Abstract:

Leadership development is a cutting-edge research topic in the field of organizational management and a pressing issue in human resource management practice. Previous studies have often focused on the role of training courses and challenging work experiences inside enterprises to cultivate leadership, but these approaches face limitations in enhancing effectiveness. Recent research has focused on leadership development across multiple domains with the “whole person” approach, particularly the effects of non-work experience on leadership development in the working domain. Based on this new perspective, family and work, as the two main domains in which adult leaders are situated, are not mutually exclusive or even conflicting in terms of leadership development. On the contrary, taking on family roles, especially the role of a parent, should contribute to the development of leadership.

Therefore, we adopt the family-work enrichment perspective and the parent-leader similarity hypothesis. Firstly, we summarize existing research findings on leadership development and family-work enrichment, highlighting the enrichment relationship between the specific roles of parent and leader. Next, we focus on two important variables in the parental and leadership roles: parental experience and leader effectiveness, exploring how parental experience influences leader effectiveness through instrumental, affective, and efficiency enrichment pathways. Theoretically, we propose a leadership development model based on the “parent-leader enrichment” perspective. Specifically, the instrumental enrichment process guided by role accumulation theory suggests that skills acquired through the parental role, such as parenting skill, patience, and empathy, can transfer to the workplace, enhancing leadership skills. The affective enrichment process guided by spillover effect theory posits that positive emotions from the parental role can spill over into the work domain, leading to similar positive emotions in the leadership role. The efficiency enrichment process guided by conservation of resources theory indicates that time pressure from child-rearing can increase leaders' work engagement and decision-making efficiency. The model also considers the moderating effects of individuals' awareness, identity, and efficacy regarding “parent-leader enrichment” in the three enrichment processes. Finally, considering the needs of leadership development programs, the model proposes intervention experiments that can be conducted from the aspects of awareness, identity, and efficacy of enrichment to enhance the effects of instrumental, affective, and efficiency enrichment between parental and leadership roles.

We adopt a positive perspective of interdisciplinary integration, helping to maximize the enrichment effect and has significant theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically, our study offers the following contributions: first, we provide a new perspective and approach for leadership development research, extending the focus beyond the workplace to include the family domain. Second, we explore and supplement the positive “work-family enrichment” perspective in organizational management, contributing to a shift from the predominantly negative “work-family conflict” theories. Third, we clarify the potential enrichment relationship between the specific and important roles of parent and leader within the domains of work and family, supplementing and refining the parent-leader similarity hypothesis. Finally, we investigate the instrumental, affective, and efficiency mechanisms of enrichment, revealing the internal processes of enrichment between the two roles. Practically, our study aims to enhance leadership capabilities and effectiveness by providing innovative and effective training interventions for corporate leadership development programs, focusing on awareness, identity, and efficacy of enrichment. Second, we help corporate leaders update and transform their perceptions, turning conflict into enrichment, viewing parental responsibilities as a positive factor in leadership development, thus achieving a win-win situation between the roles of parent and leader. Finally, we address the current work-family conflict faced by the workforce (especially leaders) and the absence in child-rearing, promoting and implementing family-friendly policies in corporate organizations, contributing to the establishment of a family-friendly society.

Future research could clarify the qualitative and quantitative relationship between parental experience and leader effectiveness, examining whether leaders who are parents are more effective in their leadership skills and outcomes compared to those who are not parents, thereby further validating the arguments presented in our study. Additionally, future studies could investigate the enrichment mechanisms through which parental experience enhances leader effectiveness, while also considering the impact of gender on these mechanisms. Finally, future research could explore intervention studies aimed at enhancing awareness, identity, and efficacy of enrichment, to promote leadership development in practice.

Key words: leadership development, parent-leader enrichment, family-work enrichment, leader effectiveness, parental experience