1. David Brougham & Associate Professor Jarrod Haar University of Waikato
Supervisor Work-Family Support and Employee Wellbeing: A Study of Maori Employees
David Brougham & Associate Professor Jarrod Haar
University of Waikato
Funded by Marsden Grant (UOW806) “The Role of Maori Cultural Support for Employees and Employers”

2. Support & Supervisor work-family support
Workplace social support
“The degree to which individuals perceive that their well-being is valued by workplace sources, such as supervisors and the broader organization in which they are embedded”
Supervisor work-family support (SWFS)
“ The degree to which employees perceive supervisors care about their ability to experience positive work–family relationships and demonstrate this care by providing helpful social interaction and resources”
Supervisor is often the gate keeper to successful work-family balance because they control resources including
We expect SWFS support to be important to Maori due to the importance of family/whanau.

3. “No you can’t go home to sort out your family issues!”

4. “The Pākehā/Western concepts of individuality and values of autonomy, freedom, self-interest, entitlement, competition, and so on are inconsistent with the concepts of Maori individuality where individuality is more likely to be constituted on values of relationality, collectivity, reciprocity, and connectivity to prior generations.” (Hook, 2007)

5. Collectivism (Hofstede, 1994) Collectivist Individualist
In the family:
Education towards "we" consciousness
Opinions pre‑determined by group
Obligations to family or in‑group:
harmony
respect
shame
Education towards "I" consciousness
Private opinion expected
Obligations to self:
self‑interest
self-actualization
guilt
At the work place:
Value standards differ for in‑group and out‑groups: particularism
Other people are seen as members of their group
Relationship prevails over task
Moral model of employer‑employee relationship
Same value standards apply to all: universalism
Other people seen as potential resources
Task prevails over relationship
Calculative model of employer-employee relationship
(Hofstede, 1994)

7. Maori and the New Zealand Context
Integral part of the NZ workforce
Over represented in mental health statistics
Present study focusses on:
Life satisfaction
Depression and Anxiety
Cultural well-being
“relates to how indigenous employees feel their cultural values and beliefs are accepted in the workplace”

8. Hypotheses
Meta-analysis found that SWFS was directly (and indirectly) related negatively to work-family conflict
We test SWFS as a direct predictor of wellbeing: negative relationship with Anxiety and Depression
Positive relationship with Life satisfaction and Cultural wellbeing.
Previous work has shown cultural wellbeing to be important towards job attitudes (career satisfaction and loyalty) and behavior (OCBs)
Aligned with common practice, we test collectivism as a moderator of the SWFS-wellbeing relationship, with greater cultural alignment (through high collectivism) being hypothesized as enhancing the influence of SWFS on wellbeing

9. Method
Purposeful sampling
1000 surveys distributed to over 200 organisations
Data was collected in two waves
Survey one contained SWFS and Collectivism
Survey two measured anxiety, depression, cultural-wellbeing and life satisfaction
All measures were robust
A total of 466 combined surveys 1 &2 were returned (response rate of 46.6 percent)
Participants were
38.9 years old (SD = 11.5 years)
worked 39.3 hours (SD = 8.6 hours)
High school qualifications 18% , Technical college 39%, University degree 34%, Postgraduate qualification 9%

10. Correlations Variables M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1. Age 2. Education39
11.5 --
2. Education
2.5
0.97
0.13**
3. Hours Worked Per Week
39.3
8.60
0.17**
0.05
4. Life Satisfaction
3.5
0.80
-0.02
-0.03
5. Maori Cultural Well-being
3.7
0.77
0.10*
-0.01
0.44**
6. Anxiety
2.2
0.92
0.06
0.01
0.02
-0.48**
-0.53**
7. Depression
0.93
-0.04
-0.08
0.03
-0.47**
-0.41**
0.70**
8. Supervisor Support
3.8
0.83
0.36**
0.46**
-0.43**
9. Collectivism
3.2
0.71
-0.18**
0.26**
-0.19**
0.21**

11. Results and Findings Variables Life Satisfaction Cultural Wellbeing
Controls
Predictor
Moderator
Interaction
Age
-.04
-.06
-.05
.08
.06
Gender
.04
.02
Marital Status
.12*
.09*
-.01
.03
Education
.00
.05
.01
Hours Worked
-.03
-.02
Private Sector
-.23***
-.18***
-.19***
SWFS
.36***
.29***
.20***
.45***
.40***
.34***
Collectivism
.31***
.17***
SWFS x Collectivism
-.24***
-.16**
R2 change
.13***
.09***
.05***
.07***
.19***
.03***
.02**
Total R2
.14
.23
.27
.07
.29
.31
Adjusted R2
.12
.21
.26
.25
.28
F Statistic
.680
8.890***
14.214***
16.170***
5.043***
20.102***
19.990***
19.447***

12. Results and Findings Variables Anxiety Depression Controls Predictor
Controls
Predictor
Moderator
Interaction
Age
.06
.08
-.04
-.02
-.03
Gender
-.01
.01
-.00
-.06
-.05
Marital Status
.02
Education
.00
-.07
-.09
Hours Worked
.03
Private Sector
.14**
.09
.09*
.07
.04
SWFS
-.45***
-.42***
-.36***
-.43***
-.39***
-.32***
Collectivism
-.12*
-.11*
-.13**
SWFS x Collectivism
.13**
.18***
R2 change
.19***
.01*
.01**
.02**
.03***
Total R2
.21
.23
.24
.20
Adjusted R2
.22
.18
F Statistic
1.372
15.353***
14.367***
13.791***
1.399
13.820***
13.276***
13.593***

13. SWFS Interaction with Collectivism with Life Satisfaction as Dependent Variable

14. SWFS Interaction with Collectivism with Cultural Wellbeing as Dependent Variable

15. SWFS Interaction with Collectivism with Anxiety as Dependent Variable

16. SWFS Interaction with Collectivism with Depression as Dependent Variable

17. Discussion and Implications
As with other employees, Maori may be well assisted in their wellbeing through supervisor support for work-family issues
Highly important as Maori are more likely to have complex family lives due to wider whanau (extended family) relationships and demands, which may also extend to marae, hapu and iwi demands
Maori employees might be assisted through polices and organizational level support for work and family issues e.g. flexitime, FSOP etc.
Collectivism will play an important role in future studies of Maori. Understand and supporting cultural differences amongst indigenous employees may be highly advantageous.
Overall, the present study provided insight into how SWFS benefits Maori well-being and mental health outcomes
Limitation: explored only supervisor level support for work and family