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1 – 10 of 890Hanna Salminen, Monika E. von Bonsdorff, Deborah McPhee and Pia Heilmann
By relying on a sustainable career perspective and recent studies on senior employees’ late career phase, this study aims to examine senior (50+) nurses’ late career narratives in…
Abstract
Purpose
By relying on a sustainable career perspective and recent studies on senior employees’ late career phase, this study aims to examine senior (50+) nurses’ late career narratives in the context of extending retirement age. Given the current global nursing shortage, there is a pressing need to find ways on how to promote longer and sustainable careers in the health-care field. Yet, there is limited knowledge about the extended late career phase of senior nurses.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirical data were derived from 22 interviews collected among senior (50+) nursing professionals working in a Finnish university hospital. The qualitative interview data were analysed using a narrative analysis method. As a result of the narrative analysis, four career narratives were constructed.
Findings
The findings demonstrated that senior nurses’ late career narratives differed in terms of late career aspirations, constraints, mobility and active agency of one’s own career. The identified career narratives indicate that the building blocks of sustainable late careers in the context of extending retirement age are diverse.
Research limitations/implications
The qualitative interview data were restricted to senior nurses working in one university hospital. Interviews were conducted on site and some nurses were called away leaving some of the interviews shorter than expected.
Practical implications
To support sustainable late careers requires that attention be based on the whole career ecosystem covering individual, organizational and societal aspects and how they are intertwined together.
Originality/value
So far, few studies have investigated the extended late career phase of senior employees in the context of a changing career landscape.
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Russell Paul Warhurst and Kate Emma Black
This article aims to review the changing demographics of employment and it proceeds to critically examine the existing literature on later-career workers’ experiences of training…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to review the changing demographics of employment and it proceeds to critically examine the existing literature on later-career workers’ experiences of training and development. Population ageing in developed economies has significant implications for workplace learning, given suggestions that most occupational learning for later-career workers occurs on-the-job within the workplace. The literature suggests that later-career workers receive very little formal occupational training. However, significant gaps are revealed in the existing research knowledge of the extent and nature of older workers learning particularly with regard to incidental learning in the workplace.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative empirical investigation has been conducted among later-career managerial workers and the visual elicitation methodology adopted is detailed.
Findings
The results of the investigation show how the later-career managers in question were learning extensively, albeit incidentally, from workplace challenges specifically those associated with their responsibilities and from interacting with their managers, teams and external stakeholders.
Originality/value
The article draws conclusions for policymakers and those tasked with ensuring the continued learning and development of an ageing workforce.
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Deborah M. McPhee and Francine K. Schlosser
The authors contribute to scholarship on motivation for late-career transition, by examining how older executives drew on individual ambidexterity (IA) in the stigmatized…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors contribute to scholarship on motivation for late-career transition, by examining how older executives drew on individual ambidexterity (IA) in the stigmatized, Canadian-licensed recreational cannabis industry.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology utilizes a qualitative method, utilizing semi-structured interviews with 15 late-career executives. Inductive examination of data uncovered subthemes related to motivations for late-career transition, exploring and exploiting competencies, and known and unknown boundary conditions.
Findings
Motivations explained the impetus to join, while ambidexterity allowed executives to employ explorative and exploitive competencies to weather boundary conditions. Late-career transitioning to a stigmatized emerging industry presents an unprecedented mode of bridging employment for older workers.
Research limitations/implications
This small exploratory study of a nascent industry is limited in its generalization across different contexts but relevant to others in cannabis and other emerging industries. Increased focus on Human resources management (HRM) related research on late-career transition due to limited studies and IA.
Practical implications
Cannabis can be a risky employment venture for older workers that may affect future job prospects due to stigmatized views or present devastating financial risk. Older workers with knowledge, experience and skill remain relevant utilizing IA and their ability to manage difficult boundary conditions. Older experienced workers can bridge novel new opportunities before retiring.
Originality/value
The authors incorporated IA, expanding on literature related to boundary conditions in the late-career transition of executives into stigmatized recreational Cannabis. The authors introduce a new mode of bridge employment for late-career workers.
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The study was undertaken to determine and understand the career investment behavior of workers in late career (ages 50‐70).
Abstract
Purpose
The study was undertaken to determine and understand the career investment behavior of workers in late career (ages 50‐70).
Design/methodology/approach
The common wisdom, supported by economic theory, is that human capital investments in late career workers are of negligible value. Yet, recent evidence suggests that older workers do invest in their own careers, despite barriers. Questionnaires, collected from 450 college‐educated men from age 23 to 70, measured hours invested in professional development and in maintaining work‐relevant social networks, age, job satisfaction, and career motivation.
Findings
The study found that age was not a factor in the hours spent on professional development and business networking. Career motivation was associated with the hours invested. The association was as strong for people in late career as for younger workers.
Research limitations/implications
As the factors influencing investment during late career appear to be similar to those operating at other ages, further research is needed on the job and personal circumstances that stimulate career motivation in late career workers.
Practical implications
Those who counsel older workers should help them assess and communicate the value of their human capital investments.
Originality/value
The paper identifies key variables for career continuity applying practical outcome measures not previously used.
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Anu Järvensivu and Monika E. von Bonsdorff
The negative stereotypes concerning late-career workers are found to prevail and lead to negative circulation of narratives and actions between individuals and societies. Using…
Abstract
Purpose
The negative stereotypes concerning late-career workers are found to prevail and lead to negative circulation of narratives and actions between individuals and societies. Using the context of late-career entrepreneurs, the paper aims to find an alternative and a more positive narrative concerning late-career work by focusing on entrepreneurs and the narrative positioning related to them.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used a narrative-positioning analysis, cycling through three levels of analysis and then returning to level two, in order to study our sample of seven narratives written by Finnish late-career entrepreneurs. The authors present in detail one story-telling narrative, by Matthew, and then layer the remaining six narratives to present themes, positioning and actions surrounding being a late-career entrepreneur.
Findings
A more positive narrative circulation was found, which related to the master narrative of entrepreneurs as continuing “until the end” and taking care of themselves, their enterprises and different stakeholder groups even after exiting the enterprise into so-called “retirement.” The entrepreneurs were found to actively use this positive narrative to position themselves both in the story-telling world and in their local interactions. By positioning themselves as “never ending caretakers,” the entrepreneurs gave a strong account that their reasons to continue working centered on the factors social.
Research limitations/implications
The research findings and analysis should be interpreted in the context of the Nordic countries and especially Finland.
Practical implications
The results of this study can inform the ways in which these “never ending caretakers” can transition into retirement and adjust to life spent in retirement.
Originality/value
In the study, entrepreneurs' written answers were analyzed with narrative-positioning analyses. An alternative story of people at work was found, and a more positive narrative circulation was constructed based on their narratives.
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Elio Alfonso, Li-Zheng Brooks, Andrey Simonov and Joseph H. Zhang
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of career concerns on CEOs’ use of expectations management to meet or beat analysts’ quarterly earnings forecasts. The authors…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of career concerns on CEOs’ use of expectations management to meet or beat analysts’ quarterly earnings forecasts. The authors posit that early career-stage CEOs are less (more) likely to use expectations management than are late career-stage CEOs if the market views expectations management as an opportunistic strategy (efficient process) due to reputational capital concerns.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors obtain data for CEO career stages and CEO compensation from ExecuComp, analyst earnings forecasts from the detailed I/B/E/S database, financial statement data from quarterly Compustat and stock returns from the daily CRSP database over the period 1992–2013.
Findings
The results are consistent with the opportunistic hypothesis and early-stage CEOs seeking to build reputational capital by avoiding the perception of engaging in an inefficient managerial strategy. The authors find robust evidence that late career-stage CEOs are more likely to engage in expectations management than early career-stage CEOs. Furthermore, the authors show that late career-stage CEOs tend to employ expectations management to boost the value of their equity-based compensation.
Research limitations/implications
The findings have important implications because the authors document a different implication of the “horizon problem” related to CEOs’ opportunistic forecasting behavior and the manipulation of analysts’ forecasts for CEOs who are approaching retirement.
Practical implications
The results have practical implications for analysts who provide earnings forecasts for firms whose CEOs are in early or late career stages and for investors who use such analysts’ forecasts in firm valuation models.
Originality/value
The authors contribute to the literature on expectations management by documenting how reputational incentives of CEOs affect the likelihood that managers engage in expectations management. The authors show that an important managerial incentive to engage in expectations management is CEO career concerns. Furthermore, the authors show that CEOs who are in early stages of their careers choose not to engage in expectations management due to the market’s perceived degree of opportunism pertaining to this strategy.
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Carlos-María Alcover, Mariana Bargsted and Jesús Yeves
In the context of an aging workforce and uncertain labor markets, it is a priority to identify and analyze what factors influence intentions regarding motivation to continue…
Abstract
Purpose
In the context of an aging workforce and uncertain labor markets, it is a priority to identify and analyze what factors influence intentions regarding motivation to continue working, how and when to retire. From the life course perspective, this paper aims to capture the individual agency and structure perceptions to withdrawal from work early/late intentions in the mid- and late-career, identifying voluntary/involuntary factors underlying these intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
Hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analyses based on a cross-sectional design, with a representative sample of 414 Chilean workers over the age of 45.
Findings
The results depict several patterns of contextual factors operating at different levels underlying mid- and late-career-related intentions. Specifically, they identify how perceptions of individual agency and structure are significantly associated with voluntary and involuntary factors that guide intentions to stay working or retire early, as well as to prolong working life and to lean toward bridge employment.
Originality/value
This study contributes to identifying perceptions of individual agency and structure in career intentions and can help individuals and organizations clarify the voluntary and involuntary factors behind work–life intentions in their middle and final career stages. In addition, the results can contribute to international research in this field by providing information on the underrepresented Ibero-American context.
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Career motivation is usually examinedamong young or mid‐career workers.The older worker is left alone.Unfortunately, in an environment inwhich the older person represents…
Abstract
Career motivation is usually examined among young or mid‐career workers. The older worker is left alone. Unfortunately, in an environment in which the older person represents the fastest growing segment of the labour force, this critical resource is being frittered away. Examination of current practices suggests a large portion of older workers are persuaded by their employers′ actions that their careers are at an end. Alternatives to extend and increase this group′s career motivation are discussed.
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Isabel Raemdonck and Jan-Willem Strijbos
Theoretical explanations for the diverse reactive feedback from secretarial employees in different career phases are relatively unexplored. However, research examining age…
Abstract
Purpose
Theoretical explanations for the diverse reactive feedback from secretarial employees in different career phases are relatively unexplored. However, research examining age differences in the impact of feedback suggests that the effects of performance feedback may differ for employees in the early career phase and employees in the late career phase. This paper aims to address this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
This contribution reports an experimental study on feedback perceptions and attribution by 173 secretarial employees of 12 Dutch organizations. Each participant responded to one of eight scenarios, which varied in terms of feedback content, sender status, and sender performance appraisal. Feedback perceptions were measured in terms of perceived fairness, acceptance, usefulness, willingness to improve and affect. An additional scale measured attribution.
Findings
The results reveal that elaborated specific feedback is perceived as more adequate, irrespective of feedback sender status and appraisal. Complex three-way interaction effects were found for educational level on affect and attribution, and for career phase on willingness to improve and affect. Low-educated employees reacted more strongly to supervisor feedback. Employees in the late career phase were more oriented towards the content of the feedback than feedback sender status, whereas the latter was of more concern for employees in the early and middle career phase.
Practical implications
In order for feedback to be considered as adequate, it is necessary to formulate the feedback as specific and as elaborated as possible. Employees in their late career phase especially react differently in comparison to employees in early and middle career phases. They are more inclined “to opt for quality” and appreciate elaborated feedback from a high experienced sender. Human resource managers should be aware of this in their policy towards employees in their late career phase
Originality/value
The present study shows that feedback content and sender characteristics (status and performance appraisal) differentially affect feedback perceptions and attribution. In addition, the study reveals that perceptions and attributions of performance feedback might be mediated by educational level and career phase.
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There is an emerging literature focusing on the impact of late career transitions on health, but little is known so far about the role working time modulations might play in…
Abstract
Purpose
There is an emerging literature focusing on the impact of late career transitions on health, but little is known so far about the role working time modulations might play in explaining older workers’ health. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) Waves 4–7, the paper assesses the association between the different types of change in working time, the total weekly working hours at baseline and the level of income and the change in Self-perceived health (SPH). The model controls for financial wealth, qualification, gender, age, the sector of activity and self-reported health at baseline.
Findings
Respondents who retire have a better SPH compared with those who keep working at constant working time. Those who work long hours benefit more from retiring. Respondents working long hours before being unemployed tend to be less affected by a negative change in SPH. Those who reduce working time by 50 per cent or more and work long hours at baseline have lower probabilities to be affected by a negative change in SPH compared with those who work fewer hours. Finally, low-paid workers are those who benefit the most from retiring or reducing working time.
Social implications
Results point out the need to foster working time arrangements for low-paid workers to prevent adverse health impacts.
Originality/value
There is a significant association between change in working time and change in self-reported health that has not been examined by previous studies.
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