How does daily family-supportive supervisor behavior relieve subordinates' job stress? The effect of ethical leadership and positive emotions

Purpose Relying on a multilevel approach, this paper investigates the day-to-day variations in family-supportive supervisor behaviors influencing subordinates' job stress, as well as the mediating role of positive emotions and the moderating role of ethical leadership. Design/methodology/approach Using the experience-sampling methodology, the study collected the data from 137 civil servants in China who responded to one daily survey for 10 working days. Findings With a total of 1,370 surveys, results supported the hypothesized model linking daily family-supportive supervisor behaviors to daily job stress via subordinates' daily positive emotions. In addition, the study found a moderating effect for ethical leadership positively in the indirect relationship between family-supportive supervisor behaviors and job stress. Practical implications The findings in this study serve practitioners in organizational and leadership development. For one thing, this study contributes to raising awareness about the importance of improving family-related support in the workplace in generating subordinates' positive emotions and relieving their job stress. For another, the findings highlight the necessity of cultivating ethical leadership for leaders. Originality/value This study fulfills an identified need to clarify how and when daily family supportive supervisor behaviors influence subordinates' daily job stress. This study moves beyond previous research by adopting the experience sampling method and demonstrating important cross-level effects of ethical leadership on the within-individual relationship between family supportive supervisor behaviors and job stress.