Impact of ebullient supervision on employee work-life balance: Mediating role of workaholism

Abstract

Employee work-life balance is of considerable importance to individuals. Drawing on the Job Demand Resource theory, this study examined how ebullient supervision influences employee work-life balance, specifically focusing on the mediating role of workaholism in this relationship. This study adopted a deductive approach employing quantitative methods. A sample size of 317 was determined according to the Morgan table. The cluster sampling was used to select employees from the kitchen, food, and beverage departments from a population consisting of 1,814 employees of the selected five-star hotels in the Colombo district. Data were collected through a structured self-administered questionnaire distributed via online Google Forms. Overall, 320 participants responded, resulting in a response rate of 90.57% after disregarding three responses due to the identical ratings for all the items in the questionnaire. Simple linear regression analysis was performed using IBM SPSS software (version 29) to analyze the data, and the mediation analysis was performed using the Process Macro for SPSS. The findings revealed that ebullient supervision positively impacts employee work-life balance and negatively affects workaholism. Workaholism, in turn, is moderately negatively correlated with work-life balance. Additionally, workaholism partially mediates the relationship between ebullient supervision and work-life balance in the hotel industry, which supports the developed hypothesis. The paper contributes to the existing ebullient supervision literature. The implications for organizational policies to address workaholism and training programs for supervisors to foster a balanced work environment. Whilst the findings cannot be generalized beyond the selected hotel employees, they deliver some insights for further development. The findings of this study offer guidance for employers, employees, and managers in the hotel sector on fostering a balanced approach between work and home life through the lens of the novel concept of ebullient supervision.