Supervisors play a pivotal role in meeting the evolving needs of today’s workforce, with increasing emphasis on family-supportive supervision as a key supervisory behavior enhancing employee well-being. Indeed, family-supportive supervisor behaviors (FSSB) have consistently demonstrated positive outcomes for employees, but scant attention has been paid to potential the costs of FSSBs for supervisors themselves. Heightened demands associated with family-supportive supervision, such as increased responsibilities and the need for additional time management, may adversely impact supervisors’ well-being through increased emotional exhaustion. However, FSSB can also serve as a valuable resource that enhances supervisors’ empowerment, which would positively impact their well-being. Further complicating this relationship is the potential for role-breadth self-efficacy (RBSE) to moderate these pathways. Drawing on job-demands-resources theory, we empirically test the intricate relationship between FSSB and supervisor well-being. This study elucidates how FSSB can be experienced by supervisors as both a valuable resource and a demanding aspect of their roles and reveals a key individual difference that shapes how these behaviors are experienced by supervisors, thereby revealing the multifaceted nature of the impact of FSSB on supervisor well-being as a previously overlooked criterion.
