Impact of workplace stressors on supervisors’ negative feeling toward male employees’ long-term parental leave: a cross-sectional study

Abstract Background Attempts to resolve issues regarding parental leave for male employees must be made from the perspective of workplace fairness and the burden on supervisors. This study considered the relationship between negative feelings harbored by supervisors toward male employees when taking...

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Main Author: Hiromi Ono
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2025-07-01
Series:BMC Psychology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-025-03003-5
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author Hiromi Ono
author_facet Hiromi Ono
author_sort Hiromi Ono
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Background Attempts to resolve issues regarding parental leave for male employees must be made from the perspective of workplace fairness and the burden on supervisors. This study considered the relationship between negative feelings harbored by supervisors toward male employees when taking long-term parental leave and workplace stressors. The aim was to examine their interrelated effects, following a model that hypothesizes that workplace stressors lead to anger through situations that evoke a sense of unfairness regarding male parental leave. Methods An online survey was conducted targeting 400 workers, and a covariance structure analysis was performed. Results The proposed model showed good fit. “Stressors due to quantitative load” and “responsibility to employees” were associated with anger through perceptions of unfairness, particularly related to “lack of involvement in childcare” and “increase in one’s workload.” “Quantitative load” also had a direct effect on anger, while “responsibility to employees” was found to suppress it. Conclusions Workplace stressors can lead to supervisors’ anger toward male employees taking parental leave via perceived unfairness. While work–life balance measures may have unintended negative effects, this study contributes to organizational justice research by highlighting the role of workplace context in shaping reactions to male parental leave.
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spelling doaj-art-05f736bb8f894d339d7990552041de462025-08-20T04:01:43ZengBMCBMC Psychology2050-72832025-07-011311910.1186/s40359-025-03003-5Impact of workplace stressors on supervisors’ negative feeling toward male employees’ long-term parental leave: a cross-sectional studyHiromi Ono0Faculty of Human Sciences, University of TsukubaAbstract Background Attempts to resolve issues regarding parental leave for male employees must be made from the perspective of workplace fairness and the burden on supervisors. This study considered the relationship between negative feelings harbored by supervisors toward male employees when taking long-term parental leave and workplace stressors. The aim was to examine their interrelated effects, following a model that hypothesizes that workplace stressors lead to anger through situations that evoke a sense of unfairness regarding male parental leave. Methods An online survey was conducted targeting 400 workers, and a covariance structure analysis was performed. Results The proposed model showed good fit. “Stressors due to quantitative load” and “responsibility to employees” were associated with anger through perceptions of unfairness, particularly related to “lack of involvement in childcare” and “increase in one’s workload.” “Quantitative load” also had a direct effect on anger, while “responsibility to employees” was found to suppress it. Conclusions Workplace stressors can lead to supervisors’ anger toward male employees taking parental leave via perceived unfairness. While work–life balance measures may have unintended negative effects, this study contributes to organizational justice research by highlighting the role of workplace context in shaping reactions to male parental leave.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-025-03003-5Male parental leaveSense of unfairnessWorkplace stressorsAngerNegative feelingsWork–life balance
spellingShingle Hiromi Ono
Impact of workplace stressors on supervisors’ negative feeling toward male employees’ long-term parental leave: a cross-sectional study
BMC Psychology
Male parental leave
Sense of unfairness
Workplace stressors
Anger
Negative feelings
Work–life balance
title Impact of workplace stressors on supervisors’ negative feeling toward male employees’ long-term parental leave: a cross-sectional study
title_full Impact of workplace stressors on supervisors’ negative feeling toward male employees’ long-term parental leave: a cross-sectional study
title_fullStr Impact of workplace stressors on supervisors’ negative feeling toward male employees’ long-term parental leave: a cross-sectional study
title_full_unstemmed Impact of workplace stressors on supervisors’ negative feeling toward male employees’ long-term parental leave: a cross-sectional study
title_short Impact of workplace stressors on supervisors’ negative feeling toward male employees’ long-term parental leave: a cross-sectional study
title_sort impact of workplace stressors on supervisors negative feeling toward male employees long term parental leave a cross sectional study
topic Male parental leave
Sense of unfairness
Workplace stressors
Anger
Negative feelings
Work–life balance
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-025-03003-5
work_keys_str_mv AT hiromiono impactofworkplacestressorsonsupervisorsnegativefeelingtowardmaleemployeeslongtermparentalleaveacrosssectionalstudy