The Impact of Family-Friendly Policies on Work Engagement of New Generation Employees
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54097/4ycnnk90Keywords:
Family-friendly policies, Work engagement, Family motivation, Work–family balance.Abstract
As times change, new generation employees have gradually become the mainstay of various public institutions. Compared with the previous generation, new generation employees not only pursue self-fulfillment but also place greater emphasis on balancing work and family. However, long working hours and frequent overtime have now become the norm, which can easily give rise to work–family conflict and thereby affect the work attitudes of new generation employees. Consequently, family-friendly policies, as an important measure to alleviate such role conflicts, have attracted growing attention in recent years; nevertheless, their effectiveness in the Chinese cultural context still warrants further investigation. Therefore, this study reviews relevant domestic and international literature, and draws on work–family boundary theory and social exchange theory, to explore the impact of family-friendly policies on new generation employees’ work engagement, as well as the roles of work–family balance and family motivation in this process. Through a questionnaire survey conducted via both online and offline channels, sample data were collected from 266 new generation employees. The findings reveal the transmission pathway through which family-friendly policies enhance work engagement by improving work–family balance, and also clarify the moderating role of family motivation. These results provide theoretical grounds and practical implications for organizations to improve their family-friendly policies.
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