Work and Life Under One Roof: A Role-Based Resource Perspective on Benevolent Leadership and Work-Family Conflict

Abstract

Shifts in work patterns have intensified interest in work-family conflict, highlighting the critical role of supervisors’ leadership behaviors in shaping such tension. Unlike Western leadership, which emphasizes job-related support, Chinese benevolent leadership provides holistic care across both work and personal domains, potentially offering distinctive benefits. Drawing on culture and leadership perspective, this study examines how the two dimensions of benevolent leadership—work-oriented and life-oriented care—influence subordinates’ work-family conflict and their underlying mechanisms. Specifically, it investigates whether these behaviors activate resources in corresponding role domains, revealing dual mechanisms of influence and the moderating role of role priority. Findings show that work-oriented care reduces conflict by enhancing perceived organizational support, regardless of subordinates’ role orientation. In contrast, life-oriented care reduces conflict only for family-prioritized employees, through increased perceived family support. Overall, this study demonstrates that benevolent leadership mitigates work-family conflict via two distinct yet complementary pathways, yielding synergistic effects shaped by subordinate value orientation and underscoring its culturally unique contribution beyond Western leadership models.

Keywords

benevolent leadership work-oriented care life-oriented care work-role centrality work-family conflict

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