Age and adaptation to changes in the workplace

Teleworkers' job performance: a study examining the role of age as an important diversity component of companies' workforce

Purpose

Teleworking seems to be the new future of the workplace. It has been widely adopted during the COVID-19 crisis, which has greatly influenced work organization conditions. This pandemic and its accompanying changes represent significant challenges for employees' performance, depending on their age if the study considers the physical and psychological vulnerabilities of older employees and their assumed or expected difficulties to cope with the new information and communication technologies (ICTs). This study aims at examining the direct effects of teleworking, and age on job performance (in-role). As well as analyzing the moderating effect of age on the relationship between teleworking and in-role job performance in times of crisis.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected in Canada from 18 companies, with a sample of 272 employees. Multivariate regression and moderation regression analyses were performed using Stata 13.

Findings

Results revealed that when teleworking, older age is associated with lower job performance and younger age is associated with higher job performance. Conversely, when working on-site, older age is associated with higher job performance, whereas younger age is associated with lower job performance.

Practical implications

From a practical perspective, these results highlight the importance of decision authority and recognition. As well as the presence of age disparities related to work arrangements. Managers need to adopt an inclusive approach and develop work arrangements that take into consideration employees' needs and ages. Some insights and practical recommendations are presented in this paper to support managers and human resource practitioners.

Originality/value

Studies examining the in-role job performance of teleworkers and the effects of age are sparse. This study helps to expand research on human resources management, job performance and age.

Modeling the influence of individual differences on knowledge hiding

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the longitudinal influence of gender, age, education level, organizational tenure and emotional intelligence on three dimensions of knowledge hiding over time.

Design/methodology/approach

A longitudinal study using two-wave data sets of 390 employees in Chinese enterprises was conducted to build fixed, continuous and interacting models for investigating the effects of individual differences on the processes of knowledge hiding over time.

Findings

This research uncovered the changing relationships of individual differences on knowledge-hiding behaviors over time, such that age correlates with rationalized hiding in the interacting model, indicating younger employees are less likely to choose rationalized hiding when facing situation changes; and education level, organizational tenure and emotional intelligence moderate knowledge hiding over time, implying individuals with better education, longer tenure and higher emotional intelligence tend to exhibit more rationalized hiding behaviors rather than evasive hiding and playing dumb behaviors at Time 2.

Originality/value

One of the novel contributions of this study is that it tests the longitudinal effect of individual differences on knowledge hiding, providing a vertical perspective, and thereby contributing to the body of knowledge in knowledge management. The study also constructs fixed, continuous and interacting models to measure the covering longitudinal influences, thus making the research original.

CREM perspective on home office—a consideration of the workplace and its mechanisms of action

The effect between the workplace and work success is a black box whose mechanisms have so far received little theoretical substantiation. In the explanation of the importance of corporate real estate and its management for the success of companies, the influence of real estate on the work productivity of employees through the physical workplace is shown. However, the overall picture has not yet been fully elaborated and the fragmentary knowledge is only partially suitable for attributing organizational outcomes to the characteristics of the physical working environment. Without sufficient empirical data and a solid theoretical foundation for physical working environment studies, it is not possible to draw conclusions with sufficient certainty about the impact of working environments on organizational outcomes.

The fact that millions of people worldwide are working from home for the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic provides an unprecedented opportunity to explore the impact of the home office environment on business success.

This study aims to contribute to filling this research gap by further investigating the impact of the physical working environment at home on productivity by building on the Environmental Demands–Resources model. Therefore, the research goal is to determine which of the four included demands and resources (isolation, family–work interference, equipment/facilities, and building) have an impact on employee burnout and satisfaction, and how this impact affects employee productivity. Partial least squares structural equation modeling is used to analyze a German survey sample (n = 429).

The results suggest that the four included workplace characteristics have significant influence, with equipment/facilities and building increasing satisfaction and isolation and family–work interference increasing burnout. Equipment/facilities is identified as the most important factor affecting productivity in the home office.

Through this study, a contribution is made to establish a more inclusive and integrative framework for physical working environment research. In addition, the results show that workspace characteristics have an impact on productivity. Far beyond the pandemic, the impact of changes in workspace design on employee perceptions and organizational performance will be important to corporate real estate management practice.

Work changes and employee age, maladaptive coping expectations, and well-being: a Swedish cohort study

Purpose

Older workers are expected to suffer more from work changes than younger ones, but empirical evidence is lacking. Negative responses to work changes may result rather from maladaptive coping expectations. This study examined possible age differences in job and life satisfaction, and sleep disturbances, after work changes (voluntary and involuntary job changes, reorganizations) and the moderating role of maladaptive coping expectations.

Methods

Four biennial waves from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH) including respondents who participated in all four waves (n = 3084). We used multilevel path analyses to estimate direct and moderated relationships between work changes and outcomes.

Results

Involuntary job changes were associated with lower job and life satisfaction and more sleep disturbances. Reorganizations were only associated with lower job satisfaction. Older employees were more satisfied with their jobs and lives than younger employees and experienced more sleep disturbances. After involuntary job changes, older employees had similar (lower) levels of well-being as younger ones, but they reported more sleep disturbances when having experienced reorganizations. Maladaptive coping expectations were related to lower job and life satisfaction and more sleep disturbances. Employees with maladaptive coping expectations reported more sleep disturbances after involuntary job changes and reorganizations.

Conclusion

Our results suggest that there are few age differences in well-being after work changes. Employee well-being seems to mostly depend on maladaptive coping expectations. Organizations aiming to prepare employees for job changes and reorganizations could focus their efforts on employees with maladaptive expectations rather than on older ones.

The Welleye: A Conceptual Framework for Understanding and Promoting Wellbeing

We present the Welleye – a novel and conceptually clear framework that shows how attention links the objective circumstances of people’s lives and selves to how they spend their time and feel day to day. While existing wellbeing frameworks in policy contain many of the factors included in the Welleye, they all lack attention as the “lens” that determines the impact of these factors on how people feel. Policymakers and organizations can use the Welleye to better understand how people are faring and design and evaluate interventions aimed at making people better off.

Assessment of employees’ attitudes toward ongoing organizational transformations

Purpose

Global companies in the digital service industry are experiencing a pressing urgency for ongoing transformations caused by external factors driven by the need to change business models. This study aims to evaluate the willingness and ability to change as constructs of employee attitude toward change, assess their predictors and develop an approach to analyzing willingness and ability to change.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses an abductive approach, building on the refinement of existing theories. The authors conducted 306 employees' surveys and nine interviews to collect primary data.

Findings

The result of this study suggests that the employees are willing to change when they have a sense of perceived control based on collaboration with management. Factors that have an impact on the willingness and ability to change include job function, age, years of job experience, knowledge of values, company background, understanding the current challenges, understating the urgency for change, positive attitude toward past changes and trust in leadership.

Research limitations/implications

This is research is focused on one organization, and research in other industries or firms in the digital service industry would be beneficial.

Practical implications

This research contributes to the practice on the conduct of diagnostic investigation in an organization's readiness and risk for a planned change. The authors add to the existing literature the new dimensions related to the prior experience with change and understanding the need and urgency for change -specific factors that are relevant to individual ability to change. Managers can use findings in this study to learn how to plan and manage organizational change in the fast-paced business environment of digital service industries.

Social implications

This research will help to understand work attitudes, emotions and behaviors and therefore will improve the well-being in the organizations experiencing transformation.

Originality/value

Individual readiness as a stand-alone concept was not enough explored in the literature, thus creating an opportunity for this study to fill the research gap. The lessons learned from this study are the following: ongoing change initiatives require longer time with a need to extend the organizational restructuring to behavioral and mindset change. This research suggests a practical approach to the assessment of change readiness in organizations. A simple model explaining factors affecting employees' willingness and ability to change has been suggested.

Antecedents and outcome of employee change fatigue and change cynicism

Purpose

Organisations implement changes either to address real business imperatives or to follow trends in their industries. But frequent changes in an organisation often lead to employee change fatigue and change cynicism. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of the change logic of appropriateness and the logic of consequences on change fatigue and change cynicism and the impact of change fatigue and change cynicism on change success.

Design/methodology/approach

To carry out this study, the authors collected data on a sample of 320 participants from diverse organisations, and they used structural equation modelling (SEM) techniques to test our hypotheses depicted in the research model.

Findings

The authors found that the change logic of consequences reduces both change fatigue and change cynicism, whereas the change logic of appropriateness increases change fatigue. The authors also found that change fatigue does not have any direct effect on change success, although it maintains an indirect negative effect on change success through change cynicism.

Practical implications

Along with other practical implications, the authors recommend that change managers help employees understand any logic of consequences that sustain their change initiatives. Additionally, change managers should work to prevent change fatigue from turning into change cynicism, which is the real precursor of reduced change success.

Originality/value

This study is among the first to show that employees experience change fatigue and change cynicism differently, depending on the reason underlying the change. It is also among the first to show that change fatigue does not affect change success directly but does so through the interplay of change cynicism.

Job Performance Model Based on Employees’ Dynamic Capabilities (EDC)

This article concerns the newly developed construct—EDC (Employees’ Dynamic Capabilities)—and the mechanism of its influence on the job performance of contemporary employees aiming to contribute to the sustainable development of organizations. EDC seems to be especially important in a modern, dynamically changing work environment, in which obtaining sustainability is not possible without dynamic capabilities, and EDC should be included as the element of organizational dynamic capabilities. The paper aims to define and characterize EDC and then develop a mediation model of EDC influence on job performance, introducing the person–job fit, work motivation, job satisfaction, work engagement and organizational commitment as potential mediators related to sustainable development. The model is empirically verified based on the sample of 550 employees from Poland and USA (research carried out in December 2018) using factors analysis for verification of EDC as a new construct and then regression analysis with mediators for the verification of the proposed model. The results confirmed the role of person–job fit, work motivation, job satisfaction and work engagement as mediators of the analyzed relation, underlining the mechanism of the EDC influence on job performance. The empirical research confirms that EDC influences job performance in a way that is crucial for achieving sustainable development of organizations.

Older workers as a source of wisdom capital: broadening perspectives

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to pinpoint some key variables that help shape the notion of older workers as a source of organizational wisdom capital.

Design/methodology/approach

Toward that end, the paper reviews a selective bibliography in order to support its arguments.

Findings

The evidence garnered throughout this paper – fundamentally through different lens of analysis – suggests that older workers may be considered as valuable assets. Furthermore, a sizeable number of members of this cohort continue, even in the latter stages of their careers, to be willing, well-equipped, and able to enhance, if properly utilized, companies to achieve other patterns of performance. Accordingly, it is advocated here that their knowledge and expertise constitutes an authentic source of organizational wisdom capital that deserves careful attention from organizations to maintain by means of suitable incentives and training.

Research limitations/implications

This paper highlights other aspects that should not be disdained by organizations such as career-ending, work characteristics, and mastery-avoidance goals. Thus, companies that are interested in keeping older talents must be attuned to their wishes and aspirations, as well as being proactive by offering tailor-made job-products to them.

Social implications

Given the trend of aging workforce, it is likely that organizations will be increasingly impacted by societal demands and public policies toward benefiting and respecting older talents.

Originality/value

This paper advocates that older workers are usually living memories of organizational life. Rather, they tend to keep in their minds those failures and successful ideas, projects, initiatives, and leaderships, which added or not value throughout their trajectories, as well as things that worked out or not. Fundamentally, they are able to provide answers to vital questions.

Mapping Brazilian workforce diversity: a historical analysis

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine how Brazilian organizations have handled diversity.

Design/methodology/approach

This study draws upon the historical analysis by focusing essentially on secondary sources of data, surface-level indicators, namely, race, gender and age. Accordingly, the major sources of information used in this study are the rankings of the Great Place to Work® Institute Brazil (between 2005 and 2013) and from the Brazilian Ministry of Labor and Employment’s reports (between 2009 and 2013).

Findings

The evidence gathered from the Great Place to Work® Institute Brazil’s lists and the Brazilian Ministry of Labor and Employment’s reports produced mixed results regarding the moral imperative derived from the acculturation of a broad diversity mindset.

Research limitations/implications

This study is not free from limitations. Both sources used in this inquiry do not depict other relevant data that could provide more accurate results.

Practical implications

Overall, the findings of this study suggest that training programs and sound work values revision are necessary steps to reduce discrimination, stereotypes, gender bias and to promote diversity and inclusion inside Brazilian organizations.

Originality/value

It contributes to the understanding of the current diversity scenario in Brazilian organizations by drawing on a historical analysis method. It relied on two germane secondary sources of data.

The contemporary experience of work: older workers’ perceptions

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate how a cohort of Brazilian mature workers perceives their contemporary experience in the workplaces by identifying their perceptions, feelings and how they are treated.

Design/methodology/approach

– This investigation drew on grounded theory regarding that it enabled to identify data, describe the observed events, answer vital questions thereof and develop theoretical categories to understand what was taking place.

Findings

– Definitely, the current situation of older workers shows clearly a dual landscape, which is permeated by strong contrasts. On the one hand, one may envision the benefits of a career and participation in the corporate life even though performing humbler roles. On the other hand, one may find people simply struggling to complement their poor pensions and doing everything possible to sustain themselves. Overall, this study found seven themes, namely: current work experience, treatment of older workers, (un)support and benefits provided toward work–family balance and quality of work life, the experience of having a job, meaning of work, working with younger generations and future perspectives.

Research limitations/implications

– Due to the method used, the results cannot be generalized and herein resides the major limitation of this investigation. In addition, the sample was made up of only people working and living in the main state of Brazil.

Practical implications

– The results of this study bring useful managerial implications for organizations interested in improving their relationships with older workers by suggesting the need of enhancing or implementing a set of human resources and internal marketing policies and practices.

Originality/value

– This study contributes to the understanding of a broader general frame of older workers aspirations, needs, difficulties and challenges, particularly focusing on Brazilian reality whose research has paid scant attention on this topic. In addition, it adds to the understanding of older workers’ reality and research toward mature workers’ career, expectations and desires, productivity, adaptability, engagement and learning capacity. Moreover, it suggests that at least some Brazilian organizations are getting to enhance the job designing and development opportunities to their older workforce. However, it also found that there is room for considerable improvements in such tasks.

The effect of perceived person-job fit on employee attitudes toward change in trauma centers

BACKGROUND

Employee attitudes toward change are critical for health care organizations implementing new procedures and practices. When employees are more positive about the change, they are likely to behave in ways that support the change, whereas when employees are negative about the change, they will resist the changes.

PURPOSE

This study examined how perceived person-job (demands-abilities) fit influences attitudes toward change after an externally mandated change. Specifically, we propose that perceived person-job fit moderates the negative relationship between individual job impact and attitudes toward change.

METHODOLOGY

We examined this issue in a sample of Level 1 trauma centers facing a regulatory mandate to develop an alcohol screening and brief intervention program. A survey of 200 providers within 20 trauma centers assessed perceived person-job fit, individual job impact, and attitudes toward change approximately 1 year after the mandate was enacted.

RESULTS

Providers who perceived a better fit between their abilities and the new job demands were more positive about the change. Further, the impact of the alcohol screening and brief intervention program on attitudes toward change was mitigated by perceived fit, where the relationship between job impact and change attitudes was more negative for providers who perceived a worse fit as compared with those who perceived a better fit.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

Successful implementation of changes to work processes and procedures requires provider support of the change. Management can enhance this support by improving perceived person-job fit through ongoing training sessions that enhance providers' abilities to implement the new procedures.

Die Bedeutung von Berufserfahrung für den Zusammenhang zwischen Alter, entwicklungsbezogener Selbstwirksamkeit und Anpassung an organisationale Veränderungen

Die vorliegende Studie untersucht den Zusammenhang zwischen Alter und adaptiver Leistung und zugrunde liegende Mechanismen. Als bedeutsam für den Zusammenhang werden die Variablen Berufserfahrung sowie das anpassungsrelevante Personmerkmal entwicklungsbezogene Selbstwirksamkeit berücksichtigt. Als adaptive Leistung werden Lernen neuer Technologien, Arbeitsaufgaben und Prozeduren, Umgang mit unsicheren/unvorhersehbaren Arbeitssituationen und interpersonelle Anpassung erfasst. Auf Basis der Theorie der Self-efficacy ( Bandura, 1977 ) wird ein Modell überprüft, bei dem Berufserfahrung den negativen Zusammenhang zwischen Alter und entwicklungsbezogener Selbstwirksamkeit zumindest teilweise mediiert und sich negativ auf adaptive Leistungen auswirkt. 858 Arbeitnehmer zwischen 18 und 65 Jahren aus unterschiedlichen Unternehmen und Branchen nahmen an der Fragebogenstudie teil. Mittels der Berechnung von Strukturgleichungsmodellen können signifikant negative indirekte Effekte von Alter über Berufserfahrung auf entwicklungsbezogene Selbstwirksamkeit nachgewiesen werden. Weiterhin lassen sich signifikant negative indirekte Effekte von Berufserfahrung auf die drei Dimensionen adaptiver Leistung über entwicklungsbezogene Selbstwirksamkeit zeigen.

Young professionals' perceptions toward organizational change

Purpose

Effective change management is important for organizational development, but without knowing what features of change situations impact on employee behavior it is difficult to manage change successfully. Considering the changing age demographic of the Australian workforce and the shortage of skilled labor, the purpose of this study is to examine the important age group of young professionals and its perceptions toward organizational change.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on Lazarus and Folkman's cognitive phenomenological model of stress and coping, a framework of change perceptions was used to analyze young professionals' experience of change. A confirmatory factor analysis has been conducted surveying a sample of 261 young professionals from a diverse set of Australian organizations.

Findings

The analysis found that frequency of change and planning for change are significantly related to uncertainty, and in turn, that uncertainty is significantly related to job satisfaction and behavioral stress. Interestingly, it was found that although frequency of change is positively related to uncertainty, it is also positively related to job satisfaction. Findings indicate which features of change situations are related to poor well‐being outcomes and are therefore important for managers implementing change and working with young professionals.

Originality/value

The present study clarifies the relationship between young professionals and their perceptions of change. Practical implications of the findings for managers are discussed. Some recommendations for future research are provided.