To include or not to include – the impact of an inclusive leadership style on turnover intentions

Purpose This study investigates the impact of an inclusive leadership style on employee turnover intentions, with perceived inclusion and well-being as mediators of the relationship. Given the rise of shortages in skilled labor, employee retention has become especially vital for organizations. We argue that inclusive leadership is one mechanism to reduce turnover intentions by making employees feel valued in their uniqueness and feel like they belong to their respective workgroups. This, in turn, increases well-being and ultimately decreases turnover intentions. Design/methodology/approach To test these predictions, a two-wave survey was performed with 282 employees of a large German insurance company. Afterwards hierarchical regression analyses were used to test the proposed model and hypotheses. The instruments' reliability and validity were established. Findings Support for the existence of a serial mediation effect of perceived inclusion and well-being on the relationship between inclusive leadership and turnover intentions was found. However, it appears that well-being has a stronger influence on turnover intentions than perceived inclusion. Originality/value This research explores the relationship between inclusive leadership and turnover intentions with more detail by considering two mediators of the relationship. It is also successfully integrates inclusive leadership into the relational work design model as a stimulus-organism-response (SOR)-type model.