Seeking silver lining for leaders' well-being: understanding gender differences in work-family conflict, leadership style and prioritizing coping strategy

Purpose Our study addresses the impact of COVID-19-induced work-family conflict on leaders' well-being and explores the influence of leadership style, coping strategies, and gender disparities in this context, filling a research gap on crisis-related leadership well-being. Design/methodology/approach We used hierarchical regression analysis and SPSS's PROCESS macro to analyze a dataset of 516 paired responses, including 231 leaders and 285 subordinates, from Mongolian organizations. Findings Strain-based work-family conflict (WFC) negatively affects leaders' workplace well-being. Servant leadership exacerbates this impact. In contrast, servant leadership positively moderates the relationship between time-based WFC and job-related well-being. Leaders who prioritize work and family responsibilities experience a stronger positive (negative) impact of time-based (strain-based) WFC on their workplace well-being. Furthermore, we observed that strain-based WFC has a more detrimental effect on female leaders' well-being, highlighting gender disparities in leadership roles. Practical implications Our study elucidates the intricate relationship between work-family conflict and leaders' well-being, underscoring the need to recognize gender differences and coping strategies. We advocate for organizations to proactively establish support structures tailored to various leadership styles and gender-specific challenges, especially in times of crisis. Originality/value This study focuses on leaders' well-being during COVID-19 and how it is influenced by work-family conflict, servant leadership, coping strategy, and gender. The study also differentiates between time-based and strain-based work-family conflict and uses dyadic data from Mongolian organizations. More importantly, we identify that gender disparity plays a crucial role in the pandemic-caused leadership challenges and leaders' coping behaviors.