Servant leadership, employee well-being and work engagement: a moderated mediation model of age

Purpose This study aims to examine how servant leadership enhances work engagement through employee well-being and whether age conditions these relationships. Design/methodology/approach Data are collected from employees in the hospitality industry using validated scales for servant leadership, psychological well-being and work engagement. Partial least squares structural equation modelling is employed to test the measurement and structural models, including mediation and latent interaction terms for age. Bootstrapping is used to assess the significance of direct, indirect and conditional indirect effects. Findings Servant leadership is positively related to employee well-being and work engagement, and employee well-being partially mediates the effect of servant leadership on work engagement. Age does not have significant direct effects on well-being or engagement but significantly moderates the relationships between servant leadership, well-being and engagement. The positive effect of well-being on engagement is stronger for older employees, whereas the direct impact of servant leadership on engagement is stronger for younger employees, yielding a significant age-contingent indirect effect. Research limitations/implications The cross-sectional, single-country design limits causal inference and generalizability. Practical implications Organizations should develop servant leadership capabilities and age-sensitive practices for human resources that foster employee well-being to sustain engagement across a multigenerational workforce. Originality/value The study frames a moderated mediation model of employee well-being as a comprehensive mediator between servant leadership and work engagement, with age as a moderating variable, which provides a potentially original contribution.