Reenvisioning Family-Supportive Organizations Through a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Perspective: A Review and Research Agenda

Abstract

The growing literature on family-supportive organizations (FSOs) examines work–family supports that organizations provide to employees—informal (e.g., perceptions of supervisor and coworker support, climate) and formal (e.g., policies, including those mandated in national contexts). Yet FSO research remains underintegrated with the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) literature, limiting understanding of how to enhance FSO-related effects. We draw on a DEI perspective to analyze the extent and quality to which core DEI-related constructs are integrated into FSO scholarship. Results from 192 reviewed studies show that diversity (39%) and equality (35%) are the most studied constructs, although there were limitations with their conceptualization by work–family researchers. Other constructs are frequently omitted from studies and, when included, are poorly applied. These include intersectionality (15%), which is often used with a lack of attention to intersecting and multilevel influences; equity (5%), which is confounded with equality; and inclusion (12.5%) and belonging (5%), which are vaguely operationalized. Our thematic review-driven insights emphasize how improved integration of DEI constructs into the FSO literature will drive research that (1) broadens the conceptualization of who needs family support to better reflect an increasingly diverse workforce with intersecting work and family identities; (2) gives greater attention to power, stigma, and marginalization in the context of work–family dynamics; and (3) unpacks causality involving multilevel relationships across DEI and FSO constructs and links these to work–family–supportive leadership. Future research is needed to ensure that all employees experience FSO that neither intentionally nor unintentionally privileges higher-power employee groups over others.