How leader contingent reward behavior impacts employee work engagement and turnover intention: the moderating role of age

Purpose - The purpose of this article is to explore employee age as a moderating factor in the relationship between leader contingent reward behavior (CRB) and work engagement. In doing so, the authors seek to provide a more nuanced understanding of the mediating role of work engagement in the negative effect of leader CRB on turnover intention. Design/methodology/approach - The authors used online surveys among a sample of employees of a retail company in Chile to capture individual perceptions about supervisor CRB, work engagement and turnover intention. To test the authors' hypotheses, they modeled a first-stage moderated mediation effect using Hayes' Process macro. Findings - The authors' results confirm the hypothesis that the negative effect of leader CRB on employee turnover intention is partially mediated by employee work engagement. Interestingly, age was a significant moderator of the mediation effect only for individuals working at headquarters, but not for employees working in stores. Originality/value - This study expands current knowledge about how the leadership-engagement relationship can predict organizational outcomes, including age as a boundary condition. Following the job demands-resources theory, the authors also prove that conceptualizing leader CRB as a job resource can benefit the integration of leadership and work engagement research. The authors' findings may help organizational researchers and practitioners acknowledge contextual differences in understanding the combined effects of leadership styles and work engagement.