The differential effects of work- and family-oriented women-friendly HRM on OC and OCB: the case for single female employees in Hong Kong

• Published in: International journal of human resource management Vol. 12; no. 8; pp. 1347 - 1364
• Main Authors: Chiu, Warren C.K., Ng, Catherine W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis 01.12.2001
• Subjects: Business strategies; Business studies; Diversity; Hong Kong; Human resources; Labour force; Marital status; Organizational citizenship behaviour; Organizational Citizenship Behaviours; Organizational Commitment; Personnel management; Women; Women workers
• ISSN: 0958-5192; 1466-4399
• DOI: 10.1080/09585190110085053

Research on women-friendly HRM often presumes working women are homogeneous in their wants and needs of organizational support. Few such studies have examined how female employees of different marital and parental statuses might perceive women-friendly HRM differently. This study categorizes organizational womenfriendliness into two aspects, namely work- and family-oriented, and explores if the two types of organizational support are equally important to single working women who do not have children. The effects of work- and family-oriented women-friendly policies on their job attitudes and organizational behaviours were examined. It was found that workoriented policies had a positive impact on single female employees' level of affective commitment and altruistic behaviours. In contrast, family-oriented policies were positively related to continuance commitment. Neither of the two sets of policies had any effect on compliant behaviours. The results highlight the importance of a careful examination of the demography of the workforce in trying to devise effective women-friendly organizational strategies and HR policies.