Examining the Impact of Red Tape on Work-Family Conflict: The Mediating Role of Perceived Boundary Control and the Buffering Role of Family-Supportive Supervisors

Previous research has focused on the adverse effects of red tape on public organizations’ management and performance, but has largely overlooked its impact on employees’ roles within the family domain. Drawing upon the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, we conducted two studies to investigate how high job demands (i.e., red tape) may be positively related to work-family conflict by blurring the boundaries between work and non-work domains. The study further measures whether job resources (i.e., family-supportive supervisors and perceived organizational support) mitigate the decline in perceived boundary control caused by high job demand, in response to the buffering hypothesis in the JD-R model. Study 1 conducted a preliminary validation in a prefecture-level city in China (N=265). To circumvent the limitations associated with the research setting and the specificity of job resource types, Study 2 tested the robustness of the findings by expanding the scope to a national level and incorporating additional types of job resources (N=324). Results reveal that red tape has a spillover effect in work scene, which will blur the boundary between work and non-work domains, reduce perceived boundary control, and lead to work-family conflict. Importantly, the buffering hypothesis in the JD-R model was contradicted by evidence showing that job resources (i.e., family-supportive supervisors and perceived organizational support) exacerbated the negative effects of high job demands (i.e., red tape). The implications of these findings for theory and practice are explored.