Beyond fit and misfit: age-differentiated effects of work value congruence on engagement and turnover

Purpose Work values reflect what employees consider important in their jobs, shaping their attitudes and decisions at work. Value congruence, defined as the fit between how important employees perceive specific work values and the extent to which they perceive their organization delivers on them, relates to positive outcomes such as satisfaction and commitment, whereas incongruence can lead to disengagement and higher turnover intentions. This paper investigates the associations between work value (in)congruence and work engagement and turnover intentions, distinguishing under-congruence (when organizational deliveries fall short of employees' perceived importance of work values) and over-congruence (when deliveries exceed it). Furthermore, drawing on socioemotional selectivity theory, we examine how employees' responses to work value congruence and incongruence vary by age. Design/methodology/approach Using survey data from 1,308 Turkish employees, we assess the relationship between value (in)congruence and the outcome variables using polynomial regression and response surface analysis. Findings Results show that value congruence and incongruence do not operate as simple opposites and that both the degree and direction of value discrepancies matter for engagement and turnover intentions. Age further differentiated these patterns, with younger and older employees responding differently to (in)congruence across value domains. Originality/value We advance the literature by distinguishing under- and over-congruence, demonstrating their asymmetric associations with employee outcomes, highlighting age-related differences in responses to value (in)congruence and emphasizing the domain-specific nature of congruence processes.