A lifespan perspective on job design: Fitting the job and the worker to promote job satisfaction, engagement, and performance

Abstract

The workforce in most industrialized countries is aging. However, the role of age in job design has largely been ignored. In the present paper, we apply lifespan development perspectives to the interaction between job characteristics and age. Specifically, we examine the possible joint effects of age and job characteristics on job satisfaction, engagement, and performance, developing a series of propositions to guide future research. We also discuss possible boundary conditions, mediating mechanisms, and future research challenges.

Supporting the Aging Workforce: A Review and Recommendations for Workplace Intervention Research

“…There is limited research relating personality changes to age-related attitudinal and behavioral changes in the workplace (Ng & Feldman 2013b, Truxillo et al 2012a). Wille and colleagues (2014) tracked the Big Five personality traits and work attitudes in a sample of young professionals entering the workforce for a 15-year period and found that as individuals increased in extraversion and conscientiousness and deceased in neuroticism, they simultaneously increased in job satisfaction.…”

Design Your Own Job Through Job Crafting

“…These characteristics make older employees a special group with high importance for the organization (due to their experience) but with specific individual preferences that need to be satisfied in order to be motivated. Therefore, introducing organizational policies that encourage job crafting may allow workers of different age groups to adapt their work to their particular skills and needs (Truxillo, Cadiz, Rineer, Zaniboni, & Fraccaroli, 2012).…”

Considering Age Diversity in Recruitment and Selection: An Expanded Work Lifespan View of Age Management

“…For example, Truxillo et al ( 2012aTruxillo et al ( , 2012b have recently proposed integrated lifespan models of job design that identify specifi c job characteristics that are likely to be important to individuals across various career stages (e.g., task characteristics-such as autonomy and skill variety; social characteristics-such as interdependence and social support). Truxillo and colleagues suggest that age-conscious job design is a core facet of eff ective age management.…”