How can your spouse accelerate your career success?

Employees are often advised to leave their personal relationships at the door to maintain focus at work. However, research by Anna Carmella Ocampo, Assistant Professor in the Department of People Management and Organisation at Esade, challenges this view, suggesting that “spouses act not only as cheerleaders, boosting employees' enthusiasm at work, but also as healers, alleviating their stress and frustration.” 

Writing in the Journal of Business Research with co-authors Jun Gu (Macquarie University, Sydney), Lu Wang (University of Alberta, Canada), Markus Groth (University of New South Wales, Sydney), Herman Tse (Monash Business School, Melbourne) and Hang Zhao (KPMG, Sydney), Ocampo describes how spouses can enrich employees’ work life by strengthening their psychological capital and emotion management knowledge. These psychological and emotional resources, in turn, support employees’ capacity to establish and maintain a productive relationship with their supervisor.  

Regulating emotions

The research builds on existing knowledge related to emotion regulation ability (ERA) — the skills required to effectively manage emotions. People high in ERA are more likely to have high-quality relationships with customers, colleagues and supervisors, as well as being more able to help colleagues deal with negative emotions and challenging situations. 

Ocampo and co-authors extend this knowledge with their findings on the role spouses play in leveraging ERA to support their employed partner’s work life. Having a spouse who can efficiently manage their own and their partner’s emotions helps build morale, broaden perspectives, and persevere in the face of stressors, all of which makes these employees indispensable for their bosses. 

Rather than family life being a potential threat to productivity, it should be nurtured by employers

Previous research outlines that spouses prompt the development of contextual resources (i.e., within the social life of the individual, particularly at home) and personal resources (i.e., those which an individual has within themselves, such as cognitive ability and skill). When employees tap their spouse’s ERA—a contextual resource—they can mobilize their personal resources, characterized by their psychological capital and emotion management knowledge to cultivate optimal functioning at work.  

Spousal support

In other words, employees can draw on their spouses’ ERA to obtain support in managing emotionally charged situations at work. Spouses can assist employees in expanding their skills to resolve challenges and understand difficult situations. These employees are also more likely to be able to support colleagues and supervisors in dealing with difficult circumstances.  

Conversely, a lack of support at home leads to a depletion of personal resources and has a negative impact on work relationships—particularly when spouses are overwhelmed with family demands. 

To further assess the impact of spouse ERA on workplace relationships, the research team conducted three studies: an exploratory qualitative investigation of the work-related benefits of having an emotionally (in)competent spouse; a field survey obtained from matched spouse-employee-supervisor triads to examine the crossover effects of ERA; and a scenario-based experiment to examine whether and how much partners believe a spouse would influence employees’ work functioning. 

Offsetting emotions

In the first study, the researchers conducted 50 face-to-face interviews with employees from a range of industries in China, all of whom had long-term romantic partners. Each participant was asked three questions: whether their work experience was influenced by their spouses’ ERA; if so, why and how; and which aspect of the work experience was most strongly affected.  

The results revealed that employees with high-ERA spouses report higher work-related effectiveness and receive more counsel when dealing with challenges. They also acknowledge how their spouses influence their career in things such as managing subordinates, providing support to their supervisors, and searching for better career opportunities.  

The emotional benefits identified by the research team included offsetting negative emotions and promoting positive emotions. Employees noted that their spouses helped relieve the stresses of work and family life, which enabled them to focus more effectively on their jobs. The positive impact of receiving support from a partner also allowed them to handle challenging situations at work. 

Sharing the load

Finally, many participants reported their spouses’ ability to help cultivate positive interactions with supervisors and colleagues. However, the opposite was true for the interviewees who reported low levels of emotional intelligence in their spouses.  

The positive effects of spouse ERA on employee work functioning are salient when they experience less family overload

The second study had two goals: to identify the link between the ERA of a spouse and the relationship between employee and supervisor, and to test whether a spouse who was overloaded with family commitments had a less positive impact on the employee-supervisor relationship. 

Participants were drawn from seven large organizations in northeast China, providing a final sample of 396 unique employee-spouse-supervisor relationships. Employees and their partners independently completed confidential surveys, followed by supervisors’ ratings of employee effectiveness four weeks later. 

The results confirmed that spouse-reported ERA significantly predicted employee-rated psychological capital and emotional management knowledge. The positive effects of spouse ERA on employee work functioning are salient when they experience less family overload, (characterized by having multiple competing responsibilities at home, like having too many chores). 

Enriching environments

A final study was sent to 382 American working adults. Each participant was allocated one of four hypothetical scenarios that described the ERA of their spouse, along with differing levels of overload in the spouses’ role in the family. Participants then rated the impact of the spouses’ ERA on the fictional employee.  

Once again, the results confirmed that high ERA of spouses had a positive impact on employees, but the effect was reduced when the spouses’ overload was high. 

By demonstrating that the ERA of a spouse can indirectly influence the employee-supervisor relationship, the researchers offer evidence that non-work resources, particularly those drawn from employees’ family life, can help benefit employees on a professional level.  

Rather than family life being a potential threat to productivity, they suggest, it should be nurtured by employers. Family-friendly workplace practices and work schedules that respect home life create enriching environments for employees. Employees should also ensure they do their fair share at home to create a mutually supportive environment that benefits all concerned.