Atypical but engaged: how organizational change perception influences intent to stay

Purpose Grounded in Affective Events Theory (AET), this study investigates how atypical employees – those employed under annually renewed contracts – perceive organizational change and how such perceptions influence their intent to stay. Specifically, it examines the mediating role of work engagement and the moderating effect of neuroticism. Design/methodology/approach A three-stage survey was conducted to mitigate common method variance (CMV). Data were collected from 380 atypical employees working under sustained but non-permanent arrangements in organizations. Hypotheses regarding direct effects were tested using SPSS Statistics 22.0, while PROCESS 4.1 was employed to examine mediation, moderation, and moderated mediation effects. Findings The results reveal that organizational change perception is positively associated with intent to stay. Furthermore, work engagement significantly mediates this relationship. Neuroticism also moderates the relationship between organizational change perception and work engagement, further demonstrating a moderated mediation effect on intent to stay. Originality/value This study contributes to the organizational change literature by extending AET to the context of atypical employment. It identifies work engagement and neuroticism as critical psychological mechanisms that shape retention intentions during change. By focusing on contract-based employees with repeated short-term agreements and limited institutional support, this study addresses a key gap in understanding adaptation processes in non-standard work arrangements and offers practical insights for managing engagement and retention in flexible labor markets.