Job Satisfaction, Retirement Attitude and Intended Retirement Age: A Conditional Process Analysis across Workers' Level of Household Income

Intergenerational relationship quality, sense of loneliness, and attitude toward later life among aging Chinese adults in Hong Kong

A positive attitude toward later life is crucial for wellbeing among older adults. Maintaining a healthy relationship with adult children can help reduce older parents’ sense of loneliness and nurture a positive life attitude. This study aimed to investigate the associations between multidimensional intergenerational relationship quality and attitudes toward later life among aging Chinese adults in Hong Kong and examine the mediating effects of a sense of loneliness. Representative survey data were collected from 801 participants (aged 50 years and over) with at least one adult child. Multiple linear regression was employed to investigate the associations between overall intergenerational relationship quality with a sense of loneliness as well as the attitude toward later life. To examine the mediating effects of a sense of loneliness, causal mediational analyses were performed. Results demonstrated that overall intergenerational relationship quality was positively associated with aging parents’ attitude toward later life, and this relationship could be partially mediated by a sense of loneliness. Among the four subdomains of intergenerational relationship quality, the influences of structural-associational solidarity and intergenerational conflict on attitude toward later life were almost fully mediated by a sense of loneliness, whereas the influences of consensual-normative solidarity and affectual closeness were partially mediated. These findings contributed to an improved understanding of the relationship between intergenerational relationship quality, sense of loneliness, and attitude toward later life, and could inform future policies and service programs that promote aging adults’ social integration and positive aging.

Person-vocation and same organization bridge employment intention: Testing the mediating and moderating roles of person-organization fit

BACKGROUND: During the last decades, much research has been accomplished on the antecedents of bridge employment. Nevertheless, there is limited investigation into the influence of person-environment fit levels on retirement intentions. OBJECTIVE: This study’s purpose was to examine the interactive effect of person-environment fit levels on the intention to pursue bridge employment. More specifically, the authors investigated the mediator and moderator roles of person-organization fit on the relationship between person-vocation fit and the intention to pursue bridge employment within the same organization. METHODS: Data from 246 older executives working in the French banking sector were used to test the hypotheses. RESULTS: The results indicated the existence of a positive and significant relationship between person-vocation fit and the intention to pursue bridge employment within the same organization. Further, the findings confirmed the mediating and moderating roles of person-organization fit on this relationship. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study have theoretically and empirically extended person-environment fit theory, continuity, and role theories to shed light on the underlying mechanisms through which person-vocation fit impact bridge employment intention. The findings of this study can be used by career counsellors and managers to design more effective actions to retain older workers.

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.

What Can Motivate Me to Keep Working? Analysis of Older Finance Professionals’ Discourse Using Self-Determination Theory

The twin issues of population aging and critical talent shortages induce employers to encourage older workers to prolong their professional lives. Over the past two decades, studies have mainly examined which human resources practices influence older workers’ ability, motivation, and opportunity to continue working. Our conceptual lens rest on self-determination theory (SDT). This study explores how older professionals in the financial services sector may see how three psychological needs (i.e., autonomy, competence, and relatedness) are satisfied or frustrated through various management practices such as monetary rewards, benefits, career development, and work content and context. Our interviews with older finance professionals also show the relevance of a fourth need, beneficence, to understand their decision to continue to work. Results of this study are likely to be significant at both managerial and societal levels in the perspective of sustainable development or employability.

Retirement anticipation - gendered patterns in a gender-equal society? a study of senior workers in Norway

How do different people imagine their own retirement? In this article, we use a representative survey from 2019 to investigate whether female and male senior workers in Norway differ in the ways they anticipate their lives as retirees, and whether covariates of various images differ across gender. We find that women are more likely than men to anticipate spending time on family-related activities, on hobbies and volunteering and on traveling, but less likely to plan for bridge employment and worry about empty time. Health and income are key determinants in men's images, while partners and children are important for women.

A Career Crafting Training Program: Results of an Intervention Study

This intervention study examined the effects of a career crafting training on physicians' perceptions of their job crafting behaviors, career self-management, and employability. A total of 154 physicians working in two hospitals in a large Dutch city were randomly assigned to a waitlist control group or an intervention group. Physicians in the intervention group received an accredited training on career crafting, including a mix of theory, self-reflection, and exercises. Participants developed four career crafting goals during the training, to work on in the subsequent weeks, after which a coaching conversation took place over the phone. Physicians in the control group received no intervention. A pre- and post-test 8 weeks later measured changes in job crafting and career self-management (primary outcomes) and employability (secondary outcome) of 103 physicians that completed the pre- and post-test. RM ANOVAs showed that the intervention enhanced perceptions of career self-management and job crafting behavior to decrease hindering job demands. No support was found for the effect of the intervention on other types of job crafting and employability. This study offers novel insights into how career crafting can be enhanced through training, as this is the first empirical study to examine a career crafting intervention. HR managers can use the outcomes to develop tailored career policies and career development practices.

Older workers imagining retirement: the collapse of agency, or freedom at last?

Images of what retirement is and ought to be are changing. Older workers are being encouraged to work for longer, at the same time, older adults increasingly voice expectations of a ‘third age’ of active engagement and new life prospects. In this article, we draw on the literature on older workers’ work patterns and retirement transitions (noting push/pull/stay/stuck/jump factors), and on scholarship on the changing social meaning of old age, most importantly the notions of a ‘third’ and ‘fourth’ age. The analysis is based on qualitative interviews with 28 employees in the private sector in Norway, aged between 55 and 66 years. Based on the interviews, we propose three ideal-typical approaches to the work–retirement transition: ‘the logic of deadline’, ‘the logic of negotiation’ and ‘the logic of averting retirement’. The ideal-types are defined by the degree to which informants assume agency in the workplace, their orientation towards work versus retirement and the degree to which they expect to exercise agency in retirement. We emphasise how retirement decisions are informed by notions of the meaning of ageing, while also embedded in relationships with employers and partners.

Employer brand to leverage employees’ intention to stay through sequential mediation model: evidence from Indian power sector

Purpose

This study aims to explain the linkage between employer branding and employee retention; a sequential mediation is hypothesized, where it is proposed that the relationship between employer branding and employee retention is sequentially mediated by person–organization fit (P-O fit) and organizational identification.

Design/methodology/approach

The sample belongs to 224 executive-level employees of the Indian power sector organization. The sequential mediation model is tested by using SPSS macro command of Preacher and Hayes.

Findings

The findings established that the relationship between employer brand and employees’ intention to stay is sequentially mediated by P-O fit and organizational identification.

Practical implications

The findings emphasize the role of employer brand on constructs such as P-O fit, organizational identification and intention to stay. In addition, the established mechanism emphasizes the role of P-O fit to realize the benefits such as organizational identification and employee retention.

Originality/value

Internal branding efforts may have a major impact on workforce attitude and behavior including engagement, job performance and retention. “Yet studies of the positive impact of employer brand on employee attitudes and behaviors, or of the factors that shape employer brand, are rare” (Charbonnier-Voirin et al., 2017, p. 2). Along the line of such gap, this study has taken up to test the unexplored sequential mediation mechanism between employer brand and employees’ intention to stay through P-O fit and organizational identification.

Retirement or no Retirement? The Decision's Effects on Cognitive Functioning, Well-Being, and Quality of Life

This study addressed the psychological effects on personal well-being and reported quality of life of staying professionally active in late adulthood, and to what extent years of professional inactivity modulates cognitive abilities. Design and Methods: We collected data on 262 elderly adults, 129 of whom were professionally active elderly adults (who voluntarily maintained their professional activity after the age of retirement) and 133 of whom were retired adults, in a set of experimental tasks to measure basic cognitive resources. The study took place during the first quarter of 2020. Results: Active elderly people performed better on cognitive tasks that assessed attention, memory, and solving abilities and also reported more satisfaction with life and their current work. Multiple linear regressions analyses revealed that years of inactivity were associated with lower cognitive performance. Mentally demanding jobs were significantly associated with memory performance, but not with attention and planning. Conclusions: An involuntary separation from professional activity in the beginning of late adulthood may cause a deeper decline of cognitive functions, poorer adaptive adjustment to the aging process, and higher dissatisfaction with the period of life the individual is going through.

Intention to Extend Working Life among Thai Registered Nurses in Ministry of Public Health: A National Survey

The serious shortage of registered nurses (RNs) in Thailand has made the Thai government tentatively propose a policy to extend the working life of Ministry of Public Health nurses. This study aimed to estimate the proportion of those RNs who intend to extend their working life and analyzed the associations between general characteristics, quality of work life, and job characteristics of the RNs and their intention to work past retirement age. This cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2016 to April 2017. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed nationally to 3,629 RNs in the age group 55-59 years and working for the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), Thailand. The response rate was 85.0% (3,092 RNs). Due to the small number of male participants (n=74), males were excluded from the study. The analysis was limited to the 3,018 participants who returned the questionnaire and met the inclusion criteria. Descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression were used for data analysis. Of the 3,018 participants, the proportion of RNs intending to extend their working life from 60 to 65 years was 30.5%. In the Service Department, the factors significantly associated with intention to extend working life were perceived good or very good health status, no shift work, monthly income more than 50,000 THB (1,595 USD), and having moderate or good working resources (p<0.01). In the four Academic Departments, perceived good or very good health status, monthly income more than 50,000 THB, family members not against the working life extension, and moderate or good working resources were the factors affecting intention to extend working life (p<0.01). This study indicated that understanding the various factors related to the intention to extend working life among RNs could lead to the design of appropriate programs to encourage them to continue working after the current retirement age.

An Analysis of Factors Associated With Older Workers' Employment Participation and Preferences in Australia

Australian government and organizational age-management policies continue to target employment participation among older workers in light of an aging population. Typically, efforts to reduce early retirement among older workers have focused on well-established factors, including the promotion of worker health, reducing injury, supporting caregivers, reducing age discrimination and enhancing skill development. This research extends on the former approach by examining established factors along with important emerging factors, namely work-life conflict, work centrality and person-job fit. Additionally, the research analyses the effects of gender and financial pressure on older workers’ employment participation and preferences. Logistic regression analysis of cross-sectional survey data involving 1,504 Australians aged 45–65, revealed that two established factors, physical health and caregiving, and all three emerging factors were associated with employment participation and preferences to be employed. However, important variations on the basis of gender and financial pressure were also identified. Caregiving was more strongly associated with the preference to remain employed for men (OR = 0.2.54, p < 0.01) than women (OR = 1.03, ns) and person-job fit was more strongly associated with the preference to remain employed for women (OR = 1.64, p < 0.001) than men (OR = 0.91, ns). Work-life conflict was more strongly associated with the preference to leave employment for those reporting limited financial pressure (OR = 0.60, p < 0.001) compared to those in poorer financial circumstances (OR = 0.87, ns). These findings suggest that organizational age management policies should focus on both established and emerging factors, particularly the provision of flexible working conditions and improving the psychosocial work environment. However, such efforts should carefully consider the different needs of men and women, and those under varying levels of financial stress. With respect to government policy to promote employment participation, the findings support a stronger focus on improving physical and psychosocial work conditions rather than increasing the pension eligibility age. This may require further collaboration between government and employers.

Too soon to worry? Longitudinal examination of financial planning for retirement among Spanish aged workers

The present study analyzes the relationship between three distal antecedents-financial literacy, confidence in retirement, and economic well-being-and financial planning for retirement evaluated at two different times. We used longitudinal data with repeated measures of financial planning for retirement obtained from a sample (N = 269) of active Spanish workers aged 45-62 years. The results confirm that self-perceived financial knowledge, confidence in retirement, and economic well-being are associated with financial planning for retirement at three and six months. The stability of financial planning for retirement over time was a relevant finding in the present research, even though different measures have been employed in the two waves and financial planning decreases slightly at three months. While the first step of planning, at three months, has predictive power over the second, at six months, there are possible moderators in the relationship between financial planning for retirement at time 1 and time 2, which were not explored. The implications of the results both for financial education and Policy-makers are discussed. Future lines of research can explore these relationships including objective measures of income, as wealth accumulation.

Older Workers and Affective Job Satisfaction: Gender Invariance in Spain

Older employees’ affective job satisfaction is an aspect that arouses growing interest among researchers. Among the affective measures of job satisfaction, the Brief Index of Affective Job Satisfaction (BIAJS) is one of the most used in the last decade. This study is intended to the test the gender invariance of the BIAJS in two samples of workers over age 40 in Spain. The first sample, of 300 participants and the second sample, of 399 participants, have been used to test gender invariance of the BIAJS. In comparison with the original English version, the Spanish version of the BIAJS has adequate psychometric properties. The findings allow us to consider it a valid and reliable tool to assess older people’s affective expressions about their work. In addition, this study provides evidence of its factorial invariance as a function of gender.

Preferred and actual retirement age of oral and maxillofacial surgeons aged 55 and older in the Netherlands: a longitudinal study from 2003 to 2016

BACKGROUND

In workforce planning for oral and maxillofacial surgeons in the Netherlands, it is important to plan timely, as these dental specialists are required to earn both medical and dental degrees. An important factor to take into account in workforce planning is the outflow of the profession through retirement. In the workforce planning in the Netherlands, it was assumed that retirement plans are a predictor for the actual moment of retirement. The purpose of this study was to investigate this assumption.

METHODS

A standardised survey to investigate the work activity and retirement plans of oral and maxillofacial surgeons was conducted seven times between 2003 and 2016. With some minor variations, in every edition, all oral and maxillofacial surgeons aged 55 years and older who did not indicate to be retired in an earlier edition were invited to participate. The data of all seven editions was analysed to investigate what factors influence the actual retirement age. For the analyses of the data, ANOVA and linear regression were employed.

RESULTS

The response rate was at least 80% in all editions. For all editions combined, 185 surgeons were invited one or more times, of whom 170 responded at least once. Between 2003 and 2016, the mean preferred retirement age increased from 63.7 to 66.7. Two thirds of the respondents who participated in more than one edition had revised their preferred retirement age upwards. Regarding the difference between preferred and actual retirement age, 45% of the oral and maxillofacial surgeons retired at a higher age than originally preferred and another 14% was still working at the age the originally preferred to retire. Linear regression shows that preferred retirement age is associated with sex and the number of working hours and that actual retirement age is associated with preferred retirement age, earlier preference to decrease working hours and working in non-academic hospitals.

CONCLUSION

Altogether, it seems that in this group the preferred retirement age has some predictive value, but the oral and maxillofacial surgeons tend to retire at a higher age than they originally preferred to.

Gender differences in retirement planning: A longitudinal study among Spanish Registered Nurses

BACKGROUND

Consistent patterns of gender differences in retirement planning behaviours have been shown but little is known about these behaviours among nurses.

AIMS

To analyse the antecedents of the behaviours to prepare for retirement in nurses older than 55 and to identify differences as a function of gender.

METHODS

A two-wave longitudinal study with Spanish nurses (n = 132).

RESULTS

Statistically significant gender differences were revealed. Specifically, paths from financial knowledge to public protection and self-insurance as well as paths from goals clarity to public protection all differed by gender.

CONCLUSIONS

Patterns of retirement planning differentiated by gender apparently continue to emerge.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT

The study adds evidence showing that female nurses continue to rely on public protection as a solid support for their retirement. Despite their greater awareness of the importance of health care and social relations, savings and finance are more neglected by female nurses. Intervention should be aimed at fostering financial literacy of the entire nursing population, but particularly, the access of women to this training. Secondly, given that the differences persist, advance planning of social actions to protect those who will be living alone and economically helpless in old age.

Early Retirement: A Meta-Analysis of Its Antecedent and Subsequent Correlates

Early or voluntary retirement (ER) can be defined as the full exit from an organizational job or career path of long duration, decided by individuals of a certain age at the mid or late career before mandatory retirement age, with the aim of reducing their attachment to work and closing a process of gradual psychological disengagement from working life. Given the swinging movements that characterize employment policies, the potential effects of ER-both for individuals and society-are still controversial. This meta-analysis examined the relationships between ER and its antecedent and subsequent correlates. Our review of the literature was generated with 151 empirical studies, containing a total number of 706,937 participants, with a wide range of sample sizes (from N = 27 to N = 127,384 participants) and 380 independent effect sizes (ESs), which included 171 independent samples. A negligible ES value for antecedent correlates of early retirement (family pull, job stress, job satisfaction, and income) was obtained (which ranged from r = -0.13 to 0.19), while a fair ES was obtained for workplace timing for retirement, organizational pressures, financial security, and poor physical and mental health, (ranging from r = 0.28 to 0.25). Regarding ER subsequent correlates, poor ESs were obtained, ranging from r = 0.08 to 0.18 for the relationships with subsequent correlates, and fair ESs only for social engagement (r = -0.25). Examination of the potential moderator variables has been conducted. Only a reduced percentage of variability of primary studies has been explained by moderators. Although potential moderator factors were examined, there are several unknown or not measurable factors which contribute to ER and about which there are very little data available. The discussion is aimed to offer theoretical and empirical implications suggestion in order to improve employee's well-being.

Keep Up the Good Work! Age-Moderated Mediation Model on Intention to Retire

In European nations, the aging of the workforce is a major issue which is increasingly addressed both in national and organizational policies in order to sustain older workers' employability and to encourage longer working lives. Particularly older workers' employability can be viewed an important issue as this has the potential to motivate them for their work and change their intention to retire. Based on lifespan development theories and Van der Heijden's 'employability enhancement model', this paper develops and tests an age-moderated mediation model (which refers to the processes that we want to test in this model), linking older workers' (55 years old and over) perceptions of job support for learning (job-related factor) and perceptions of negative age stereotypes on productivity (organizational factor), on the one hand, and their intention to retire, on the other hand, via their participation in employability enhancing activities, being the mediator in our model. A total of 2,082 workers aged 55 years and above were included in the analyses. Results revealed that the two proposed relationships between the predictors and intention to retire were mediated by participation in employability enhancing activities, reflecting two mechanisms through which work context affects intention to retire (namely 'a gain spiral and a loss spiral'). Multi-Group SEM analyses, distinguishing between two age groups (55-60 and 61-65 years old), revealed different paths for the two distinguished groups of older workers. Employability mediated the relationship between perceptions of job support for learning and intention to retire in both age groups, whereas it only mediated the relationship between perceptions of negative age stereotypes and intention to retire in the 55-60 group. From our empirical study, we may conclude that employability is an important factor in the light of older workers' intention to retire. In order to motivate this category of workers to participate in employability enhancing activities and to work longer, negative age stereotypes need to be combated. In addition, creating job support for learning over the lifespan is also an important HR practice to be implemented in nowadays' working life.