Unpacking the relationship between leaders' age and active conflict management: The moderating role of generativity

Abstract

As organizations face an ageing workforce, it is crucial to understand the role of leaders' age in their interactions with employees. Seminal theories on ageing cast age as a key factor shaping individuals' interpersonal behaviours, for example when handling conflicts. We integrate this notion with insights from generativity research to investigate the role of leaders' age in their active conflict management strategies through two distinct pathways. Depending on a leader's generativity, leaders' age may differentially shape both their perceptions of leader-member exchange (LMX) quality and their emotion regulation knowledge, thereby advancing either more constructive or more destructive approaches towards employee conflicts. Results from Study 1, a time-lagged study of 303 leaders, revealed that age is negatively related to their LMX perceptions and, thus, to leaders' constructive approaches towards employee conflicts—but only among leaders with lower generativity. Study 2, a cross-sectional study of 84 leader-employee teams, revealed that leaders' age is positively associated with their emotion regulation knowledge, which in turn is negatively related to their destructive conflict management—but only among leaders with higher generativity. Our findings reveal key mechanisms linking leader age to conflict management and underscore leader generativity as a crucial boundary condition in these relationships.