Leader–member exchange and work–family conflict; the moderating role of emotional intelligence and supervisory support

Abstract

Purpose

This study sought to examine the interactional effect of emotional intelligence (EI) and supervisory support (SS) in the relationship between leader–member exchange (LMX) and work–family conflict (WFC).

Design/methodology/approach

The study adopted the survey research design, where 286 employees in the Ghanaian financial services sector were sampled for this study. The data retrieved from the respondents were quantitatively analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of IBM SPSS Statistics (Version 26.0), SmartPLS (Version 4.0) and the Hayes PROCESS macro.

Findings

As hypothesized, this study revealed that LMX positively and significantly relates to WFC, while EI and SS significantly moderated the relationship between LMX and WFC.

Practical implications

The findings of this study revealed the need for organizations to develop and implement policies that promote good leadership among employees.

Originality/value

This study fills the research gap in the Ghanaian financial service sector regarding the moderating effect of supervisory support and emotional intelligence in the nexus between leader–member exchange and employees’ work–family conflict.

Citation

Adu, I.N., Darko, N.Y., Kyei-Frimpong, M. and Yeboah-Kordee, N.S. (2025), "Leader–member exchange and work–family conflict; the moderating role of emotional intelligence and supervisory support", Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/APJBA-12-2023-0644