The enriching effects of spouses’ emotion regulation ability on employees’ leader-member exchange: Evidence from spouse-employee-supervisor triads

Abstract

Although work and family lives are increasingly intertwined, research on the nature and extent to which spousal influence may shape employees’ key workplace relationships remains limited. Across three studies, we found evidence that spouses’ emotion regulation ability (ERA) nurtures employees’ psychological capital and emotion management knowledge, facilitating positive leader-member exchange (LMX). Study 1 presented an exploratory qualitative investigation to probe how spouses’ ERA supports employees’ work functioning. Study 2 used independent spouse-employee-supervisor triads across two measurement periods to demonstrate that spouses’ ERA predicts LMX. The positive influence of spouses’ ERA on LMX was mediated by employees’ psychological capital and emotion management knowledge. It was conditional at higher (versus lower) spouses’ family role overload. Study 3 experimentally replicated the conditional indirect effects of spouses’ ERA and family role overload on LMX. Collectively, our findings clarify the processes through which the interpersonal ERA of non-organizational members may crossover to influence work relationships.