Extending engaging leadership beyond work: the role of hope and positive affect on work-to-family enrichment

Drawing on the work-family enrichment theory, this research investigates the relationship between engaging leadership and employees’ work-to-family enrichment (WFE). We focus on the process of resource transfer from work to family and propose that employees’ hope and positive affect mediate the relationship between engaging leadership and employees’ WFE. In addition, we posit that employees’ core self-evaluation (CSE) moderates the respective indirect effect of engaging leadership on WFE via hope and positive affect. Results from a two-wave time-lagged survey with a sample of 264 employees working in the hotel industry in China showed that engaging leadership was positively related to employees’ WFE via hope and positive affect. Employees’ CSE strengthened the positive relationship between engaging leadership and employees’ WFE through hope. Our results provide important implications for current literature as well as industry practitioners by highlighting how practicing engaging leadership can have positive impact on employees’ family domain.