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The changing population patterns in the industrial democracies create pressures for change which will eventually be experienced by all employers. Yet, executives are loath to face this demand. Structures, strategies and policies suited to the labour surplus which existed during the baby boom′s entry into the workforce are no longer adaptive. Change will be pressed on both the organisation and individuals within it.

The study was undertaken to determine and understand the career investment behavior of workers in late career (ages 50‐70).

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.

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.

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.

Those who counsel older workers should help them assess and communicate the value of their human capital investments.

The paper identifies key variables for career continuity applying practical outcome measures not previously used.

The purpose of this paper is to review and synthesise literature on the role of human resource practices (HRP) in shaping employee psychological contract (PC). Based on this review, a conceptual framework for examining the relationship between HRP and PC and their impact on employee attitudes as well as behaviour has been put forward for further examination.

An extensive review of the literature, examining the role of HRP in influencing PC of employees, between the periods 1972 to 2007 has been conducted. Adopting the multi‐level approach, the paper discusses the role of individual variable (PC) and organisational variable (HRP) on employee attitudes and behaviours.

The review brings to fore the following: the role of business and employment relationship strategy on HRP; the relationship between HRP and organisation culture as well as employees attitudes and behaviours; the relationship between HRP on and employee's psychological contract; and the moderating effect of those conceptions on employee attitudes and behaviours relationship.

HRP and PC influence employee attitudes and behaviours as well as have a bearing on organisational effectiveness. Suggestively, as a policy implication, firms need to craft and effectively communicate their HR toolkit based on their employment relationship and business strategies.

The main contribution of this paper is that it synthesises the research examining the impact of HRP on PC. Adopting a meso theory, the paper integrates both organisational and individual level variables and proposes a conceptual model.

The purpose of this article is to understand how academics in management deal with the concept of generation in the workplace. We begin by conducting an interdisciplinary literature analysis, thereby elaborating a conceptual framework concerning generational diversity. This framework consists of four levels of analysis (society, career, organisation and occupation) and three dimensions (age, cohort and event/period). We then conduct a meta-analysis using this conceptual framework to analyse papers from the management field. The results from this analysis reveal the existence of a diversity of generational approaches, which focus on the dimensions of age and cohort on a societal level. Four factors seem to explain these results: the recent de-synchronisation of generational dimensions and levels, the novelty of theoretical models, the amplification of stereotypes by mass media and the methodologies employed by researchers. In sum, this article contributes to a more realistic view of generational diversity in the workplace for both academics and practitioners.

In this chapter, we focus on expatriate CEOs who are assigned by the parent company to work in a subsidiary and compare them to those who themselves have initiated to work abroad as CEOs. Since we do not know much about these individuals, we direct our attention to: (1) who they are (demographics), (2) what they are like (personality), and (3) how they perform (job performance).

Data was sought from 93 assigned expatriate CEOs and 94 self-initiated expatriate CEOs in China.

Our findings demonstrate that in terms of demography, self-initiated CEOs were more experienced than assigned CEOs. With regard to personality, we found difference in self-control and dispositional anger: Assigned expatriate CEOs had more self-control and less angry temperament than their self-initiated counterparts. Finally, we found assigned expatriate CEOs to rate their job performance higher than self-initiated CEOs.

Although there may not always be immediate benefits, career consideration often plays a role when individuals choose whether to become an expatriate. For many years, organizations have used expatriation to develop talented managers for high-level positions in the home country. Recently, however, a new trend has emerged. Talented top managers are no longer expatriated only from within parent companies to subsidiaries. Self-initiated expatriates with no prior affiliation in the parent company are increasingly used to fill top management positions in subsidiaries.

The study aims to elucidate the relationship between five work experiences or conditions (age-related stereotypes, perceived organizational support [POS], coworker support, career satisfaction, and reaching a job plateau) and two different organizational withdrawal intentions – early retirement and turnover – in light of trends to abolish or increase the mandatory retirement age in Israel and elsewhere in the Western world.

The study is based on a survey of a heterogeneous age sample of 170 unionized employees working in medium-sized Israeli industrial firms.

POS and perceived age stereotypes were negatively related to early retirement intentions and not to turnover intentions. Job plateau was found to be related to the other work-related variables, with the exception of coworker support, and also was found to be a strong mediator between these variables and employees ' turnover intentions, and a partial mediator between the variables and early retirement intentions.

The study suggests a managerial focus on the person-job fit over time as a tool for reducing employees ' turnover intentions, and encouraging continued employee development as a way to reduce early retirement intentions.

The study focuses on the potential role of correctable contextual characteristics in triggering withdrawal responses, in light of the aging of the workforce.

This paper delineates the distinctive nature of appraisal politics perceptions (referenced to organizational politics) experienced by appraisees (APAP) as a form of hindrance work stressor that is more episodic than chronic, salient during the PA rating and reward decisions. The study argues and attempts to establish empirically that due to its distinct nature, it causes both short-term episodic strain and long-term chronic strain. Further, the study investigates the distinctive role played by appraisee's hard and soft influence behaviour as a coping mechanism moderating the influence of APAP as a stressor on strain variables in Indian organizational context that ferments politics.

The data was collected using self-reports from 407 employees in Indian organizations using survey method. Multivariate analyses including moderating tests were used for testing the hypotheses.

Only the episodic components of the APAP-appraiser's rating politics and pay and promotion politics were significantly related to anxiety felt by appraisees during PA – an episodic measure of strain. All three APAP components were significantly related to the chronic strain measure of dissatisfaction. There was modest support for the role of influence tactics (IT) as a coping mechanism attenuating the negative relation of APAP with the dissatisfaction variables as chronic strain measures. Contrary to the hypothesis, softer tactics exacerbated the APAP–PA anxiety relation, indicating the episodic nature of stressor and strain.

The study contributes significantly to enhance the understanding about the nature of Appraisal politics.

Little is known about the motivation for older workers to work and to remain active in the labor market. Research on age and motivation is limited and, moreover, conceptually diverse. This paper aims to address age‐related factors that influence the work motivation of older workers. More specifically, it seeks to examine how various conceptualizations of the age factor affect the direction and termination of the motivation to continue to work of older workers.

A literature review of age‐related factors and motivation to continue to work is the approach taken in the paper.

Results from 24 empirical and nine conceptual studies indicate that most age‐related factors can have a negative impact on the motivation to continue to work of older people. These findings suggest that age‐related factors are important in understanding older workers' motivation to continue to work and that further research is needed to more fully understand the underlying processes that govern how these age‐related factors influence the motivation to continue to work.

Based on the aforementioned findings, the paper was able to formulate a research agenda for future research, such as: a need for a meta‐analysis on age and motivation to determine the actual effect sizes, and additional theoretical attention to the underlying age‐related processes.

Age‐related factors identified in this study, such as declining health and career plateaus, should be addressed by HRM policies. HRM practices that could motivate older workers to continue to work include ergonomic adjustments and continuous career development.

Research on age and motivation is limited and conceptually diverse. This paper is one of the first studies to explore the relations between different conceptualizations of age and motivation.

Due to the important role of orthography in society, the project called IDeRBlog presented in this paper created a web-based tool to motivate pupils to write text as well as to read and to comment on texts written by fellow students. In addition, IDeRBlog aims to improve student’s German orthography skills and supports teachers and parents with training materials for their students. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

With the aid of learning analytics, the submitted text is analyzed and special feedback is given to the students so that they can try to correct the misspelled words themselves. The teachers as well as the parents are benefiting from the analysis and exercises suggested by the system.

A recent study showed the efficiency of the system in form of an improvement of the students’ orthographic skills. Over a period of four months 70 percent of the students achieved a significant reduction of their spelling mistakes.

IDeRBlog is an innovative approach to improving orthography skills combining blogging and new media with writing and practice.