Studies of employee engagement level are certainly not a new thing, but a new paper from the Naveen Jindal School of Management at UT Dallas takes an interesting perspective on things.

In an increasingly multi-generational workforce, there is a growing possibility that you might be managed by someone younger than you.

How might this disparity in experience, and possibly even education, levels influence the commitment of that older employee to their organization?

The impact of status congruence

When this so called status incongruence occurs, it perhaps understandably limits the ability of those leaders to develop high levels of attachment and commitment in their older charges.

“Transformational leadership is supposedly the best type of leadership to inspire followers,” the authors say. “But what happens when your boss is less experienced or younger than you? You are less likely to respond to their leadership style. It also affects the level of commitment you have to the organization because you feel you are more qualified than they are.”

This phenomenon was observed both in Turkey and the United States, and highlights the difficulty of securing loyal followers if such status incongruence exists.

The paper doesn’t so much argue the rights and wrongs of such a scenario as much as it sets out to highlight its possible presence in the workplace, and the impact it might have on things such as loyalty and productivity levels.

“From an HR standpoint, I think it’s important to make sure that you have the right leader in place because if employees feel that the wrong person is in charge, there could be negative consequences for the organization down the road,” the authors say. “No one wants to work for someone who they feel doesn’t have the credentials.”

The authors next hope to examine this phenomenon in more detail to see whether status incongruence negatively impacts the performance of the subordinate, and also whether it produces a rise in deviant behaviors at work.

With workplaces increasingly featuring multiple generations, it’s certainly something to keep in mind should you be in a position to place a younger employee in a leadership role.