Seeking an “i-deal” balance: Schedule-flexibility i-deals as mediating mechanisms between supervisor emotional support and employee work and home performance

Abstract Requests for flexible work practices have become commonplace, with the aim of helping employees perform more effectively in both their private and work lives. One path for employees to secure flexible work is through the negotiation of individualized work arrangements, also known as “i-deals”. This study provides valuable insights into the nomological network of schedule-flexibility i-deals by drawing on the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory. We propose that, via resource accumulation, schedule-flexibility i-deals are a mechanism through which the emotional support of supervisors promotes employees' family performance and reduces deviant work behaviors. Drawing further on the COR framework, we examine two boundary conditions that guide employees' resource investment: perception of family-friendly environment and prosocial motivation. We collected multi-source data from employees working in South America and tested our hypotheses using structural equation modeling. Our results provide support for the key mediating role of schedule-flexibility i-deals. Moreover, the indirect relationship between supervisors' emotional support and family performance through schedule-flexibility i-deals is stronger in family-friendly organizational contexts, as well as when employees are prosocially motivated. Our results also show that, contrary to the expected effect, when prosocial motivation is high, employee supervisors' emotional support is positively linked to deviant behaviors. We contribute to the literature by emphasizing the roles of perceived resources at the levels of leaders (i.e., supervisors' emotional support), context (supervisors' perceptions of a family-friendly environment), and individuals (employees' prosocial motivation). We demonstrate the importance of these resources in establishing and sustaining schedule-flexibility i-deals.