Mentor Departure and Work Engagement: The Roles of Trait Positive Affect and Focus on Opportunities

Abstract

The turnover literature focuses mainly on the reasons and consequences of turnover, as well as the strategies for reducing employee turnover, paying limited attention to the effect of employee turnover on stayers. In using the social cognitive framework and a time-lagged research design, this study put forward a moderated mediation model and found that: 1) mentor departure was positively associated with focus on opportunities (i.e., the positive aspect of occupational future time perspective); 2) focus on opportunities was positively associated with work engagement; 3) focus on opportunities mediated the relationship between mentor departure and work engagement; 4) trait positive affect enhanced the association of mentor departure with focus on opportunities as well as the whole indirect relationship. This study highlighted the positive effect of mentor departure as well as the effect of personality traits (i.e., trait positive affect) on one’s career development. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.