Young at heart, old at work? Relations between age, (meta-)stereotypes, self-categorization, and retirement attitudes

Abstract

The aims of this study were to examine how workers? negative age stereotypes (i.e., denying older workers? ability to develop) and negative meta-stereotypes (i.e., beliefs that the majority of colleagues feel negative about older workers) are related to their attitudes toward retirement (i.e., occupational future time perspective and intention to retire), and whether the strength of these relationships is influenced by workers? self-categorization as an ?older? person. Results of a study among Dutch taxi drivers provided mixed support for the hypotheses. Negative meta-stereotypes, but not negative age stereotypes, were associated with fewer perceived opportunities until retirement and, in turn, a stronger intention to retire. Self-categorization moderated the relationships between negative age (meta-)stereotypes and occupational future time perspective. However, contrary to expectations, the relations were stronger among workers with a low self-categorization as an older person in comparison with workers with a high self-categorization in this regard. Overall, results highlight the importance of psychosocial processes in the study of retirement intentions and their antecedents

Future Time Perspective in the Work Context: A Systematic Review of Quantitative Studies

“…Zacher et al (2010) found that focus on opportunities mediated the positive relationship between job complexity and work performance, such that employees in high-complexity jobs performed better because they had a higher focus on opportunities at work. Moreover, Bal et al (2015) found that overall OFTP mediated the positive relationship between negative age meta-stereotypes and intention to retire, such that workers who had internalized negative age stereotypes had a lower OFTP and consequently, stronger intentions to retire.…”

“…Regarding attitudinal and behavioral outcomes, Bal et al (2015) found that overall OFTP was associated with lower intentions to retire ( r = -0.19). Moreover, Kochoian et al (2016) investigated and distinguished perceived remaining time and focus opportunities.…”

“…More recently, the influence of the organizational climate has also been shown. Bal et al (2015) reported that the more older workers perceived that they were negatively stereotyped by their younger colleagues, the more their OFTP was reduced ( r = -0.26). Conversely, Zacher and Yang (2016) found that an organizational climate for successful aging, defined as shared perceptions about organizational practices to facilitate successful aging at work, was positively associated with focus on opportunities ( r = 0.38).…”

“…With some differences depending on the type of measure, FTP at work is also positively related to work-related motives and motivation to continue working. Finally, FTP at work is positively related to a wide range of positive worker attitudes and behaviors, such as job crafting (Kooij et al, 2016) and lower intention to retire (Bal et al, 2015). …”

Occupational Future Time Perspective: A Meta-Analysis of Antecedents and Outcomes

“…Building upon this line of reasoning, primary studies have found generally positive associations between OFTP and the constructs of job satisfaction (e.g., Weikamp & Göritz, 2016), organizational commitment (e.g., Profili, Sammarra, & Innocenti, 2017), work engagement (e.g., , continuance intentions (e.g., Chen, 2015), achievement motivation (e.g., Froehlich et al, 2016), and motivation to learn . Additionally, negative relationships have been found between OFTP and emotional exhaustion (e.g., Barbieri et al, 2015) and intentions to retire (e.g., Bal, de Lange, et al, 2015). To further codify the nature of these findings, we synthesize all of these relationships in our meta-analysis.…”