| The Aging Workforce and Career Dynamics: Implications for the Next Millennium |
| | McEvoy, Glenn M. | Utah State U. | glennm@b202.usu.edu | 435-797-2212 |
| | Blahna, Mary Jo | Utah State U. | mblahna@b202.usu.edu | 435-797-2212 |
| | We review demographic trends suggesting that the combination of an aging workforce and a limited supply of younger workers will lead practitioners to reverse policies and practices designed to encourage early retirements. Encouraging older workers re-engage, recommit, and retool for extended working lives and careers will not be an easy task. Jobs and organizations may both need to be redesigned. But to what end? We attempt to answer this question by reviewing the literature on older workers as well as through a preliminary interview study of 48 veteran employees in four state Departments of Transportation. Results of both explorations suggest that disengagement is caused by a perceived lack of respect, primarily from management, for the expertise, knowledge, and opinions of older workers. Older workers expect to be provided considerable autonomy and latitude in the conduct of their jobs, and they prefer to work on significant, important projects that make a difference for their organizations. They also seek mentoring opportunities and ways to pass on accumulated career wisdom to younger employees. To encourage older worker to remain past normal retirement, both considerable flexibility in work scheduling and significant financial incentive may be needed. We conclude by discussing the challenge of alerting management practitioners to this impending problem. The research suggests that most CEOs and human resource professionals are either unaware or unconcerned at this point in time, and a Submitted result current organizational policies are still designed to encourage older workers to retire as early as possible. |
| | Keywords: Aging; careers; human resources |
| Well-Being and Vocational Satisfaction: The Influence of Self-Efficacy Beliefs |
| | Schwoerer, Catherine E. | U. of Kansas | cschwoerer@ukans.edu | (785)-864-7502 |
| | Hollensbe, Elaine C. | U. of Kansas | e-hollensbe@ukans.edu | (785)-864-7521 |
| | A longitudinal field study of a multi-faceted development intervention provided the context for
investigating the influence of self-efficacy beliefs on well-being and vocational satisfaction in a
sample of ordained clergy. The intervention consisted of a conference addressing financial, physical,
spiritual, vocational, and support well-being. Specific self-efficacy beliefs in these areas were
measured at the conclusion of the conference. Well-being (existential and religious) and vocational
satisfaction were assessed four months later. General self-efficacy influenced existential well-being
and vocational satisfaction, while specific self-efficacy beliefs influenced religious well-being. The
results are discussed in terms of implications for understanding personal career outcomes from a self-
efficacy perspective. |
| | Keywords: self-efficacy; well-being; vocational satisfaction |
| The Pluralistic World of Organizational Role Models: Looking for Inspiration beyond Age- and Hierarchy-based Relationships |
| | Gibson, Donald E. | Yale U. | donald.gibson@yale.edu | 203-432-6020 |
| | Barron, Lisa A. | U. of California, Los Angeles | lisa.barron@anderson.ucla.edu | (310)-825-3846 |
| | The current trend toward boundaryless, multi-phase careers suggests a need for a re-examination of organizational role models, which have been previously viewed through the lens of linear, hierarchical careers. In existing research, role models are typically conceived as older individuals at higher hierarchical levels, often in the role of supervisor or leader. In the new careers, however, employees may find themselves learning from a variety of role models who differ from this traditional notion. This study explores whether participants can be inspired by and identify with others who are hierarchically superior but younger in age, and whether participants are more likely to strongly identify with role models outside the traditional supervisory relationship.
Results indicate that observers tend to identify with role models based on a role model's level of organizational achievement rather than his or her age, that observers tend to more strongly identify with individuals outside the supervisory relationship, and that commitment to the organization and a desire to achieve in the organization are related to overall strength of role model identification. We conclude that identification with role models is not primarily a function of organizations putting role models forward in the form of supervisors and leaders and having observers "accept" their influence in a relatively passive way, as linear models suggest. Rather, it is primarily a matter of observers actively choosing to identify with a variety of role models, and finding inspiration through those strategic choices.
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| | Keywords: role models; identification; careers |
| Personal and work regret: A look at what managers in the 1990's regret most |
| | Seiden, Vanessa L. | Northwestern U. | vlr936@nwu.edu | (773)-528-9067 |
| | Medvec, Victoria H. | Northwestern U. | vhm@nwu.edu | (847)-467-4028 |
| |
The current study examines personal life regrets and work-life regrets
of managers in the 1990's. Although personal regrets have recently received
much attention, little is known about what people regret in their
work-lives or how these regrets are formed. Several studies suggest that
within people's personal lives, the negative outcomes arising from their
inactions, or failures to act, cause them more long-term regret than
those negative outcomes that stem from their actions. We review the
psychological mechanisms that have been proposed to account for this
action/inaction dichotomy in the experience of personal regrets and
extrapolate from the personal world to the work arena. We
hypothesize that work regrets will follow the same general
action/inaction pattern as personal regrets. However, because the
factors that reduce the pain of regrettable actions in our personal
lives may be less effective in our work-lives, and because there may
be factors that actually bolster the pain of regrettable actions in
work, we believe actions will play a more significant role in
managers' work regrets than they do in their
personal regrets.In addition to investigating whether actions or
inactions dominate managers' experience of regret, we also examine
specific decisions that managers regret most in their personal lives
and in their work. By expanding regret research to incorporate work-
related regrets as well as personal life regrets, we test the boundaries
of existing regret theory, and add to our understanding of the experience
of regret.
|
| | Keywords: regret; work; personal |
| A note on the nonlinearity of the age-job satisfaction relationship. |
| | Hochwarter, Wayne A. | U. of Alabama | whochwar@alston.cba.ua.edu | (205)348-8925 |
| | Ferris, Gerald R. | U. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign | g-ferris@uiuc.edu | (217)-333-2586 |
| | Perrewe, Pamela L. | Florida State U. | pperrew@cob.fsu.edu | 850-644-7848 |
| | Research assessing the relationship between age and job satisfaction has typically provided mixed results. Inherent problems
including limited samples and a failure to control for tenure and disposition have contributed to these conflicting results. Moreover,
a significant concern has been researchers' focus of detecting linear effects alone. The current study addressed these limitations
in order to gather the most accurate representation of the form and magnitude of this relationship. Specifically, we employed two
relatively large samples (N=418 and N=331) that were diverse with respect to gender and job type. Moreover, we statistically
controlled for gender, supervisor tenure, position tenure, and affective disposition (NA and PA) based upon previous research
regarding the relationship between these variables and job satisfaction. Finally, we used hierarchical polynomial regression
to assess the form of the age-satisfaction relationship. Results confirmed that a U - shape best characterized the relationship
between age and job satisfaction in each sample. Implications of these findings, as well as directions for future research
are discussed. |
| | Keywords: job satisfaction,; age,; polynomial regression, |
| Working in "Retirement": The Antecedents and Consequences of Bridge Employment |
| | Kim, Seongsu | Seoul National U. | sk2@plaza.snu.ac.kr | (82-2)-880-8797 |
| | Feldman, Daniel C. | U. of South Carolina | dfeldman@darla.badm.sc.edu | 803-777-5971 |
| | An increasingly frequent form of labor force participation is bridge employment, namely, employment taken after the end of a career-long job but before total withdrawal from the work force. While the economic issues surrounding bridge employment have been examined in some detail, the other factors influencing older workers' decisions to engage in bridge employment and the consequences of bridge employment have rarely been investigated. Using a sample of 371 early retirees who all had the opportunity to engage in bridge employment, this article examines both the factors influencing individuals' decisions to pursue bridge employment and the outcomes of such employment. Results suggest that employees with better health, greater organizational tenure, working spouses, and dependent children were more likely to take bridge employment. In contrast, age and salary at the time of retirement were inversely related to extent of bridge employment. Moreover, bridge employment is strongly related to both retirement satisfaction and overall life satisfaction. Implications of the results for future theory development and methodological improvement are discussed as well. |
| | Keywords: bridge employment; early retirement; older workers |