Abstract: The trend of age diversity in China’s labor force has become significantly more pronounced. Motivating employees across all age groups to “keep pace with each other” was an “optional choice” for some employers, but now has become a “mandatory requirement” for more employers, and will be key to organizational success in the future. Based on the theory of sensemaking, this study explores the joint effects of age-inclusive human resource practices and inclusive leadership on employees’ work well-being, focusing on the mediating role of perceived insider status and introducing age diversity beliefs as a moderating variable. Study 1, using polynomial regression combined with response surface analysis to test hypotheses on two-stage employee-matched data (N=499), shows that the more aligned inclusive leadership and age-inclusive human resource practices are, the stronger perception employees have on their insider status. the consistency of the inclusive leadership age-inclusive human resource practices combination promotes work well-being through the indirect effect of employees’ perceived insider status. Employees’ age diversity beliefs moderate the influence of the inclusive leadership and age-inclusive human resource practices combination on employees’ perceived insider status. Study 2, employing a scenario-based experiment (N=222), further demonstrates the joint effect of inclusive leadership and age-inclusive human resource practices on employees’ perceived insider status and work well-being, with both positively interacting to predict perceived insider status and work well-being. The findings provide guidance for multi-generational motivation in the context of workforce diversity.

Key words: age-inclusive human resource practices, inclusive leadership, perceived insider status, work well-being, age diversity belief