Examining How Leadership Role Occupancy Influences Both Leaders’ and Spouses’ Sleep Loss and Obesity

Drawing on work-family crossover research, the leadership role occupancy literature and self-regulation theory, we investigated not only how leadership role occupancy may affect job occupants’ obesity but also how its influences may crossover to shape their spouses’ obesity. Adopting a programmatic approach with three panel datasets from the US, UK, and Australia, we found that occupying a leadership role was positively related to job demands, which in turn was positively related to job occupants’ loss of sleep and obesity. Moreover, the crossover influences of job demand were also revealed: they were positively associated with spouses’ loss of sleep and obesity. Our research enriches leadership role occupancy research by offering a new crossover perspective and contributes to work-family research by highlighting the importance of holding a leadership position as an antecedent of the crossover effect of job demands.