Which dominates? The relative importance of work-family organizational support and general organizational context on employee outcomes

Recent research has examined the influence of organizational work-family context on employee outcomes. However, this construct has nut been investigated in concert with broader indicants of organizational context. Thus, it remains unexplored whether work-family context accounts for unique variance in employee outcomes or whether its potential effects are confounded by, or better explained by, general organizational context. This study used dominance analysis to investigate the relative effects of general organizational context and work-family context on several important employee outcomes. Results indicate that work-family context is important in explaining variance in work-family specific outcomes such as work-to-family conflict. However, work-family context fails to explain unique variance in job satisfaction and affective commitment when studied alongside three broader indicants of general organization context (perceived organizational support, perceived fair interpersonal treatment, and trust). These findings have implications for both research and Practice. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science (USA).