Given the mounting social and governmental support for better paternity leave options in the United States, it is surprising that less than 50% of fathers who are offered paid paternity-specific leave choose to take it (Cruickshank, 2019). Social scientists have thoroughly examined family-supportive policy and culture, yet the social mechanisms and influences surrounding paternity leave (as distinguished from general parental leave) and the decision to take or not take it have yet to be understood. Regulatory barriers that have risen due to the basic nature of the Family and Medical Leave Act and barriers rising from factors in the social environment (stigma, leader-member exchange (LMX), job satisfaction, perceptions of organizational support (POS), perceptions of organizational family support (POFS)) may help explain this statistic. We build hypotheses from the social exchange perspective, emphasizing the role of communication as the primary facilitator of relational development, and viewing relational development as facilitated by social-exchange, or, "a two-sided, mutually contingent, and mutually rewarding process involving 'transactions' or simply 'exchange,'" (Emerson, 1976, p. 336). Data gathered from 92 fathers employed at a large midwestern university indicated that there is a relationship between perceived paternity leave-related stigma and paternity leave intentions, and that fathers with high LMX perceived less stigma from their supervisors than those with low LMX. Implications and findings for future research are discussed.
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