Emotional Intelligence of Leaders, Conflict Management and Harmony in Filipino Business Families

In the Philippines, almost all businesses are owned and controlled by Filipino business families (BFs) (Cruz, 2019), who jointly manage and control the business (Carney & Dieleman, 2023). Given that working in the business interweaves with family life (Combs et al., 2020; Von Schlippe et al., 2021) and the strong interdependence among family members on private (family) life, ownership and business, these families have a high conflict potential (Santiago & Mateo, 2020; Speights et al., 2019). Thus, it is essential to approach these tensions and disagreements through constructive conflict management in order to prevent escalation of conflict and foster harmony in the family (Tjosvold et al., 2014). This could be addressed through personal competences like emotional intelligence (e.g., self-emotion appraisal, others’ emotion appraisal, use of emotion, regulate one’s own emotion) (Wong & Law, 2002). Therefore, the role of emotional intelligence is critical for promoting constructive conflict management that aids business family members to understand each other’s ideas and positions, impartially consider each other’s reasoning for their position and seek to integrate their ideas into a mutually acceptable solution, contributing to harmony in the family. Despite this critical influence of EI in conflict management and family harmony, this topic is underexplored in Filipino business families. 

The general aim of this PhD is to explore the role of emotional intelligence of business family leaders, and how it could help business families maintain harmony when coping with family-related conflicts. The overall research question is: How does the emotional intelligence of Filipino business leaders (BFLs) relate to conflict management and family climate? To answer this question, I conduct quantitative and qualitative research in Filipino business families. For the first study, I explore emotional intelligence (EI) of BFLs and its antecedents using survey methodology among BFLs. For the second survey study among BFLs, I investigate relations between EI of BFLs, their conflict behavior in family conflict (both as conflict party, and as third party), and family climate (harmony). For the third study, I focus on the perception of next generation family members on EI and conflict management of BFLs. This is done through interviews with next generation family members, following a critical incident method. 

In terms of methodology, I utilize quantitative and qualitative research designs. Before conducting the studies, approvals from Asian Institute of Management (AIM) and KU Leuven SMEC were sought. The respondents of these three studies are business family leaders/owners (Study 1, Study 2, Study 3) and their chosen NextGen owners/leaders (Study 3) in the Philippines. We use validated measures in the survey studies, including Wong & Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS), DUTCH Conflict Handling Test, a recent developed Peacemaking Scale, and Family Climate Scale. To test our hypotheses and confirm our propositions, we draw upon survey data and qualitative data. Different non-parametric statistics and techniques will be applied to analyze the quantitative data. Qualitative data will be analyzed through thematic analysis.