Search results
1 – 10 of over 195000This study aims to investigate the existence of perceived discrimination as a covert form of discrimination present in the workplace and its relationship to age and gender in the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the existence of perceived discrimination as a covert form of discrimination present in the workplace and its relationship to age and gender in the context of the UK financial services industry.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used and validated the Workplace Age Discrimination Scale (WADS) to identify perceived age and gender discrimination in the workplace. The study used the results from WADS quantitative survey of 168 financial services industry employees to measure the extent of perceived age discrimination.
Findings
This study evidences that in the organisations researched there is a higher degree of perceived discrimination for younger workers which significantly decreases with age, while perceived gender discrimination in women is constant throughout their careers.
Originality/value
This research paper proves that the concept of perceived discrimination as a covert form of discrimination regardless of age or gender is present in the UK financial services industry.
Details
Keywords
Oleksandr Dorokhov, Krista Jaakson and Liudmyla Dorokhova
Due to population ageing, the European Union (EU) has adopted active ageing as a guiding principle in labour and retirement policies. Among the strategies for active ageing, age…
Abstract
Purpose
Due to population ageing, the European Union (EU) has adopted active ageing as a guiding principle in labour and retirement policies. Among the strategies for active ageing, age-friendly workplaces play a crucial role. This study compares age-friendly human resource (HR) practices in the Baltic and Nordic countries. The latter are pioneers in active ageing, and as the employment rate of older employees in the Baltics is like that in the Nordic countries, we may assume equally age-friendly workplaces in both regions.
Design/methodology/approach
We used the latest CRANET survey data (2021–2022) from 1,452 large firms in seven countries and constructed the fuzzy logic model on age-friendliness at the workplace.
Findings
Despite a high employment rate of older individuals in the Baltics, HR practices in these countries fall short of being age-friendly compared to their Nordic counterparts. Larger firms in the Nordic countries excel in every studied aspect, but deficiencies in the Baltics are primarily attributed to the absence of employer-provided health and pension schemes. The usage of early retirement is more frequent in the Nordic countries; however, its conceptualisation as an age-friendly HR practice deserves closer examination. Our findings suggest that the success of active ageing in employment has translated into age-friendly HR practices in larger organisations in the Nordics, but not in the Baltics. It is likely that high employment of older individuals in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania is a result of the relative income poverty rate.
Originality/value
Our model represents one of the few attempts to utilise fuzzy logic methodology for studying human resource practices and their quantitative evaluation, especially concerning age-friendly workplaces.
Details
Keywords
Sasmita Palo and Sreejith R. Menon
The present study examines the interplay between age, marital status, alpha female status and various adaptive performance dimensions among a cohort of 380 female professionals.
Abstract
Purpose
The present study examines the interplay between age, marital status, alpha female status and various adaptive performance dimensions among a cohort of 380 female professionals.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopts a positivist approach to collect and analyse the data, utilizing appropriate statistical techniques to explore the relationships between the variables of interest.
Findings
The study elucidates the significant role of alpha female status in predicting adaptive performance. It finds that alpha females possess distinct competencies, particularly in learning and training, indicative of proactive behaviour and self-efficacy. While older participants tend to demonstrate higher performance levels, the study reveals no significant correlation between age and alpha female status, suggesting that leadership traits may develop independently of age. Furthermore, marital status exerts a modest influence on adaptive performance. The interplay of age and marital status significantly affects adaptive performance, potentially due to the Cumulative Advantage Paradigm, which is the accumulation of advantages or disadvantages throughout an individual's life course.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the existing literature by providing a nuanced understanding of how demographic factors converge to influence adaptive performance in professional settings. It highlights the importance of recognising and nurturing alpha females in organizations and considering the interactions between age and marital status when designing career development programmes and support systems.
Details
Keywords
Courtney L. Baker, Rushika De Bruin and Lisa M. Finkelstein
Incivility can be used to target minority groups as a form of discrimination. This paper aimed to assess the extent to which older workers are particularly targeted by cyber…
Abstract
Purpose
Incivility can be used to target minority groups as a form of discrimination. This paper aimed to assess the extent to which older workers are particularly targeted by cyber incivility.
Design/methodology/approach
Study 1 used a cross-sectional design via an online crowdsourcing platform (N = 208). Study 2 (N = 227) employed a daily diary approach with an age diverse sample.
Findings
Age does not directly affect perceptions of cyber incivility, but moderates the relationships between cyber incivility and vitality and vigor. In Study 1, older workers experienced a weaker relationship between perceptions of cyber incivility and increased reports of vigor. Conversely, in Study 2, older workers who experienced cyber incivility reported reduced daily vitality both on the same day and the following day.
Originality/value
The discussion explores the nuances of vigor and vitality in older workers. Additionally, despite research on selective incivility, these studies suggest that while older workers may not be selectively targeted for cyber incivility, they struggle more with its repercussions.
Details
Keywords
Demographic transition, although gradual, has a profound impact on various socio-economic aspects of society, including the real estate market. Many countries, particularly Japan…
Abstract
Purpose
Demographic transition, although gradual, has a profound impact on various socio-economic aspects of society, including the real estate market. Many countries, particularly Japan, are currently experiencing rapid population aging. While the rising participation of seniors in the labour market has helped to alleviate this demographic burden in Western societies, the question is whether, in Japan, the purpose of this paper is to examine if the return of elderly individuals to the workforce could mitigate the demographic pressures on the housing sector. Besides the conventional panel model, this study used the quantile panel method to evaluate whether the effect of this demographic shift remains consistent across property value ranges.
Design/methodology/approach
This study considered a panel data set of 47 prefectures from 2006 to 2016 in Japan, focusing on weighted dependency ratios that account for the labour force participation rates of three elder age cohorts. This approach captures the shifting dynamics of the workforce, particularly as more Japanese retirees have re-entered the labour market in recent years. By applying the quantile panel model (Koenker, 2004), this paper explores whether the reduced demographic burden exerts varying impacts across different quantiles of property prices.
Findings
The conventional and two weighted dependency ratios revealed their non-linear influence on different quantiles of property values in quantile panel models. The return of elderly labourers indeed mitigated the demographic burden given the weighted dependency ratios’ weaker negative influence on the property prices at Q90, compared to the conventional dependency ratio. However, compared to the conventional dependency ratio, the stronger positive effects of weighted dependency ratios on the prices at Q10 imply that the demographic debt associated with the working involvement of these inferior elders may pressure people, especially elders, to favour and buy cheap residences.
Originality/value
The return of retirees to the workforce should be a good sign, given the shrinking labour force in Japan. As one of the few studies considering this demographic shift in measuring dependency ratios, this paper further evaluates its effect on different quantiles of property values in Japan. Unlike their Western counterparts, many seniors in Japan work out of financial necessity. It is found in this study that the demographic debt associated with the working involvement of inferior seniors may pressure people to favour cheap residences. These findings should give policymakers a better understanding of the housing market in this aging era.
Details
Keywords
Jielin Yin, Yijing Li, Zhenzhong Ma, Zhuangyi Chen and Guangrui Guo
This study aims to use the knowledge management perspective to examine the mechanism through which entrepreneurship drives firms’ technological innovation in the digital age. The…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to use the knowledge management perspective to examine the mechanism through which entrepreneurship drives firms’ technological innovation in the digital age. The objective is to develop a multi-stage integrated theoretical model to explain how entrepreneurship exerts its influence on firms’ technological innovation with a particular focus on the knowledge management perspective. The findings can be used for the cultivation of entrepreneurship and for the promotion of continuous technological innovation activities.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a case-based qualitative approach to examine the relationship between entrepreneurship and technological innovation. The authors first analyze the case of SANY and then explore the mechanism of how entrepreneurship can promote a firm’s technological innovation from the perspective of knowledge management based on the technology-organization-environment framework. An integrated theoretical model is then developed in this study.
Findings
Based on a case study, the authors propose that there are three main processes of knowledge management in firms’ technological innovation: knowledge acquisition, knowledge integration and knowledge creation. In the process of knowledge acquisition, the joint effects of innovation spirit, learning spirit, cooperation spirit and global vision drive the construction and its healthy development of firms’ innovation ecosystem. In the process of knowledge integration, the joint effects of innovation spirit, cooperation spirit and learning spirit help complete the integration of knowledge and further the accumulation of firms’ core knowledge resources. In the process of knowledge creation, the joint effects of mission spirit, learning spirit and innovation spirit encourage the top management team to establish long-term goals and innovation philosophy. This philosophy can promote the establishment of a people-oriented incentive mechanism that helps achieve the transformation from the accumulation of core knowledge resources to the research and innovation of core technologies. After these three stages, firms are passively engaged in the “reverse transfer of knowledge” step, which contributes to other firms’ knowledge management cycle. With active knowledge acquisition, integration, creation and passive reverse knowledge transfer, firms can achieve continuous technological innovation.
Research limitations/implications
This study has important theoretical implications in entrepreneurship research. This study helps advance the understanding of entrepreneurship and literature on the relationship between entrepreneurship and technological innovation in the digital age, which can broaden the application of knowledge management theories. It can also help better understand how to develop healthy firm-led innovation ecosystems to achieve continuous optimization of knowledge and technological innovation in the digital age.
Originality/value
This study proposes an integrated theoretical model to address the issues of entrepreneurship and firms’ technological innovation in the digital age, and it is also one of few studies that focuses on entrepreneurship and innovation from a knowledge management perspective.
Details
Keywords
To investigate the potential of raising the retirement age and reforming pension insurance in mitigating intra- and inter-generational income inequality, thereby offering…
Abstract
Purpose
To investigate the potential of raising the retirement age and reforming pension insurance in mitigating intra- and inter-generational income inequality, thereby offering empirical support for governmental policy formulation.
Design/methodology/approach
A dynamic general equilibrium model with intertemporal iteration is developed to comprehensively assess the impact of policies raising the retirement age on income inequality, taking into account delayed retirement, survival probability, and pension insurance. The theoretical hypotheses are validated through simulation using MATLAB.
Findings
Through theoretical analysis, it is determined that, given certain assumptions are satisfied, raising the retirement age can effectively mitigate intra-generational income inequality, inter-generational income inequality under both the pay-as-you-go and fund accumulation systems. Simulation results indicate that, under current parameter settings, raising the retirement age can reduce the Gini coefficient. Furthermore, this study reveals that regardless of the pay-as-you-go or fund accumulation system, pension insurance serves as a mechanism for income redistribution and alleviating income inequality.
Originality/value
It offers a theoretical foundation for the government's policy on delayed retirement and endowment insurance.
Details
Keywords
While the career literature does acknowledge that personal strengths may function as protective factors that increase the likelihood of positive career outcomes, the topic of…
Abstract
Purpose
While the career literature does acknowledge that personal strengths may function as protective factors that increase the likelihood of positive career outcomes, the topic of strengths has predominantly been studied in the context of career guidance for adolescents and young adults. However, the evolution of strengths persists throughout the entire career and individuals’ awareness and inclination to leverage their strengths change when aging. This paper aims to examine strengths over the (career) lifespan.
Design/methodology/approach
For this purpose, a conceptual analysis was made of the interplay between age and strengths application within the work environment, based on a narrative review of both empirical and conceptual literature on strengths and lifespan (career) development.
Findings
Based on lifespan development theory and results from studies that investigate the relationship between age and strengths, it can be expected that the prominence, awareness and use of strengths, as well as the active engagement in strengths development increase with age. Also, based on the corresponsive principle it is proposed that strengths prominence is reciprocally related to the awareness, use and development of strengths. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.
Originality/value
Whereas positive psychology has contributed to research on career development by its focus on healthy functioning, human potential and well-being the implications from theorizing and research on strengths for the career-lifespan are still relatively unclear. This paper develops testable propositions regarding the relationship between age and strengths and discusses implications for the types of organizational support for strengths that workers of different ages might need.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to understand the distributional impact of house price increases on consumption in the context of the energy transition.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand the distributional impact of house price increases on consumption in the context of the energy transition.
Design/methodology/approach
This study draws from two micro cross-sectional datasets, the English Housing Survey (EHS) and the Living Costs and Food Survey (LCFS) to study the Marginal Propensity to Consume (MPC) out of changes in house prices. By employing pseudo-panel regressions, the paper examines the impact of house price changes on consumption among diverse household types.
Findings
This paper finds varying consumption responses to house price changes across age and tenure groups. Older homeowners tend to increase consumption when house prices rise. In contrast, middle-aged individuals, often renters or mortgage holders, reduce consumption in response to price increases. The youngest age group also experiences increased consumption but to a lesser degree than the oldest group. Energy-efficient homes are related to lower consumption across all tenure levels. However, when interacted with house prices and age, the estimates are positive, pointing to an unequal accrual of property premiums depending on housing market positions.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitations stem from data constraints. First, using a pseudo-panel approach hinders control for unobservable selection bias. Additionally, while robust under cross-validation and specifications tests, the energy efficiency variable imputation results in a low number of energy-efficient homes. Due to heterogeneous responses to rising house prices, this paper contends that an energy transition model that subsidises homeowners’ renovation is likely to produce a negative impact on consumption among younger and middle-aged households.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the MPC literature by incorporating energy efficiency as a key variable. It draws from recent data to obtain new estimates. By highlighting shifts in consumption patterns the paper contributes to a well-established body of literature with renewed policy relevance regarding housing retrofit.
Details
Keywords
The interest in older entrepreneurs increases due to population aging. Previous research showed clear gender-differences among older entrepreneurs. This study investigates whether…
Abstract
Purpose
The interest in older entrepreneurs increases due to population aging. Previous research showed clear gender-differences among older entrepreneurs. This study investigates whether such gender-differences also exist in the retirement transition from entrepreneurship. It explores the influence of pension regulations for entrepreneurs on these gender-differences.
Design/methodology/approach
Longitudinal micro-level data from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe is analyzed in multichannel sequence analyses and cluster analyses. Developments from age 50 to 69 are compared in the dimensions of entrepreneurship, employment and old-age pensions.
Findings
Entrepreneurs retire in three different transition patterns: (1) entrepreneurs becoming pensioners at 60, (2) entrepreneurs becoming pensioners at 65 and (3) individuals combining entrepreneurship with employment until they become pensioners at 65. Female entrepreneurs follow the same transition patterns as their male counterparts but retire earlier. Pension regulations for entrepreneurs modify the extent of the gender-differences within a country. Mandatory pension schemes with identical state pension ages for men and women reduce gender-differences, whereas mandatory schemes with gender-differences in the state pension age increase them. Schemes without mandatory coverage range in between the other two.
Originality/value
This article expands our knowledge on gender-differences among older entrepreneurs. These gender-differences also extent to how entrepreneurs transition into retirement. Pension regulations for entrepreneurs influence the extent of the gender-differences. Therefore, pension regulations for entrepreneurs constitute tools for promoting or hindering gender equality.
Details