The importance of leader integrity on family restaurant employees' engagement and organizational citizenship behaviors: Exploring sustainability of employees' generational differences

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate how foodservice employees' perceptions of their leader's integrity affect their work engagement and organizational citizenship behaviors, with the aim of moderating empirical evidence of generational differences. This study was administered to 218 foodservice employees using a self-administered questionnaire. The validity and reliability of the measured items were reviewed using a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and they were verified using structural equation modeling (SEM). The study results showed that leader integrity had a significant positive effect on employees' work engagement, and organizational citizenship behaviors, while employee engagement induced by leader integrity increased organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). Also, the results found that the effects of leader integrity on OCBs were stronger for Generation Y workers than for Generation X workers. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed.