Introduction: Many workplaces now assign younger supervisors to lead older subordinates. Prior research emphasizes horizontal age diversity and largely neglects vertical age gaps in leader-member relationships. Drawing on status characteristics and conservation of resources theories, we argue that the proportion of older subordinates can simultaneously elicit status threat and provide resources for leaders. These dual signals may shape paradoxical leader behavior (PLB) and leaders' relational energy (LRE), defined as the psychological vitality derived from interactions with subordinates.
Purpose: We examine whether the proportion of older subordinates relates to PLB in a curvilinear (inverted-U) manner and whether leaders' emotion regulation—cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression—conditions that relationship and the indirect effect on LRE.


Method: We administered four-wave surveys to 893 managers in Japanese organizations. We measured the older-subordinate proportion at baseline, assessed emotion regulation at wave two, and collected PLB and LRE at waves three and four, respectively. We included standard leader- and unit-level controls and applied established conditional process procedures.


Results: Analyses indicate an inverted-U association between the proportion and PLB: PLB peaks at moderate levels and declines at very low or very high levels. PLB positively relates to LRE, producing a negative indirect effect of the proportion on LRE via PLB. Reappraisal and suppression each show positive main effects on PLB and attenuate the adverse curvature in the proportion-PLB association. The conditional indirect effect is strongest when emotion regulation is low and diminishes as it increases; reappraisal provides stronger conditioning than suppression.


Conclusions: Vertical age diversity is not uniformly detrimental. Emotion regulation serves as a personal resource that helps leaders manage status-threat dynamics and sustain paradoxical behavior and vitality. Practitioners should avoid extreme age configurations and develop leaders' reappraisal and judicious suppression skills to support PLB and LRE.