Work Family Enrichment (WFE) theory predicts that experiences in one role may improve the quality (performance and positive affect) of the other role (Greenhaus & Powell, 2006). WFE stems from the role accumulation theory (Sieber, 1974) and the expansion approach (Marks, 1977). These theories explain how participating in several roles might facilitate individuals to enlarge their social and human capital, as well as to muster energy, and how these positive effects can compensate for the increased demands that arise from engaging in several roles.

Enrichment happens when resources including skills and perspectives (e.g. multitasking skills), psychological and physical resources (e.g. self-esteem), social capital (e.g. advice), flexibility (i.e. discretion to determine when and where to carry out role duties), and/or material resources (e.g. money, gifts) are transferred from one role to the other.

Conservation of Resources (COR) theory builds on two key assumptions; first, people invest resources to deal with threatening conditions or actual loss of valued resources; second, individuals not only strive to retain valued resources but also to accumulate them (Hobfoll, 1989). Each individual values resources differently. Resources can be objects, personal characteristics, conditions, or energies. Individuals see resources as instrumental (to address a stressor or generate new resources) or symbolical (help him to define who he is as a person). Because resources enable the acquisition or preservation of other resources, people are motivated first to create and then protect them.

Social Information Processes (SIP) posits that informational cues present in the employees immediate work environments shape their attitudes and behaviors (Weick, Sutcliffe, & Obstfeld, 2005). Thus, interpersonal relations provide a lens through which individuals evaluate their work environments (Grzywacz & Marks, 2000). The social context influences employee behaviors through the creation of meaning as well as through bringing salient information to the employee’s attention (Salancik & Pfeffer, 1978). Hence, the social context influences employees’ beliefs and understanding of what is acceptable, desirable and expected.

Engaging in behaviors that take advantage of one’s personal strengths at work can promote employee flourishing in the workplace and mental health. Personal strengths use has thus gained increasing attention within occupational psychology and positive organizational scholarship. In this article, we first integrate work on personal strengths use with the latest developments in the job demands-resources theory (and its extensions) to develop a conceptual model explaining how and why personal strengths use on the job increases work engagement. Specifically, we propose that feelings of inspiration and meaningfulness explain the relationship between personal strengths use and work engagement. Second, we identify two mechanisms through which employees can amplify the benefits associated with personal strengths use at work; that is, we propose that the increased engagement associated with strengths use makes employees more likely to capitalize on the positive aspects of their work by engaging in work–family interpersonal capitalization and positive work reflection. Further, our model predicts that employees’ psychological capital moderates the effects of personal strengths use. We tested our theoretical predictions in a sample of 160 full-time employees who provided ratings that comprise a three-level data set (person, week, and day) comprising 943 matched weekly ratings and 2,787 daily ratings. Our hypotheses were largely supported by these data. Implications for theory, practice, and future research are discussed.

This study explores the nomological network of family-supportive supervisor behaviours (FSSBs) at the weekly level. Drawing on the tenets of the work–home resources (W-HR) model and the conservation of resources theory, we integrate relational resources in the model and investigate their role as triggers of FSSBs. Furthermore, we explore how FSSBs relate to both within domain (production deviance and employee creativity) and between domain (sleep quality and dyadic adjustment) employee outcomes, with a focus on exhaustion as a mediator. Our findings show that (1) spousal support experienced by the supervisor is positively related to the employee's perception of FSSBs as enacted by the supervisor, (2) employees' perceptions of FSSBs are negatively related to employees' production deviance and (3) exhaustion is a mediator between FSSBs and employee outcomes of creativity, sleep quality and dyadic adjustment. Our findings across two multisource and diary studies underline the importance of designing and implementing FSSBs in a dynamic fashion.

In a context where employees find it increasingly difficult to juggle work and family demands, increasing attention has been paid to family supportive supervisor behaviors (FSSB). Drawing on key tenets of the Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory, we hypothesize that FSSB is positively related to needs-supplies fit, which in turn, predicts both work and nonwork outcomes i.e., proactive skill development and sleep quality. We also hypothesize that for employees high on protean career orientation (PCO), the consequences of FSSB are more significant and positive on both a) employees' perceived needs-supplies fits and b) proactive skill development. We conducted a three-wave study with a month time interval in Chile, Colombia, and Spain with matched data of subordinates and their managers (N = 454). Most of our hypotheses were supported. We expand and contribute to the literature by providing a fit perspective to research on FSSB, arguing that such behaviors improve employees’ perceptions of their jobs, with a consequential positive impact on their work and nonwork outcomes. The results demonstrate the key role of FSSB in enabling employees to perceive a better fit with their jobs. For HR managers and practitioners, results show that keeping protean-oriented employees is a promising strategy.

The purpose of this paper is to review and analyse the literature on psychological contract (PC) phenomena to date as well as give future research directions in this research area.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors have conducted a bibliometric analysis of 33 years of research on PC. The bibliometric findings have identified various perspectives by drawing the landscape and developmental trajectory of PC research over time. A specific bibliographic analysis and visualization tool VOSviewer was employed to evaluate and process 1999 publications in the Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) database from 1989 to 2022, also author citation analysis, journal co-citation analysis, reference analysis and analysis of 100 milestone articles.
The authors detected and visualized the landscape of PC area and track how this landscape has developed. Secondly, the authors present the findings emerged from this study’s bibliometric review, with emphasize on future research directions and implications.