Support a better work-family balance in the hotel sector

The work-family balance issue has received significant attention in the hotel industry, yet effective solutions to support this balance remain scarce. Given the labour shortage of the hotel sector, underestimating individuals with family-to-work conflict is not a wise solution for management. This study aims to explore innovative ways of supporting hotel employees’ work-family balance under their family-to-work conflict. Specifically, this study tests the mediating role of job insecurity and the moderating roles of psychological empowerment and extrinsic motivation in the link between family-to-work conflict and work-family balance. A two-wave survey was conducted among 211 Chinese hotel employees. The Process analyses were employed to analyse the data. The results indicate that family-to-work conflict leads to work-family imbalance through job insecurity; family-to-work conflict triggers job insecurity, but only when employees’ psychological empowerment is low; job insecurity impairs work-family balance, but this detrimental impact can be buffered by extrinsic motivation. The study delineates the pathways and conditions under which family-to-work conflict leads to work-family imbalance, offering not just a nuanced perspective on the issue but also practical recommendations for enhancing work-family balance within the hotel industry.