Alongside with the progressive globalization and increased competition, the labour market is exposed to high employee turnover. Particularly, organizations face the loss of highly skilled employees as well as high turnover costs. In the coming decades, the retention and development of competent employees is a critical challenge arising in human resource management. There are various reasons influencing employee turnover intention, leadership as one of the major factors because it strongly affects the relationship between employer and employee. This study’s aim is to investigate the impact of leadership on employee retention and to provide essential guidelines for leaders to improve employee retention considering the cultural aspect in East Asia.

Essential results reveal a comprehensive employee retention framework and identify core aspects a leader needs to regard according to the viewpoints of the participants. The findings highlight motivational factors and managerial competencies such as emotional intelligence, communication and transformational leadership style as prime concern to effectively retain employees. More importantly, a leader’s role is to convey emotions, such as passion and enthusiasm and to inspire followers achieving their goals.