Does Organizational Support Moderate the Influence of Family

Abstract

One of the major challenges faced by female employees is the difficulty in juggling between family and work roles. This affects their career progression in the organization. Therefore, this study aims at examining the buffering role of perceived organizational support in the relationship between family–work conflict and career progression. The study utilizes the quantitative research paradigm and employed the survey research design. Responses from two hundred and twenty (220) female officers of the Ghana Revenue Authority–Customs Division were analysed using Smart PLS – 3.0 and Haye’s (2017) PROCESS macro. The result of the study revealed that family–work conflict is negatively related with career progression (career goal progression, professional ability development, and promotion speed). Perceived organizational support moderated the association between family–work conflict and both professional ability development and promotion speed. However, it did not moderate the relationship between family–work conflict and career goal progression. These findings imply that for female officers to progress in the midst of family–work conflict, organizations must institute support systems and policies to reduce its impact on career progression.

Keywords

Career progression family–work conflict Ghana perceived organizational support

Introduction

In recent times, significant changes have occurred in the roles of women outside their homes as a result of opportunities that are available to them in the professional realm (Mehta, 2020). With the advent of legislative changes that discourage gender discrimination, women have made efforts to break the glass ceiling and have made their way into top-level positions in organizations. However, women’s representation in top executive positions in organizations is still limited as compared to their male counterparts (Hutchings et al., 2020; Shukla, 2021). For example, a publication by Catalyst (2020) indicated that ‘in 2019, the proportion of women in senior management roles globally grew to 29%’ but was even lower at the very top as chief executive officers’ or business heads is just 17.1%. One important factor that has been studied to account for this underrepresentation of women at the workplace has been attributed to the dual role played by women (professional and family roles) wherein most women perform their professional and ‘family roles’ simultaneously and manage to ‘share these roles effectively to avoid’ conflict (Yusuf & Hasnidar, 2020). Thus, in instances where they are unable to balance between the two roles, conflict is said to have occurred and may result in negative consequences that affect their career development.

According to Sari (2020), family–work conflict is said to have occurred when employees’ family and work responsibilities clash and the family roles strain and make it difficult for the employees to carry out work responsibilities. One of the context in which family-work conflict occurs in the service industry is when customer expectation in terms of quality and increases due to technological advancement (Karani et al., 2022; Shahzad et al., 2022). These have made it difficult for employees to effectively perform family-related and work-related responsibilities.

Women, unlike men, are more likely to experience family–work conflict as a result of their roles as a wife, mother and worker, which may affect their family life and work performance as well as their career development (Singh et al., 2022). Although a lot of changes have taken place globally over the years, women are still in charge when it comes to homemaking and parenting roles.

With reference to Kadarko et al. (2016), career progression is defined as an unending process through which individuals grow through a series of stages, each of which is characterized by a relatively unique set of issues, themes and tasks. A plethora of reviews of the literature reveals a negative relationship between family–work conflict and career development. For example, Mate et al. (2019) surveyed female teachers in Lin Yi University and Shandong Medical College, and they found a significant negative relationship between family–work conflict and career development. Additionally, a study by Yusuf and Hasnidar (2020) on work–family conflict and career development and performance of married female employees of banks in Indonesia showed that work–family conflict has a negative effect on performance and career development.

According to Aboramadan and Karatepe (2021), organizational support has been defined as the employees’ beliefs concerning the extent to which the organization values their contribution and cares about their well-being. Organizational support is considered a very important organization-based resource that results in positive work outcomes. Previous studies have also looked at the link between organizational support and family–work conflict. Although the literature (Ekmekci et al., 2021; Liu et al 2020; Nargotra & Sarangal, 2021; Zainal et al., 2020) has indicated that organizational support lessens the effect of family–work conflict in predicting outcome variables, no study has yet considered the indirect role of organizational support in predicting career development. Most of the outcome variables considered by these researchers are job performance, turnover intention, depressive tendency and depressive symptoms. Thus, to fill this gap from the earlier discussion, this study seeks to determine the buffering role of organizational support in the family–work conflict and career progression nexus. The study has two purposes: first, the relationship between family–work conflict and career progression of female officers from Ghana Revenue Authority–Customs Division would be tested, and second, we would examine whether organizational support moderates the effect family–work conflict has on career progression.

Literature Review and Hypotheses Development

Theoretical Lens (Conservation of Resource Theory)

This present study adopted the conservation of resource theory as the framework for considering organizational support as a buffer in the link between family–work conflict and career progression. The conservation of resource theory has in the past been identified as a prevalent theoretical model used to explain the conflict between family and work roles (Talukder, 2019). According to Hobfoll (1989), the fundamental basis of conservation of resource theory states that individuals strive to gather and protect resources (e.g., material goods and organizational support) that help employees meet life demands. Hobfoll (1989) defines a resource as anything significant to individuals that helps them to fine-tune and contribute immeasurably to their security and welfare. He, therefore, reiterated that individuals will need myriad and varied resources in order to deal with challenges that emanate from family and work roles. These resources may include personal resources while others have the features of external resources (Tran, 2019). Tran (2019) posits that personal resources have to do with the personal attributes of the individual (hardiness and internal locus of control) and the need for achievement. External resources include those that are not within the control of the individual. Thus, the availability of these resources varies depending on the nature of the work environment (e.g., supervisory support, social support, feedback from supervisors and organizational support).

Accordingly, the theory posits that the threat of or actual loss of resources is the primary element of the stress process. When a threat or loss of resources occurs, people try as much as possible to engage in acts that makes them avoid further loss, and these choices may impact career progression. In an attempt to apply this premise of conservation of resource theory to the understanding of family interference with work, Talukder (2019) explained that conflict between family and work roles leads to adverse outcomes because resources ‘are lost in the process of juggling between family and work roles’. Thus, the conservation of resource theory rests on the idea of role stress by elucidating that people are motivated to ensure that resources are not lost. Further, employees who experience role conflict may conclude that they cannot progress in their careers. As such, they may be forced to invest in work roles for the fear of losing their job roles. This extra investment of resources into work roles denotes a loss of resources that could end up in negative states resulting in family dissatisfaction (Sarwar et al., 2021). Empirical evidence suggests that family–work conflict is negatively related to career progression (Nurak et al., 2018; Yang & Chen, 2020). In line with the conservation of resource theory, this association may be agreed upon in terms of motivation by employees to safeguard personal resources. Also, when resources reach an unacceptable level, employees withhold their efforts to preserve personal resources and accept retrogression in their career (thus, they make no attempt to cooperate with colleagues, maintain utmost performance and acquire new skills that invariably lead to career progression).

Further, Uddin (2021) asserts that the support that employees get from their organization represents a major external resource that helps them to overcome challenges emanating from the conflict between family and work roles. This is because lack of organizational support could persuade employees to work irrespective of the nature of their family roles, and this could expose them to a high stressor. The nature of some jobs may require organizational support, and thus non-support imply that they have to balance their family and work roles on their own. This will put more stress on them. In this regard, perceived organizational support can also be treated as a resource. Thus, support from organizations could also act as a moderator to the extent that it will lower the stress that emanates from balancing family and work roles, having career progression in mind.

Family–Work Conflict and Career Progression

Work–family conflict, as postulated by Rahman et al. (2020), is said to have occurred when difficulties in one role makes it challenging to meet the demands in the other role, and these researchers considered it as a unidimensional construct that takes place when work interferes with family responsibilities. However, Pillay (2020) considered it as two-dimensional, consisting of work–family conflict and family–work conflict. Work–family conflict takes place when work responsibilities make it hard to fulfil family responsibilities, and family–work conflict occurs when family roles make it challenging for employees to accomplish demands dictated to their work (Pillay, 2020). This study focused mainly on family–work conflict which occurs when resources spent in ones’ family role depletes the resources needed to successfully perform work roles. According to Zheng and Wu (2018), family–work conflict drains three resources through three mechanisms (time, strain and behaviour). Family–work conflicts signify the incompatibility between the expectations and demands of the family and the work roles, resulting in fatigue, tension and worry (Asiedu et al., 2018; Zhang et al., 2020). The conflict between family and work roles creates a negative mood that results in negative attitudes.

Career progression is an integral part of an employees’ organizational effectiveness and growth (Badaruddin et al., 2020). Hence, authors assert that lack of career progression is disadvantageous to both the individual and the organization as a whole. However, career progression has been realized to be more challenging to female workers as compared to their male counterparts as a result of the conflict between family and work roles (Badaruddin et al., 2020). This is triggered by the hurdles in handling family and work roles. Zhao et al. (2021) revealed that employees’ commitment to family roles at the expense of work roles impedes their career progress. These findings are justifiable as a result of the fatigue that sets in when an employee juggles between family and work roles. Hence family–work conflict could deter employees from progressing in their careers (Zhao et al., 2021).

Family–work conflict is also negatively related to several outcome variables in which career development is not an exception. This means that the more employees perceive family–work conflict, the less they progressed in their careers. For example, Quesenberry et al. (2017) identified that one of the contributory factors for women being less represented in information and technology (IT) is related to balancing work–family issues. The researchers studied women employed in an American IT workforce ‘using the Individual Differences Theory of Gender and IT’ and they found that family conflict influences women’s IT career decisions. It has also been established that women are not found in top positions of most organizations as a result of a family–work conflict.

Through surveying the female teachers in Lin Yi University and Shandong Medical College, Mate et al., (2019) found that family–work conflict had a negative effect on female teachers’ career development. The teachers shared that; for example, ‘due to family responsibilities I miss work activities’, the time for family responsibilities influence work (0.95), family responsibilities stress influence work (0.96), and tension and anxiety from family life weaken job ability (0.96). Additionally, a study conducted by Kadarko et al. (2016) revealed that family–work conflict is negatively related to career development. Islam and Rahman (2021) also found that family–work conflict is negatively related to career progression, such that an increase in family–work conflict reduces the level of career progression. Even though, there is an agreement in the extant literature that shows that family–work conflict is related to career progression (Islam & Rahman, 2021; Joe-Akunne & Ejiofor, 2021), a wide range of factors exist to account for the inconclusive, debatable and controversial relationship. Also, Joe-Akunne and Ejiofor (2021) posit that different studies suggest variability and inconsistency in the reported findings, which may emanate from a wide range of limitations and problems. In line with these pieces of empirical evidence, the authors hypothesized the following:

H _1a: Family–work conflict is negatively related to career goal progression.

H _1b: Family–work conflict is negatively related to professional ability development.

H _1c: Family–work conflict is negatively related to promotion speed.

The Buffering Role of Perceived Organizational Support

The support that employees receive from their organizations is different from other forms of support available in the work–family interface. Generally, support consists of family-supportive policies that organizations develop and family-supportive supervisors (FSS) provide to their subordinates as a result of their interpersonal relationship with them (Talukder, 2022). Perceived organizational support includes an increased corporate cognizance (Naseem et al., 2020). Based on the literature, previous studies suggest that when supervisors are supportive of employees, there is a positive effect on employee attitudinal and behavioural outcomes (Glilekpe et al., 2022). For example, Hancock and Hum (2016) studied 20 women assistant and associate athletic directors about factors that influence women’s career development in intercollegiate athletic administration. The result from this study indicated that a strong interpersonal relationship with supervisors and mentors as well as access to professional development activities aided in participants’ career advancement. Further, a study that explored the relationships among supervisory support, organizational commitment, career satisfaction and turnover intention of frontline employees in the hospitality industry also reported that supervisory support had a positive effect on both employees’ organizational commitment and their career satisfaction (Glilekpe et al., 2022). In addition, numerous studies in the literature have also established a link between family–work conflict and support provided by the organization for its employees. For example, Liu et al. (2020) studied how FSS influence construction workers’ family–work conflict and turnover intention. Data collected from a sample of 271 construction workers showed that FSS reduced work–family conflict and family–work conflict, which in turn predicted turnover intention. The results from this study juxtapose a negative correlation between family–work conflict and organizational support. This means that the more support provided by an organization, the less experience of family–work conflict by employees. According to Crain and Stevens (2018), when employees receive support from their organizations, it decreases family–work conflict by replenishing work resources and lessening the depletion of resources caused by family resources. Additionally, Isfianadewi and Noordyani (2020) have reported that the support provided by supervisors, co-workers and management in the workplace results in a decline in the period, devotion and energy needed to undertake work and other roles, thus diminishing perceptions and experiences of work–family conflict.

Further, perceived organizational support has been studied as a moderator in a myriad of investigations. For example, Ekmekci et al. (2021) in their study found out that perceived organizational support moderated the association among workload, work–family interference and affective commitment such that the association was stronger at high levels of organizational support. Similarly, Wu et al. (2018) found out that organizational support moderates the effect of job burnout and work–family conflict on project performance, resulting in a more positive relationship when perceived organizational support was low. Perceive organizational support is not just limited to the work–family domain, and research more strongly supports main effects; it makes theoretical sense for perceived organizational support to moderate the effect of family–work conflict on career progression. The authors expect perceived organizational support to alleviate or reduce the conflict that employees may encounter by demonstrating the availability of support from their organization. The moderating perspective asserts that support enriches coping skills that are reactive to certain stressful circumstances (Erath & Pettit, 2021). To a larger extent, perceived organizational support might not only aid in eradicating the number of conflicts between family and work roles experienced by employees but may also moderate the negative impact of family work conflicts on career progression (Badaruddin et al., 2020). In a moderating model, support from organizations interacts with conflicts such that a conflict situation has less of a negative effect for employees that receive high levels of support as a result of enhanced resources provided by the employees’ organization (Pluut et al., 2018).

Talukder (2019) argues that employers providing support to their employees helps them to balance the conflict between their family and work roles. Therefore, perceived organizational support could influence family–work conflict and buffer the effects of family–work conflict and career progression. For example, when family-related concerns interfere with an employee’s work responsibilities, they may experience family–work conflict. However, if the employee gets support from their organization, they may experience lower family work-related issues and thus be able to progress in their career. To sum up, the support employees obtain from the workplace can limit the negative effect of family–work conflict on employees’ career development and avert negative reactions when family and work responsibilities clash (Shahzad et al., 2022). Applying the conservation of resource theory in this study, organizational support is treated as a resource in weakening the negative impact of family–work conflict on female employees’ career progression. Thus, the study hypothesized that:

H _2a: Perceived organizational support would moderate the association between family–work conflict and career goal progression.

H _2b: Perceived organizational support would moderate the association between family–work conflict and professional ability development.

H _2c: Perceived organizational support would moderate the association between family–work conflict and promotion speed.

Methodology

Research Design, Sample, and Population

This study falls within the quantitative research paradigm and used primary data. To address the research problem, a survey research design was adopted in the study. A closed-ended questionnaire was designed, and data collection was done through a cross-sectional field survey. The main reason for using this approach was its cost-effectiveness. It was quick and easy, saving time and money as all respondents were available in an office situation. Thus, the research design adopted was causal and descriptive. The target population for this study consisted of all administrative officers in three branches in Accra; namely the Head Office, Ghana Revenue Authority Teshie-Nungua Small Taxpayer Office and Ghana Revenue Authority-Customs Office James Town Accra. The target population is 426 female officers. This study adopted a simple random sampling method for data collection as a result of the busy schedule and the rotational nature of the female officers. For this reason, the female officers are going to be the focal point for this study because the researcher intends to get accurate data that will help to achieve the purpose of the study. This technique was selected because it gives the female officers within the institutions or the selected sample an equal chance of being selected and it also aids inaccurate results and valid analysis. Using, the Krejcie and Morgan (1970) mathematical formulae for selecting a sample size out of a population, 220 respondents were chosen for this study. The research sample consists of purely female officers from the human resource management and the administrative offices. The justification for this sample size was for the researcher to be able to get more generalizable data that reflects the situation in the entire population as well as to get more reliable and accurate data to achieve the purpose of the study.

Measures

Family–Work Conflict

Family–work conflict was measured using five items adapted from a scale developed by Netemeyer et al. (1996). Sample item include ‘The demands of my family or spouse/partner interfere with work-related activities’. The responses were anchored on a five-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 or strongly disagree to 5 or strongly agree. The Cronbach’s alpha for this study was .941.

Perceived Organizational Support

Perceived organizational support was measured using a six-item from an initial eight-item scale developed by Eisenberger et al. (1986). Sample item include ‘The organization values my contribution to its well-being’. The responses were anchored on a five-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 or ‘strongly disagree’ to 5 or ‘strongly agree’. The Cronbach’s alpha for this study was .814.

Career Progression.

Career progression was measured using an organizational growth scale developed by Weng and Hu (2010). The original scale was measured on three dimensions, namely; career goal progression (four-item scale), professional ability development (four-item scale) and promotion speed (three-item scale). Sample items include ‘My present job moves me closer to my career goals’ and ‘My present job is relevant to my career goals and vocational growth’ for career goal progression; ‘My present job encourages me to continuously gain new and job-related skills’ for professional ability development; and ‘Compared with my colleagues, I am being promoted faster’ for promotion speed. The responses were anchored on a five-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 or ‘strongly disagree’ to 5 or ‘strongly agree’. The Cronbach’s alpha for these dimensions is career goal progression .903, professional ability development .802 and promotion speed .729.

Data Analysis

In this study, the data of female officers were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (Version 23), Smart PLS – 3.0, and Hayes (2017) PROCESS macro. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences was used to examine the descriptive statistics and bivariate correlation of the study’s construct. Further, the Smart PLS – 3.0 was used to assess the construct reliability (Cronbach’s alpha and composite reliability), convergent validity (average variance extracted), indicator reliability and discriminant validity (Fornell-Larcker criterion and heterotrait–monotrait ratio). Finally, the Hayes (2017) PROCESS macro was used to examine the moderating role of organizational support in the influence of family–work conflict on career progression (career goal progression, professional ability development and promotion speed). The suitability of the constructs was tested by investigating discriminant and convergent validity as well as its internal consistency (Clark & Watson, 2019).

Results

Construct Reliability and Convergent Validity

The general results from Table 1 indicate that the construct reliability comprising of both Cronbach’s alpha and composite reliability exceeded the minimum threshold of 0.7 and 0.6 respectively as suggested by Sarstedt et al. (2017) and Hair et al. (2019). Also, the convergent validity was evaluated to measure the extent to which multiple indicators were positively correlated. The convergent validity was measured using the average variance extract (AVE). A critical look at Table 1 indicates that the AVE values exceed the minimum threshold suggested by Hair et al. (2019). Furthermore, all the factor loadings for all the construct were above the threshold of 0.60 as recommended by Clark and Watson (2019).

Table 1.

Construct Reliability, Indicator Reliability and Convergent Validity.

Construct	Measurement	Factor Loading
Family–work conflict	Average variance extract = 0.809; Composite reliability = 0.955; and Cronbach’s alpha = 0.941
Item 1	The demands of my family or spouse/partner interfere with work-related activities	0.911
Item 2	I have to put off doing things at work because of demands on my time at home	0.918
Item 3	Things I want to do work do not get done because of the demands of my family or spouse/partner	0.937
Item 4	My home life interferes with my responsibilities at work such as getting to work on time, accomplishing a daily task, and working overtime	0.887
Item5	Family-related strain interferes with my ability to perform job-related duties	0.842
Perceived organizational support	Average variance extract = 0.507; Composite reliability = 0.860; and Cronbach’s alpha = 0.814
Item 1	My organization cares about my opinion	0.707
Item 2	My organization cares about my well-being	0.720
Item 3	My organization strongly considers my goals and values	0.744
Item 4	Help is available from my organization when I have a problem	0.749
Item 5	My organization would forgive an honest mistake on my part	0.685
Item 6	My organization is willing to help me if I need a special favour	0.662
Career goal progression	Average variance extract = 0.770; Composite reliability = 0.931; and Cronbach’s alpha = 0.903
Item 1	My present job moves me closer to my career goals	0.846
Item 2	My present job is relevant to my career goals and vocational growth	0.904
Item 3	My present job sets the foundation for the realization of my career goals	0.928
Item 4	My present job provides me with good opportunities to realize my career goals	0.829
Professional ability development	Average variance extract = 0.625; Composite reliability = 0.868; and Cronbach’s alpha = 0.802
Item 1	My present job encourages me to continuously gain new and job-related skills	0.846
Item 2	My present job encourages me to continuously gain new job-related knowledge	0.910
Item 3	My present job encourages me to accumulate richer work experiences	0.721
Item 4	My promotion speed in the present organization is fast	0.661
Promotion speed	Average variance extract = 0.635; Composite reliability = 0.835; and Cronbach’s alpha = 0.729
Item 1	Compared with previous organizations and attainable jobs, my position in the present one is ideal	0.906
Item 2	Compared with my colleagues, I am being promoted faster	0.600
Item 3	The probability of being promoted in my present organization is high	0.867

Source: Field study.

Discriminant Validity

Discriminant validity specifies the degree of uniqueness of a given construct relative to all other constructs in a structural model. In this study, Fornell-Larcker and the Heterotrait–monotrait ratio (HTMT) criterion for discriminant validity were evaluated. Fornell and Larcker’s criterion suggests that the square root value of the AVE of each latent variable must have a higher value than the other correlation values between the latent variables. The results in Table 2 shows that the Fornell-Larcker criterion was satisfied in this study.

Table 2.

Fornell-Larcker Criterion.

	Construct	1	2	3	4	5
1	Career goal progression	0.878
2	Professional ability development	0.462	0.791
3	Perceived organizational support	0.227	0.164	0.712
4	Promotion speed	0.341	0.520	0.088	0.797
5	Family–work conflict	−0.398	−0.402	−0.265	−0.434	0.899

Source: Field study (2021).

Finally, Benitez et al. (2020) suggest that HTMT values should be less than 0.85 (often perceived as a stricter threshold) or 0.90 (reasonably more tolerable threshold) or substantially smaller than 1. The results in Table 3 show that the HTMT values were below the threshold as suggested. It can therefore be said that the results satisfy the discriminant validity of the model construct.

Table 3.

The Heterotrait–Monotrait Ratio.

		1	2	3	4	5
1	Career goal progression
2	Professional ability development	0.533
3	Perceived organizational support	0.240	0.195
4	Promotion speed	0.398	0.628	0.257
5	Family–work conflict	0.421	0.421	0.280	0.480

Source: Field study (2021).

Test of Hypotheses

The results in Table 4 show that family–work conflict is negatively related with career goal progression (r= −.386, p < .01). This means that family–work conflict among female officers of Ghana Revenue Authority–Customs Division heighten the tendency for progress in their career goal reducing and vice versa. This finding supports H_1a of the study which stated that ‘Family–work conflict is negatively related to professional ability development’.

Table 4.

Descriptive Statistics and Bivariate Correlation.

	Construct	Mean	Standard Deviation	1	2	3	4	5
1	Family–work conflict	3.6440	1.01104	–
2	Perceived organizational support	2.9954	0.56591	−0.240^**	–
3	Career goal progression	3.2386	0.73899	−0.386^**	0.147^*	–
4	Professional ability development	2.8977	0.61218	−0.368^**	0.133	0.450^**	–
5	Promotion speed	2.3485	0.66421	−0.421^**	0.082	0.338^**	0.507^**	−0.345^**

Source: Field study (2021).

Notes: Sample size = 220; *p < .01; **p < .05 (two-tailed).

Second, it was found that family–work conflict negatively relates with professional development ability of female officers of Ghana Revenue Authority–Customs Division (r= −.368, p < .01). This is an indication that when family–work conflict increases among female officers, there is a significant likelihood that their professional ability development will reduce and vice versa. This findings lends support to H_1b of the study, which stated that ‘Family–work conflict is negatively related to professional ability development’.

H_1c, which stated that ‘Family–work conflict is negatively related to promotion speed’ was also supported (r = −.421, p <0.01). This means that an increase in family–work conflict will lead to a decrease in the speed of promotion for female officers and vice versa.

The other focus of this study was to test the buffering role of perceived organizational support in the relationship between family–work conflict and career progression (career goal progression, professional ability development and promotion speed). The results from Table 5 indicate that perceived organizational support had no interaction effect on the relationship between family–work conflicts and career goal progression (β = −.1092, t = −1.0547, p > .05) (see Figure 1). Hence, H_2a was not supported. Perceived organizational support moderated the relationship between family–work conflict and professional ability development (β = −.2025, t = −2.3930, p < .05). Hence, H_2b is supported (see Figure 2). Finally, the prediction that perceived organizational support would moderate the relationship between family–work conflict and promotion speed (β = −.4032, t = −4.6555, p < .01) was supported. Hence H_2c was accepted (see Figure 3).

Table 5.

The Moderating Effect of Perceived Organizational Support in the Relationship Between Family–Work Conflict and Career Goal Progression.

	B	Boot SE	T	LLCI	ULCI
constant	2.8161^***	1.0230	2.7529	0.7997	4.8326
Age	−0.0149	0.0578	−0.2573	−0.1288	0.0990
Marital status	−0.0363	0.0849	−0.4272	−0.2037	0.1311
Family–work conflict	0.0486	0.3137	0.1550	−0.5697	0.6670
Perceived organizational support	0.4788	0.3287	1.4567	−0.1691	1.1267
Interaction	−0.1092	0.1035	−1.0547	−0.3133	0.0949
	R² = 0.1181	F = 5.6762^***
	ΔR² = 0.0046	F = 1.1123

Source: Field study (2021).

Notes: Sample size =220.

*p < .01; **p < .05 (two-tailed)..

Figure 1.

Source: Field study (2021).

Figure 2.

Source: Field study (2021).

Figure 3.

Source: Field study (2021).

Table 6.

The Moderating Effect of Perceived Organizational Support in the Relationship Between Family–Work Conflict and Professional Ability Development.

	B	Boot SE	T	LLCI	ULCI
Constant	1.6019	0.8359	1.9163	−0.0459	3.2497
Age	−0.0300	0.0472	−0.6360	−0.1231	0.0630
Marital status	−0.0838	0.0694	−1.2073	−0.2206	0.0530
Family–work conflict	0.4129	0.2563	1.6107	−0.0924	0.9182
Perceived organizational support	0.7198^*	0.2686^*	2.6799	0.1903	1.2493
Interaction	−0.2025^*	0.0846	−2.3930	−0.3693	−0.0357
	R² = 0.1181	F= 6.7831^***
	ΔR² = 0.0794	F= 21.6735^***
Conditional effects of the focal predictor at values of Perceived Organizational Support
LOW perceived organizational support	−0.0933	0.069	−1.3376	−0.2308	0.0442
HIGH perceived organizational support	−0.2958	0.0747	−3.9588	−0.4430	−0.1485

Source: Field study (2021).

Notes: Sample size =220.

* p < .01; **p < .05 (two-tailed).

Table 7.

The Moderating Effect of Perceived Organizational Support in the Relationship Between Family–Work Conflict and Promotion Speed.

	β	Boot SE	T	LLCI	ULCI
Constant	−0.3784	0.8557	−0.4422	−2.0653	1.3084
Age	−0.0230	0.0483	−0.4768	−0.1183	0.0722
Marital status	−0.0879	0.0710	−1.2375	−0.2279	0.0521
Family–work conflict	0.9353^***	0.2624	3.5642	0.4180	1.4526
Perceived organizational support	1.2747^***	0.2750	4.6360	0.7327	1.8167
Inter	−0.4032^***	0.0866	−4.6555	−0.5740	−0.2325
	R² = 0.2237	F = 12.2175^***
	ΔR² = 0.0794	F = 1.0000^***
Conditional effects of the focal predictor at values of perceived organizational support
LOW perceived organizational support	−0.0728	0.0714	−1.0194	−0.2135	0.0680
HIGH perceived organizational support	−0.4760^***	0.0765	−6.2242	−0.6268	−0.3253

Source: Field study (2021).

Notes: Sample size =220.

*p < .01; **p < .05 (two-tailed).

Discussion

This study examined the buffering role of perceived organizational support in the relationship between family–work conflict and career progression (career goal progression, professional ability development and promotion speed) among female officers of Ghana Revenue Authority–Customs Division. The contribution of this study rests on the fact that it adds to the extant literature by creating a composite model that shows the relationships among family–work conflict, perceived organizational support and career progression. We first considered family–work conflict to negatively relate to career goal progression, professional ability development and promotion speed. Finally, we considered perceived organizational support to moderate the relationship between family–work conflict and career goal progression, professional ability development and promotion speed.

Expectedly, the prediction that family–work conflict will negatively relate to career goal progression, professional ability development and promotion speed was met. This indicated support for H_1a, H_1b, and H_1c of this study. These findings are consistent with previous findings that indicated a negative relationship between family–work conflicts and career progression (Kadarko et al., 2016; Mate et al., 2019; Yusuf & Hasnidar, 2020). This is because female officers may not fulfil their working hours and carry out their regular workload as a result of family roles conflicting with work roles. Further, the higher the family–work conflict of female officers, the lower the motivation in their career (Kumar & Narula, 2021; Sharma & Kaur, 2019). This makes female officers have less motivation to develop their career because in general they pay attention to their family roles rather than their work roles. A probable reason for these findings may rest in the segmentation of family and work roles for female officers in the Ghana Revenue Authority–Customs Divisions. Our findings lend support to the fact that female officers progress in their careers only through hard work and when values are not added to assertiveness and aggressive social relationships. It could also be that the female officers are gradually motivated to respond to interpersonal interactions and tasks in family and work roles. Additionally, the findings of this study lend support to the assertion that women’s commitment to multiple roles enhances psychological resources and provides greater resources for support through volunteer work (Crain & Stevens, 2018; Islam & Rahman, 2021; Liu et. al. 2020). Moreover, when women have a sense of self-worth, they seem to have more reserves to deal with hurdles at home and handle family–work conflicts and engage in various work roles to ensure progress in their career.

The result of this study demonstrates that the influence of family–work conflict on the two dimensions of career progression (professional ability development and promotion speed) were significantly moderated by perceived organizational support, hence indicating support for H_2b and H_2c of this study. The interaction of perceived organizational support affected the strength of the relationship between family–work conflict and career progression (professional ability development and promotion speed). Organizations with high support for employees and a high family–work conflict can help employees progress in their careers in terms of their professional development. The results support previous findings on perceived organizational support as a moderator of the influence of family–work conflict on career progression (Ekmekci et al., 2021; Liu et al., 2020; Zainal et al., 2020). These findings support the relevance of the conservation of resource theory in explaining the moderating role played by organizational support in the link between family–work conflict and career progression. Studies on conservation of resource theory recommend that resources, be it personal or external, will help individuals to cope with challenges or conflicts (Du et al., 2019; Soral et al., 2021). Ekmekci et al. (2021) in their study found that perceived organizational support moderated the effect of family–work conflict on workload and affective commitment such that the association was weaker at high levels of organizational support. However, perceived organizational support did not moderate the relationship between family–work conflict and career goal progression, indicating non-support for H_2a of this study. Thus, the interaction of perceived organizational support and family–work conflict did not affect the strength of the relationship between family–work conflict and career goal progression. These findings support Pluut’s et al. (2018) report that perceived organizational support is not a significant buffer to either strengthen or weaken the influence of work–family conflict on employee growth. However, the findings of the study also partially supported the findings of Isfianadewi and Noordyani (2020) that there is a different inter-correlation of perceived organizational support regarding family and work conflict in lower-middle income countries and high-income countries. Moreover, this study was conducted on female officers only, and hence the findings could change when male officers are considered in a similar study.

Conclusion

To conclude, family–work conflicts are sources of hindrance to career progression among female officers of the Ghana Revenue Authority–Customs Division. As female officers strive to advance their careers by working hard and gaining more experience on family lives and work by achieving set targets, the well-being of family members continues to be hurdles against their career progression. However, the organizational support received by the female officers could lessen the negative influence of the conflicts that emanates from balancing their family and work roles. Ensuring a balance between family and work roles. To be sound and remain productive throughout their stay in the organization, the female officers must be supported by the organization in order to be less stressed and advance in their career. It is therefore imperative for the organization to put in adequate measures that support female officers to strike a judicial balance between their family lives and work. Finally, the quality of individual performances at the workplace affect the quality of the total performance of the organization. This requires the utmost attention and full concentration of employees at the workplace to avoid the occurrence of mishaps and accidents as a result of a lack of concentration emanating from family–work conflicts.

Theoretical Implications

The findings of this study have significant theoretical implications. This study fills the gap in how perceived organizational support strengthens the effect of family–work conflict on career progression. The findings revealed that family–work conflict negatively predicts career progression (career goal progression, professional ability development and promotion speed). The study also found that perceived organizational support moderated the relationship between family–work conflict and career progression (professional ability development and promotion speed). However, perceived organizational support did not moderate the relationship between family–work conflict and career goal progression. These findings explains the relevance of the conservation of resource theory. What this current study adds to these principles is that perceived organizational support represents a universal resource for all individuals. Individuals who are not able to balance their family and work roles perceive organizational support as an organizational resource rather than an organizational demand. As a result, it might be significant for organizations to provide resources in a form of support to their employees and to insist on knowing how to make use of them. Further, the findings of this study support the idea that perceived organizational support is a construct with significant implications for the behaviour and attitudes of employees (Qi et al., 2019; Wen et al., 2019).

Implication for Practice

The findings of the study bring to light that a significant and negative association exists between female officers’ family–work conflict and career progression. It was established that perceived organizational support moderates the relationship between family–work conflict and career progression (professional ability development and promotion speed). That is, family–work conflict is a source of hindrance to employee career advancement. These findings imply that to induce career progression, the management of the organization must ensure that female officers strike a balance between their family and work at all times. Employees who perceive a balance between their work and family lives are empowered and enticed to achieve good results. Additionally, there is the need for resources to be apportioned for the purpose of training to enhance a female officer’s skills in order to perform their responsibilities with ease. Family–work balance workshops and seminars could also be organized by the institutions for the purposes of gender mainstreaming.

Limitations and Future Research

This study, just like other studies, has certain limitations. Work-related pressure on employees to stay longer at work in an attempt to contribute meaningfully to the organization results in stress and family–work conflict. Given this, family–work balance requires a holistic view as a response to the changing needs of organizations. It is therefore imperative to examine the impact of family–work conflicts on other organizational outcomes such as job satisfaction and employee commitment. The findings of this study were based on data obtained from female officers of the Ghana Revenue Authority–Customs Division. However, the female officers from these outfits may exhibit a uniform system of family–work conflict, and hence the findings may not be generalized to other female officers in other public institutions. Furthermore, the application of the findings may be limited since a quantitative approach was adopted to study the relationship between family–work conflict and career progression. Given the aforementioned limitations, we recommend that future studies should employ a mixed-method approach to enable respondents to provide details of how their work interferes with their work. Also, future studies can conduct a comparative analysis to determine how male and female officers perceive family–work conflict. Additionally, other moderating variables such as social and supervisory support can be explored to examine its impact on the relationship between family–work conflict and career progression.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

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Does Organizational Support Moderate the Influence of Family–Work Conflict on Career Progression?

Abstract

Keywords

Introduction

Literature Review and Hypotheses Development

Theoretical Lens (Conservation of Resource Theory)

Family–Work Conflict and Career Progression

The Buffering Role of Perceived Organizational Support

Methodology

Research Design, Sample, and Population

Measures

Family–Work Conflict

Perceived Organizational Support

Career Progression.

Data Analysis

Results

Construct Reliability and Convergent Validity

Discriminant Validity

Test of Hypotheses

Discussion

Conclusion

Theoretical Implications

Implication for Practice

Limitations and Future Research

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

Funding

References