Perceived leader inclusion and employee work-to-family conflict: a daily diary study

Abstract

PurposeEmployees’ perceived inclusion has been shown to have beneficial effects on their effective functioning at work (e.g. engagement, creativity, and task performance); however, workplace inclusion is also believed to have a profound impact on employees’ functioning beyond the work domain, such as on their family domain. The primary goal of our study thus is to explore how perceptions of workplace inclusion influence employees’ family lives.Design/methodology/approachWe tested our hypotheses by surveying 125 employees from a cotton textile manufacturing company in China over 10 consecutive workdays.FindingsDaily perceived leader inclusion was negatively related to employees’ daily resource depletion at work, which in turn was positively related to employees’ daily work-to-family conflict. The direct effect of daily perceived leader inclusion on resource depletion and the indirect effect of daily perceived leader inclusion on work-to-family conflict were stronger for employees with more discrimination experience in their lives.Practical implicationsLeaders should be aware of their unique roles they play in shaping individual inclusion perceptions and should enact actions that satisfy employees’ desires for both belongingness and uniqueness. Moreover, leaders should also be attentive to those who are susceptible to discrimination when promoting inclusion initiatives.Originality/valueOur study proposes an important facet of workplace inclusion—perceived leader inclusion—and offers a resource perspective to understand how leader inclusion may impact employees’ functioning beyond the work domain to affect their family lives.