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. 2021 Nov 9;19(3):575-585.
doi: 10.1007/s10433-021-00660-4. eCollection 2022 Sep.

Informal care-giving and the intention to give up employment: the role of perceived supervisor behaviour in a cohort of German employees

Diego Montano  1 , Richard Peter  2
Affiliations

Informal care-giving and the intention to give up employment: the role of perceived supervisor behaviour in a cohort of German employees

Diego Montano et al. Eur J Ageing. .

Abstract

Current social policies in the European Union addressing employment, retirement and long-term care are expected to result in increasing employment rates among informal carers. The present investigation contributes to previous research by focusing on how specific work-related factors, in this case supervisor behaviour, may facilitate the fulfilment of the demands arising from paid work and care and ultimately influence the desire to give up employment. To this end, population data from the German Cohort Study on Work, Age, Health and Work Participation conducted in 2011 and 2014 are analysed (n = 3916). Three research hypotheses investigating the associations between care-giving, supervisor behaviour, the intention to give up employment and work-private-life conflict are tested by means of cumulative link models. The results suggest that the intention to give up employment is stronger among employed carers. In addition, the perception that one's supervisor is considerate towards subordinates and is effective in planning, coordinating work and solving conflicts is found to be negatively related to the desire to give up employment, especially among carers. The statistical analyses reveal that supervisor behaviour mediates the association between the level of work-private-life conflict and the intention to give up employment. It is concluded that the working conditions may exert a substantial influence on the levels of psychosocial load carers experience by facilitating or hindering the extent to which carers are allowed to accommodate their work schedules and job assignments to the conflicting demands of their dual role as workers and carers.

Keywords: Employment of care-givers; Informal long-term care; Psychosocial load; Work-private-life conflict; Working conditions.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interestThe authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Schematic representation of the theoretical model and the research hypotheses
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Estimated endorsement probabilities to the intention to give up employment at W2 by levels of supervisor behaviour (x-axis, 1: to a very large extent, 2: to a large extent, 3: somewhat, 4: to a small extent, 5: to a very small extent), care-giving status (columns) and gender. Estimates obtained from model 3 in Table 2
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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