Building up resources in the relationship between work-family conflict and burnout among firefighters: moderators of guanxi and emotion regulation strategies

This study investigated the moderating effects of supervisor-subordinate guanxi alongside relevant emotional regulation strategies, including cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, undertaken by 402 firefighters experiencing burnout caused by work-family conflict, as revealed through the application and analysis of the job demands-resources model. According to the regression model for the moderating effects, high levels of supervisor-subordinate guanxi may improve the relationship between work-family conflict and burnout, while frequent suppression of expressivity may enhance this relationship. Moreover, when supervisor-subordinate guanxi is high, cognitive reappraisal may effectively mitigate the relationship between work-family conflict and burnout. To this end, both guanxi and cognitive reappraisal are crucial for supporting emotional regulation in the workplaces of ethnic Chinese societies.