Abstract
Studies on informal care to frail elderly parents have identified negative impacts of managing employment and caregiving (Lam et al., 2022). According to Hatano et al.(2017, p.121) no studies examined how personality may affect informal carer wellbeing, where “personality traits are clearly associated with identity dimensions”. To address this research gap, first we utilize a multiple identity theoretical perspective (Ramarajan, 2014) integrating three main identities of employed informal elderly filial carers, namely carer, employee and personal. Each of these identities has been studied individually or in pairs (Arksey, 2002; Broady, 2015; Hughes et al., 2013) but not all together until now. Second, we explore the potential mediation effect of caregiver-friendly workplace policies (CFWPs) as perceived organizational support (POS) measures, on carer life satisfaction. We are the first to propose that the co-existence of multiple identities of employed informal elderly filial carers when mediated by CFWPs, has a positive impact on their wellbeing. We focus on two well-established arrangements, flexible time, and compressed work week (Wheatley, 2017). In turn, we propose that CFWPs will mediate the relationship between the three identities and life satisfaction and this relationship will become positive.In this cross-sectional study, we combined existing measures from literature. We conducted a four-step hierarchical linear regression with life satisfaction as the dependent variable and Personal*Employee*Carer ID as the independent one. Flexible time and compressed work week were added as mediators. Our analysis showed that Personal*Employee*Carer ID did not account directly for a significant amount of additional variation in life satisfaction. However, adding flexible time and compressed work week did, explaining an additional 3.02% of the variation in life satisfaction. Our contribution in this study is both theoretical and empirical. We contribute to existing literature by exploring this specific identity triptych for the first time. Thoits (1992) argues that it is valuable to examine how one combines multiple identities. So, we propose the co-existence of multiple roles to create what Pratt and Foreman (2000) refer to as “identity synergy.” Empirically we demonstrate that the co-existence of the three identities produces higher statistical effects than when each identity is reviewed separately. Further, we enrich existing POS literature by showing how CFWPs, specifically flexible time and compressed week, contribute to carers’ life satisfaction by enhancing the impact of their three co-existing core identities. Overall, the relationships introduced here are complex, but they could inform research, policy, and support the global HR community.