Family-Friendly Policies and Organizational Performance Revisited: The Moderating Roles of the HR Director Attributes and HR Department Characteristics

Based on the resource-based view and upper-echelon theory, this study investigates the relationship between family-friendly policies and corporate performance, as well as the moderating role of two organizational context factors: the characteristics of HR directors and HR department attributes. The sample of this study consists of 1,775 business establishments in South Korea, using Workplace Panel Survey data from 2005 to 2013. Panel data analysis is used to estimate the effect of family-friendly policies. The results indicate that the bundle of family-friendly policies is positively associated with financial firm performance. Furthermore, the family-friendly policies bundle may affect performance when the HR director is female, younger, and has a shorter year of service. There is weak evidence that the size of the HR department has an impact, while the HR does not affect the family-friendly policies on performance. This paper implies that specific attributes regarding HR directors and departments are better suited to promoting organizational performance.