Purpose Applying the theory of work adjustment (TWA), the purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the effect of hierarchical plateau on the turnover intention of employees at the career establishment stage is mediated by job satisfaction and moderated by person-job fit. Design/methodology/approach A survey method was used and data were collected from 248 Chinese employees at the career establishment stage. Hierarchical regression analysis and moderated mediation analysis were used to test the hypotheses. Findings The results demonstrated that hierarchical plateau was positively related to the turnover intention of employees at the career establishment stage and that job satisfaction played a mediating role in the relationship. Person-job fit moderated the relationship between hierarchical plateau and job satisfaction, and the indirect effect of hierarchical plateau on turnover intention via job satisfaction. Originality/value This research offers new insights into the links between hierarchical plateau and employees’ work attitudes and withdrawal behaviour within the TWA. The results suggest that managers can lessen the negative effects of hierarchical plateau on employees’ attitudes and withdrawal behaviour by improving employees’ overall person-job fit.

It is well known that environmental protection behaviors are influenced by both individual internal motivation and external environmental pressure, but few studies have looked at the two kinds of factors together. In order to study the influence mechanism of these two kinds of factors on the environmental protection behavior of urban residents, especially the difference between these two kinds of factors, we take personal norms and social norms as independent variables into the theoretical model. Results based on survey data of 731 urban residents revealed that personal norms and social norms both are positively associated with environmental protection behavior. Moreover, environmental protection willingness was found to mediate the relationship of personal and social norms with environmental protection behavior. We also found that the direct and indirect influences of personal norms on environmental protection behavior are greater than that of social norms. Further, the study revealed that cost consciousness moderates the relationship between personal norms, environmental protection willingness, and environmental protection behavior. Our results suggest that personal norms have a greater impact on environmental protection behavior than social norms. Therefore, we need to make greater efforts to promote environmental education and cultivate young people’s sense of environmental responsibility from an early age. At the same time, it is necessary to maintain appropriate environmental pressure and reduce the environmental cost in the daily life of residents.

We analyzed the influence of superior–subordinate intergenerational conflict on the job performance of 498 employees of Chinese enterprises born since 1980 (new generation employees). Results of a survey showed that the 3 dimensions of superior–subordinate intergenerational conflict, namely task conflict, relationship conflict, and procedural conflict, all had a significantly negative influence on the employees' work engagement and job performance; work engagement exerted a significantly positive influence on job performance; work engagement played a partial mediating role in the relationship between both relationship conflict and procedural conflict and job performance, and fully mediated the relationship between task conflict and job performance; tolerance and confrontation in conflict resolution had a significantly moderating effect on the relationships between all 3 dimensions of superior–subordinate intergenerational conflict and work engagement; and coordination played a significant moderating role on the relationship between both task and procedural conflict and work engagement, but the role of coordination as a moderator in the relationship between relationship conflict and work engagement was nonsignificant. Theoretical contributions are discussed and options for practical guidance offered.

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