The impact of gender similarity, racial similarity, and work culture on family-supportive supervision

This study examines the relationship between demographic similarity in the supervisor-subordinate dyad and family-supportive supervision. The authors found that supervisors provided more family support to subordinates who were similar in either gender or race than to those subordinates who were dissimilar. In addition, family-supportive supervision was highest when subordinates were similar to supervisors in both gender and race. A family-supportive organizational culture was positively related to family-supportive supervision, although contrary to what was predicted, it did not attenuate the effects of gender similarity and racial similarity on family-supportive supervision. Implications of the findings and directions for future research are discussed.