Older workers' motivation to continue to work: five meanings of age

Kooij, Dorien; Lange, Annet de; Jansen, Paul; Dikkers, Josje

doi:10.1108/02683940810869015

Cited by 502 publications

(520 citation statements)

References 105 publications

(146 reference statements)

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“…These observations were found across physical, cognitive and personality domains, and has led to the introduction of the notion of increasing heterogeneity with age in gerontological research as well as HRM research (Kooij et al, 2008). Subsequent work extended this perspective, and concluded that with increasing age, people become more different from their age-related peers (Dannefer, 2003).…”

Section: The Theory Of Aged Heterogeneitymentioning

confidence: 86%

“…Subsequent work extended this perspective, and concluded that with increasing age, people become more different from their age-related peers (Dannefer, 2003). This idea has also been integrated implicitly in theory on aging at work, which assumes that older workers may have large variations in their physical, psychological, and other capabilities (Kooij et al, 2008). While younger workers may be more alike in what they expect from their work, and what their work capabilities are, older workers tend to be more different from each other in those respects.…”

Section: The Theory Of Aged Heterogeneitymentioning

confidence: 89%

“…In addition, age-specific practices may lead to perceptions of entitlement, as regardless of individual needs, people may feel that they are entitled to a practice when they reach a specific age . As research has shown, even though of similar ages, people may differ substantially in terms of how willing, able and motivated they are at work (Kanfer et al, 2013;Kooij et al, 2008). Therefore, age-specific practices may be irrelevant when there is no perceived general age-related need for a practice.…”

Section: Workplace Flexibility Across the Lifespanmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, as life expectancy is increasing and retirement ages are slowly being increased across the world, organizations will consist of workers of a wide range of ages, and with them bringing their own more diverse needs and wishes as to how the employment relationship should be formed and developed (Kunze, Boehm, & Bruch 2013). In response to these changes, there have been recent attempts to integrate gerontological theories with workplace theories to understand how the aging process affects people at work (Kooij, De Lange, Jansen, & Dikkers, 2008). There are two gerontological theories which are directly relevant to the flexibility across the lifespan topic, and beyond these theories, new theories have been developed to address directly the role of older workers in organizations.…”

Section: Workplace Flexibility Across the Lifespanmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Workplace Flexibility across the Lifespan

Bal¹,

Jansen²

2016

Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management

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As demographic changes impact the workplace, governments, organizations and workers are looking for ways to sustain optimal working lives at higher ages. Workplace flexibility has been introduced as a potential way workers can have more satisfying working lives until their retirement ages. This paper presents a critical review of the literature on workplace flexibility across the lifespan. It discusses how flexibility has been conceptualized across different disciplines, and postulates a definition that captures the joint roles of employer and employee in negotiating workplace flexibility that contributes to both employee and organization benefits.Moreover, it reviews how flexibility has been theorized and investigated in relation to older workers. The paper ends with a future research agenda for advancing understanding of how workplace flexibility may enhance working experiences of older workers, and in particular focuses on the critical investigation of uses of flexibility in relation to older workers.Flexibility can be regarded as one the key concepts of the contemporary workplace (Bird, 2015). Organizations try to become more flexible and adaptable to ever changing economic circumstances (Volberda, 1996; Way et al., 2015), while employees are expected to be more flexible in how they approach their jobs and careers (Hill et al., 2008a). Moreover, employees are increasingly looking for more flexibility in how they balance their work with their personal lives (Allen, Johnson, Kiburz, & Shockley, 2013;Ferguson, Carlson, & Kacmar, 2015), and in how they develop their careers (Moen & Sweet, 2004). Finally, governments across the world have increasingly responded to these trends by declaring flexibility the keyword for the future workforce and workplace (Johnson, 2011). In all these instances the denotation 'flexibility' refers to a different object and consequently has a different meaning. 3It is not surprising that the increasing popularity of the allegedly multi-interpretational term flexibility has coincided with rapid demographic changes in the workforce, including the aging of populations across the world (Kooij, 2015;Zacher, 2015). These demographic changes have caused governments, organizations, and employees to take a different position in how work and careers are both conceived and realized when life expectancy will rise to 100 years and above. However, current retirement systems are largely based on people retiring at 65 years (Wang & Shultz, 2010). One of the more immediate consequences of the aging population is that the ratio of working vs. non-working people is declining rapidly, causing more non-working people to be dependent upon a smaller number of people in jobs (Johnson, 2011). As these changes have put greater pressure on the affordability of pensions in many countries worldwide, governments have been engaging in the process of stimulating longer careers and ceasing with financially supporting early retirement. However, whereas the need for people to work beyond retirement has increased...

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Section: The Theory Of Aged Heterogeneitymentioning

confidence: 86%

Section: The Theory Of Aged Heterogeneitymentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: Workplace Flexibility Across the Lifespanmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Workplace Flexibility Across the Lifespanmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Workplace Flexibility across the Lifespan

Bal¹,

Jansen²

2016

Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management

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“…Psychosocial age is related to the self and the social perception of age: subjective age defines how old a person feels, with which age cohort he or she identifies, and how old he or she desires to be, whereas the social perception of age focuses, for example, on the age at which society perceives an individual to be older, the definitions and stereotypes of older employees and the implications for HR decisions of labelling an employee as older. (Kooij et al, 2008;Uotinen, 2005;Laslett, 1989;Doering et al, 1983. ) Organizational age refers to seniority and organizational tenure, but it can also refer to career stage, skill obsolescence and age norms within the organization (Kooij et al, 2008).…”

Section: Ageing and Gender In The Field Of Hrmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ageing employees and human resource management – evidence of gender-sensitivity?

Aaltio

Salminen

Koponen

2014

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal

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Purpose – The purpose of this study is to identify the different research strands concerning studies related to human resource management (HRM) and ageing employees. More specifically, the paper analyses how age and gender are understood and conceptualized in these studies. Design/methodology/approach – An integrative literature review concerning ageing employees and HRM with special reference to gender is the approach taken in this paper. Findings – Recent studies relating to HRM and ageing employees were categorized and analysed. The paper concludes that there is a need for a more holistic understanding of the concept of age in studies related to ageing employees and HRM and also argues that the intersection of age and gender is under-researched in the field of HRM. Practical implications – Based on literature review the paper outlined directions for how gender-neutral age management studies may be extended. A pluralist understanding of age and gender would help to understand the different needs and expectations that ageing employees may have in terms of HR practices and policies. Institutional practices and legislation can promote equality, but organizational contexts, both internal and external, should be scanned in order to recognize possible ageist or age-blind practices. Ageing women in particular have the burden of being recognized in terms of chronological stereotyped changes that might damage their work and career. Originality/value – Research on ageing employees and HRM with special reference to gender is limited and therefore an integrative literature review is needed.

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