Abstract

The aging population trend renders teams within workforces increasingly age diverse. Scholars and practitioners have long been interested in how age-diverse teams can be effectively managed to keep members of all ages motivated. Previous literature has suggested that age-inclusive management is effective and has emphasized that leaders play a crucial role in managing their diverse team. In this study, we examined the role of the leader more in depth by studying how the leader-member’s age difference moderates the relationship between age-inclusive leadership and team members’ intrinsic work motivation. Using a Belgian sample of 100 employee observations and 21 leader observations within 21 teams, we show that team members’ perceived level of age-inclusive leadership positively affects their intrinsic work motivation. This relationship is reinforced by the member-leader’s (absolute) age difference to the extent that age-inclusive leadership stimulates members’ intrinsic work motivation especially when the leader is substantially older or younger. This research offers valuable contributions to the literatures on age diversity (management) and the leader-member age difference. Our findings also point at valuable managerial implications we discuss in this work.

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