Line manager’s motivation and new hire’s retention: onboarding experience and value congruence

Purpose This study employs self-determination theory to investigate the relationship between a line manager’s motivation to implement human resource (HR) practices and a new hire’s retention through mediation of employee onboarding and value congruence. Design/methodology/approach The authors used a multi-level dataset comprising 245 employees from 22 organizations. At Time 1, managers were asked to assess their motivation in implementing their organizations' HR practices. At Time 2, employees were asked to rate their onboarding experience, perceived value congruence and intentions to remain with their employers. The authors used Jamovi for data analysis, specifically employing a mixed-model approach to examine the relationships between Level 2 and Level 1 variables. Similarly, Jamovi was used to test the direct, mediation and serial mediation hypotheses. Findings Findings revealed a positive relationship between managers' motivation for implementing HR practices and new hires’ retention. Similarly, a significant positive relationship was found between employee onboarding and value congruence. Mediation analyses revealed that employee onboarding mediates the relationship between managers' motivation and value congruence, while value congruence also showed a significant effect. Moreover, the serial mediation effect of employee onboarding experience and perceived value congruence on the relationship between line managers’ motivation to implement HR practices and employee retention was found to be positive and significant. Originality/value The study offers valuable insights to enhance employee retention (indirectly) by boosting line managers’ motivation to implement HR practices. This study is probably the first to link a manager’s motivation to implement HR practices and employee retention through multi-level analysis.