships. In this study, we considered several theories to examine Korean female employees efforts to achieve a better work family balance. Consistent with POS theory, our analysis results show that Korean firms organizational support had positive effects on job attitudes of Korean female subordinates, demonstrating the importance of establishing and providing organizational support in facilitating the work family balance. Therefore, firms should design and establish various family-friendly practices and foster an organizational culture that can promote gender equality in the workplace. Korean firms should motivate female employees to form positive perceptions of family-friendly practices and gender equality policies in the workplace. Accordingly, Korean firms should place greater emphasis on family-friendly practices. Since the enactment of the Korean government s affirmative action policies for promoting gender equality, Korean firms have made efforts to achieve gender equality in the workplace. However, if female employees have negative perceptions of the work family balance and gender equality, then such efforts are likely to be considered a waste of limited resources. Therefore, it is critical for firms to appropriately align their organizational support programs with female employees perceptions. By highlighting the importance of POS, this study extends the theoretical perspective on job attitudes of female employees.

17 The International Journal of Human Resource Management 3935 The results of the current study show that y support provided no influences over the relationships between family-friendly practices and female employees job satisfaction and workplace benefits stress. Supervisory support plays a critical role in job satisfaction of female employees. When female employees acquire substantial supports from s, they have more chances for promotions and increased compensation (Hoobler et al. 2009). Especially, work family-specific is tied to work family challenges of female employees. The items on work family-specific measured the time they spent with their family (e.g. spending time with family, come home early for my family ). Work family-specific facilitates female employees to complete their family responsibilities, which enhances their job satisfaction. Familyfriendly practices also provide strong effects on job satisfaction and workplace benefits stress of female employees (Allen 2001). The results of the present study show that y support and family-friendly practices provide strong effects on job attitudes. Therefore, there is no significant interaction between y support and familyfriendly practices, as those variables are directly related with job satisfaction and workplace benefits stress. Moreover, women-friendly was less likely to have positive effects on job satisfaction and workplace benefits stress when gender discrimination was widespread across the organization (see Figure 1[a], [b]). Low work family-specific also exacerbated the negative job attitudes in environments conducive to gender discrimination (see Figure 2[a], [b]). Accompanied by organizational climates fostering gender equality, y support facilitates female employees to achieve their career objectives. Companies should foster supportive organizational contexts for female employees and s should appreciate their potentials: y support must match with organizational contexts. Therefore, firms should encourage s to have womenfriendly and family-supportive attitudes toward female employees. In the workplace, s assume the representativeness of organizational policies and systems and are positioned in the middle of the employer employee give and take relationship. Unless s care about staff employees contributions to the organization, environments that try to prevent gender discrimination have limited effects on the work family balance. In this regard, firms may approach the job attitudes of female employees from a contingency perspective. In other words, firms should integrate organizational context with y support to enhance the job attitudes of female employees. Limitations This study has several limitations. First, we used cross-sectional data that made it difficult to establish causality. Because the KWMP survey data represent a panel data set, future research should take advantage of this data set to examine the causal relationships. Second, this study deals with common-method variance issue. We controlled a single unmeasured latent method factor that checked with mono-method bias. But with a single latent method factor, we cannot identify the causes of method biases; and also, a latent method factor may reflect relationships among constructs that may not have accurate estimates about common-method bias (Podsakoff et al. 2003). Thus, future study should explore ways to verify data from multiple sources. Third, most previous studies tend to focus on work family balance for female employees (Kossek et al. 2001). As work family balance becomes a salient issue to female employees, those studies have at least more than moderate level of effect size. This study examines how organizational policies and contexts interact with y support and its effects on job attitudes of female

18 3936 H. Kim et al. employees. As job tasks and responsibilities are less susceptible to female employees (Shockley and Singla 2011), the topic of the current study may have challenges to acquire sufficient level of R 2 increase. Therefore, future studies should explore potential variables that provide further explanations about job attitudes of female employees. Fourth, a country s culture is strongly related to work family balance issues. However, because we considered only the Korean workplace, we were not able to provide an in-depth analysis of cultural effects (Hong et al. 2009). Comparing our results with a similar study of female workers in non-korean companies may provide further insight. Fifth, as suggested in Kossek et al. (2011), family-supportive support may have positive effects on female employees efforts to achieve a work family balance. However, it is necessary to compare family-specific support with general support. Kossek et al. (2011) conducted a meta-analysis to provide such a comparison. In this regard, future research should examine the effects of different scopes of support on the work family balance. At last, in this study, marriage may play limited roles in the attitudes of female employees. Previous studies show that marriage provides significant effects on work family balance of female employees (Lu et al. 2010). Future studies may investigate the work life balance of women workers that highlights the importance of marriage status. Conclusion This study highlights the critical role that POS plays in facilitating the desirable job attitudes of female employees. In addition, by having examined support, the study demonstrates the importance of leadership in leveraging organizational support. The results of this study suggest that firms should provide various family-friendly practices and make efforts to prevent gender discrimination in the workplace. However, unless such efforts are accompanied by support, they may have limited effects on female employees. Firms should consider the fit between organizational support and y roles when facilitating their female employees job efforts. References Allen, T.D. (2001), Family-Supportive Work Environments: The Role of Organizational Perceptions, Journal of Vocational Behavior, 58, Anderson, S.E., Coffey, B.S., and Byerly, R.T. (2002), Formal Organizational Initiative and Formal Workplace Practices: Links to Work-Family Conflict and Job-Related Outcomes, Journal of Management, 28, Barsness, Z.I., Diekmann, K.A., and Seidel, M-D.L. (2005), Motivation and Opportunity: The Role of Remote Work, Demographic Dissimilarity, and Social Network Centrality in Impression Management, Academy of Management Journal, 48, Choi, J. (2008), Work and Family Demands and Life Stress Among Chinese Employees: The Mediating Effect of Work-Family Conflict, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 19, Cohen, J., Cohen, P., West, S.G., and Aiken, L.S. (2006), Applied Multiple Regression/Correlation Analysis for the Behavioral Science, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Eisenberger, R., Armeli, S., Rexwinkel, B., Lynch, P.D., and Rhoades, L. (2001), Reciprocation of Perceived Organizational Support, Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, Eisenberger, R., Huntington, R., Hutchison, S., and Sowa, D. (1986), Perceived Organizational Support, Journal of Applied Psychology, 71, Elangovan, A.R., and Xie, J.L. (1999), Effects of Perceived Power of Supervisor on Subordinate Stress and Motivation: The Moderating Role of Subordinate Characteristics, Journal of Organizational Behavior, 20, 2,