A multi-level study on principals’ Guanxi-driven impact on teachers’ work and home life: insights from Malaysia
Abstract
Purpose
Guided by the conservation of resources theory, this study aims to present a comprehensive framework examining leadership, Guanxi, work-family conflict and work engagement. It specifically explores how group-level transformational leadership influences individual-level Guanxi and work-family conflict and how these factors, in turn, impact work engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
The study surveyed 473 teachers in the Klang Valley, Malaysia, and used hierarchical linear modelling.
Findings
The results reveal that transformational leadership directly enhances non-work relationships, reduces work-family conflict and indirectly predicts increased work engagement. This indirect influence occurs through the mediation of Guanxi and the work-family conflict. Notably, while stronger Guanxi is associated with greater work engagement in the professional sphere, it does not necessarily mitigate the work-family conflict in the personal domain.
Originality/value
These findings provide valuable insights into maintaining and enhancing work engagement by implementing transformational leadership through more effective channels, such as Guanxi and work-family conflict management.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Funding: This work was supported by the Universiti Malaya Research Grant (RP041B-17HNE).
Conflicts of interest/Competing interests: On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.
Ethics approval: The research design adhered to the principles outlined in the Belmont Report. Participants were teachers who were aware of their rights.
Consent to participate: Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Availability of data and material: The datasets generated by the survey research during and/or analysed during the current study are available in the Figshare repository, https://figshare.com/s/a7a30988a3b37b05579d
Citation
Low, M.C., Jayasingam, S., Abu Bakar, R. and Omar, S. (2024), "A multi-level study on principals’ Guanxi-driven impact on teachers’ work and home life: insights from Malaysia", Management Research Review, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/MRR-11-2023-0872
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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