The effect of SME leadership style on employee turnover intention through employee engagement Focusing on transformational, empowering and authentic leadership

Human resource development of a company is a factor for the sustainable survival of a company and is recognized as an important source that determines the success or failure of the company. However, most SMEs are experiencing negative consequences from the departure of organizational members, which causes difficulty in human resource development for SMEs. Therefore it is necessary to identify the variables that affect the turnover intention of SME workers. In this study 321 data were analyzed through convenience sampling for SME organizational members, and the following research results were derived by confirming the structural relationship between variables of transformational, empowering, authentic leadership, employee commitment, and turnover intention. First it was found that transformational, empowering, and authentic leadership did not directly affect turnover intention. Second, it was found that employee engagement showed a positive (+) relationship with transformational, empowering, and authentic leadership, a negative (-) relationship with turnover intention, and mediated the relationship between leadership and turnover intention. Third, among the models explaining the relationship between each leadership, employee commitment, and turnover intention, the research model of transformational leadership, employee commitment, and turnover intention was found to be the most effective in increasing employee commitment and lowering turnover intention. This study is an empirical study comparing how transformational, empowering, and authentic leadership affect employee engagement and turnover intention of SME organizational members, and what the actual utility of leadership through employee engagement is by leadership type. Based on the above findings, academic and practical implications are presented.