Leadership empowerment behavior and employee referrals: chain mediation of perceived challenge stress and employee experience

Purpose Internal employees of firms are a reliable source of information for potential job seekers. However, few studies have focused on why internal employees actively recommend their firms. Based on the social exchange theory, this study aims to construct a chain mediation model using perceived challenge stress and employee experience as mediators to explore how leadership empowerment behavior affects employee referrals. Design/methodology/approach Bootstrap repeated sampling analysis was conducted on a sample of 307 employees collected through two-time points. Findings Leadership empowerment behavior is positively related to employee referrals; perceived challenge stress and employee experience mediate the effect of leadership empowerment behavior on employee referrals, respectively; in addition, perceived challenge stress and employee experience play a chain mediating role between leadership empowerment behavior and employee referrals. Originality/value The findings can help provide insight into the drivers of employee referrals and can effectively guide organization reputation management.