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Examining employee retention and motivation: the moderating effect of employee generation

Author

Listed:
  • C. Christopher Lee
  • Hyoun Sook Lim
  • Donghwi (Josh) Seo
  • Dong-Heon Austin Kwak

Abstract

Purpose - This study explored moderating effects of employee generations on factors related to employee retention and motivation in the workplace. Design/methodology/approach - The authors developed a survey instrument and collected the survey data via Amazon Mechanical Turk. After filtering out bad responses, the authors ended up with 489 sample cases for this study. The authors used structural equation modeling for data analysis. Findings - Evidence showed that only transformational leadership was significantly related to retention of Generation X employees and only work–life balance had a significant relationship with intrinsic motivation. For Generation Y employees, transformational leadership was the only factor affecting their retention while both transformational leadership and autonomy showed significant impacts on their intrinsic motivation. Generation Z employees reported that only transformation leadership affected their retention while transformational leadership, corporate social responsibility and autonomy were significantly related to their intrinsic motivation in the workplace. All three generations showed statistical significance between intrinsic motivation and employee retention. Practical implications - This study could help business practitioners increase employees' work motivation and retention. Originality/value - First, our results revealed interesting similarities and differences between generations in terms of the factors that affected employees' retention and motivation. Second, this study proved that employees' generation affects the impacts of transformational leadership, CSR, autonomy, WLB and technology on their motivation and retention in the workplace. Third, the results of our study also showed that employees of different generations are intrinsically motivated by different factors, proving the importance of considering generational differences in motivation literature.

Suggested Citation

  • C. Christopher Lee & Hyoun Sook Lim & Donghwi (Josh) Seo & Dong-Heon Austin Kwak, 2022. "Examining employee retention and motivation: the moderating effect of employee generation," Evidence-based HRM, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 10(4), pages 385-402, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:eme:ebhrmp:ebhrm-05-2021-0101
    DOI: 10.1108/EBHRM-05-2021-0101
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Hazem Ali & Min Li & Xunmin Qiu, 2024. "Examination of HRM practices in relation to the retention of Chinese Gen Z employees," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Moses Segbenya, 2023. "Promotion and Employee Retention in the Ghanaian Life Insurance Subsector: Ascertaining Relationship and Effect," International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), vol. 0(4), pages 73-90.

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