Using emotional intelligence and personal coping strategies to achieve work family balance in frontline hotel employees

Abstract

The study aims to understand the influence of Emotional Intelligence (EI) on Work-Family Conflict (WFC), Work-Family Enrichment (WFE), Family-Work Conflict (FWC) and Family-Work Enrichment (FWE) and the mediating effect of Ways of Coping (WOC) on these relationships. Standardized questionnaires were used to collect data from 498 frontline hotel employees. Correlation test, hierarchical multiple regression and Sobel’s test were used for data analyses. Results showed that EI had a negative impact on FWC and positive impact on both FWE and WFE, EI influenced all the WOC except Escape-Avoidance. Mediation analyses confirmed the role of most of the coping strategy dimensions as key mediators.

Keywords:

• Emotional intelligence
• frontline employees
• work-family spillover effects

Acknowledgments

The data for the study was collected by the second author as part of her doctoral research in the Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras.