Investigating mediator role of psychological contract in the relationship between paternalistic leadership and turnover intention

The objective of present study is to investigate the mediator role of psychological contract in the relationship between paternalistic leadership and turnover intention. Statistical population composed of the employees of Food Industry companies in Rasht city, using the Morgan Table, 332 of which were selected as the sample group by simple random selection. In this research, questionnaire was used by 15 items of paternalistic leadership with Chang et al. (2000), 9 items of the Rousseau’s (2000) psychological contract, and 3 item of Wayne et al.’s (1997) turnover intention; that validity and reliability were confirmed. Data were analyzed through partial least squares and Smart PLS 2.0 software. The results of the research showed that the model has suitable fit and the observational variables have appropriate reliability and validity. Also, results showed that the paternalistic leadership has positive and significant effect on psychological contract and it has negative and significant effect on turnover intention. Psychological contract has negative and significant effect on turnover intention. The variable of age didn't moderate the relationships between the variables.