Daily positive child-related events and leadership behavior: a work-home resource perspective

Purpose Family experiences, especially positive child-related events (PCE), are important for leaders who nurture children to obtain emotional resources. However, few studies have explored whether these emotional resources have subsequent influence on leaders’ leadership behaviors at work. This research drew on the work-home resources model to illustrate the indirect relationship by which PCE affect leaders’ leadership behavior by shaping emotional resources. Design/methodology/approach This research adopted the experience sampling method and gathered 1,248 cases from 156 leaders during 10 consecutive work days to test the conceptual model. Findings The results showed that: (1) PCE of leaders who nurture children on a given day exhibited a positive correlation with supervisor support and a negative correlation with supervisor undermining on the subsequent day; (2) leaders’ joviality on a given day mediated the relationship between PCE and their subsequent supervisor support and supervisor undermining on the next day; (3) spouses’ daily stress transmission weakened the positive relationship between leaders’ daily PCE and joviality. Originality/value This research attempts to provide a comprehensive insight into the formation of leaders’ leadership behavior and thus develop strategies for organizations to promote positive leadership behavior among leaders who nurture children.