OB Research Seminar - Nada Jmili, HEC Lausanne

The present study investigates how different directions of work-family conflict (WFC) and gender can impact the reception of social support and empathy from observers. Building on role congruity theory (Eagly & Karau, 2002), social support theories (French et al., 2018), and Steiner et al. (2021) results, we hypothesized that counter-stereotypical individuals, like men with a family in work conflict (FIW) and women with a work in family conflict (WIF), will receive less support and empathy due to a backlash effect. We conducted two experimental studies using vignettes, presenting an imaginary coworker, either a man or a woman, experiencing either a WIF, a FIW or no conflict. Results of both studies (N study 1= 334; N study 2= 620) provided little evidence of a joint impact of type of conflict and gender on social support. Study 1 showed that the stereotypical woman received the least amount of emotional support, which contradicts both the literature and the finding of Steiner et al. (2021). Due to these contradicting results, Study 2 was conducted to replicate Study 1 results and examine the role of empathy and participants’ gender. In line with our predictions, Study 2 showed a backlash toward the man with FIW, but only from male participants. Conversely, the woman with WIF did not receive a backlash, but was rather valued by women participants. Our results show that the discrimination towards parents with WFC is complex, and translates into different mechanisms and outcomes depending of both the targets’ characteristics and the perceivers’ characteristics. Therefore, our study showed limited evidences for a simple backlash effect, suggesting the need for more targeted organizational interventions when dealing with WFC. Limitations and implications are discussed.