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The purpose of this paper is to examine whether cross-country differences in pensionable age explain such differences in economic activity of people at near-retirement age.

The empirical study uses regression models for macro-panel encompassing 21 European countries in the period 2008–2014.

Empirical results indicate that pensionable age is a determinant of cross-country differences in employment rate in the near-retirement age group, and less a factor differentiating average effective retirement age. It turns out that other factors matter, including salaries and wages as percentage of GDP (treated as a proxy for the occupational composition of populations across the countries studied), self-employment, participation in education and training, or self-perceived health.

The problem of economic activity at the near-retirement age is complex and cannot be limited to legal regulations concerning pensionable age. The policy aiming at stimulating the economic activity of the near-elderly should include actions on many sides including labour market, pension system, education, training, or health care.

The results complement studies based on the single-country approach and demonstrate that pensionable age does not account for cross-country differences in terms of average effective age of retirement when controlling for other factors. Moreover, factors differentiating effective retirement age and employments rates across countries studied are not similar.

The purpose of this study is to identify arrangements of fully funded defined contribution (FF-DC) pension plans associated with the continuity of retirement savings.

The authors adopted an experimental design composed of a control group and two treatment groups. In all groups, individuals made decisions throughout nine periods: five during the working period and four at the postretirement stage. The authors asked participants if they wanted to join a pension plan, and which plan. The authors offered three plans with different risk profiles: plan 1 (high risk), plan 2 (moderate) and plan 3 (low risk) and one risk-free plan, plan 4. In treatment groups 1 and 2, there was an automatic enrollment of the participants in the default plan (moderate risk), and in the following periods they had to decide whether to continue contributing, and in this case, to which plan, with a defined percentage.

In treatment scenarios, participants chose the riskiest plan in all periods of the experiment, and most of them chose the risk-free plan in period 5. These findings suggest that pension plans with automatic enrollment, employer matching and low risk foster the continuation of retirement savings.

The research has as limitation the fact that the sample is not representative of the population and therefore does not allow generalizations. This is because the authors use social media ads to prospect respondents.

The research's findings can be relevant for the design of public policies for private pension plans, suggesting that compulsory automatic enrollment can be used as default in plans offered by the employers. The results encourage the inclusion of behavioral elements in the design of the pension system, paying attention to the nudges. In this sense, it is possible to increase participation in the pension plan and develop low cost programs to increase the amount accumulated by people before retirement.

Decision-making architecture, such as automatic enrollment, can improve individuals' retirement decisions, affecting savings and welfare in the long run.

Although the effect of pension plan designs is widely studied in other countries, such as the United States and United Kingdom, the authors are unaware of a national empirical research that seeks to understand how different arrangements affect an individual choice through an experiment.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of financial literacy on personal retirement planning in Bukavu city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which is a Sub-Saharan underdeveloped country with a weak pension and social security system.

This study used a structural equation modeling and a sample of 361 public sector employees selected in Bukavu city in the DRC. The data were collected through a survey questionnaire, and the data were analyzed using SPSS and SMART PLS software.

The results from the study revealed that financial literacy has a significant impact on personal retirement planning. Two constructs of financial literacy, respectively, computation capability and financial knowledge were found to have a significant impact on personal retirement planning, while financial education and attitudes toward financial products were found not significant in explaining personal retirement planning.

The findings from this study can be used by policy makers in the DRC to design socioeconomic programs, aiming to increase the level of financial literacy in the country and awareness on personal retirement planning.

The reviewed studies were based mostly on developed countries, and countries were the social security system works effectively. We have not found a study on financial literacy and retirement planning that has been conducted in the DRC, which is a country with specific characteristics compared to developed countries.

Existing research focuses on the pension systems and reforms in China from a macro-level and financial perspective. The expectations of mid-life Chinese people regarding their retirement and pensions have been ignored to date, and this research set out to address this lacuna.

The application of qualitative research methods is relatively novel in Chinese social science. As a grounded theory (GT) study, the research reported here deployed semi-structured interviews to investigate middle-aged Chinese women's and men's perceptions of their pensions and retirement. In total, 36 interviews were conducted, following the constructivist GT method.

The data point to disparities between the choices and perceptions of individuals on the one hand and the official assumptions underlying the current pension regime on the other hand. Research participants had varying interpretations of the inequality in retirement incomes in China, the main division being between enterprise workers and public-sector employees.

Although there are in principle rigidly fixed retirement ages for men and women in contemporary China, the phenomena of early retirement and working post-retirement are increasing. There are trade-offs between work/retirement and family needs, which influence the choices of middle-aged citizens. Retirement pathways are increasingly individualised, reflecting broader patterns of individualisation and inequality in China.

This study aims to evaluate cognitive, personal and environmental factors affecting investors’ behavioral intentions (BI) to invest in ṣukūk (Islamic investment certificates) in Pakistan.

Data from 462 participants were collected through survey-questionnaires by using the convenient sampling technique. Hypothesized proposed relationships among the constructs were examined by applying the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique through smart partial least squares.

Compatibility, internal influence, external influence and intrinsic motivation were found to be significant predictors of investors’ BI to invest in ṣukūk. In addition, it was found that the religious aspect not only affects investors’ BI positively but also works as a moderator in the relationships between BI and both internal and external influence.

The results are quite helpful for ṣukūk issuers and regulators to consider cognitive, personal and environmental factors that might enhance the adoption of ṣukūk, especially among Muslim investors.

This study is among the few research studies that shed light on investors’ BI to invest in ṣukūk. Using social cognitive theory, the study investigates the cognitive, personal and environmental factors influencing ṣukūk adoption, which were previously unexplored. In addition, this is the first study that unveils the influential factors of ṣukūk adoption in Pakistan, a Muslim-majority country.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the conceptual framework about human resources downsizing and restructuring and how organizations of the public sector can do that effectively and efficiently. These facts drive to the conclusion that the implementation of early retirement incentives requires the most elaborate planning and execution to be effective, predictable and safe in the long term.

This paper adopts an analytical, descriptive methodology approach to describe the basic features of the data by using the descriptive research design. Data have been collected through different sources, which include secondary data, to introduce the theoretical literature of the subject as books, journals, articles, published working papers and referred previous studies related to the same subject.

Downsizing process is a deliberate administrative process that includes, but is not limited to, workforce reduction and is primarily aimed at achieving efficiency in public organizations. The definition of workforce downsizing may be narrowed to reducing the number of workers, or more likely to refer to general efforts to restructuring human resources in public organizations, Early Retirement Incentive Programs (ERIP) represents a viable alternative for organizations seeking to reduce staff. For the ERIP to be successful, the program coordinator must understand the business objectives and goals that the organization is trying to obtain.

Human resources strategies concerning downsizing public administration workforce should be more appropriate to those who leave the organization and those who stay at work, reducing the negative psychological, administrative and economical effects. This could be achieved through a strategy called early retirement incentive programs.

The authors develop and validate a conceptual model, the retirement engagement model (REM), to understand the relationships between behavioral engagement (retirement information search), cognitive factors and engagement (e.g. beliefs and financial knowledge), emotional engagement (e.g. anxiety), and socio-demographic factors. Approach: The authors derive the REM through a three-step procedure: (1) an extensive literature review, (2) interactive feedback sessions with experts to confirm the model's academic and managerial relevance, and (3) an empirical test of the REM with field data (N = 583). The authors use a partial least squares (PLS) structural equation model and examine heterogeneity through a finite mixture model.

Around the globe, people are insufficiently engaged with retirement planning. The customer engagement literature offers rich insights into antecedents, outcomes, and barriers to engagement. However, customer engagement literature lacks insights into cognitive, emotional and behavioral factors that drive engagement in retirement planning, a utilitarian service context, which is important for financial well-being.

Beliefs such as perceived susceptibility, severity, benefits, barriers, and self-efficacy, together with trust and retirement anxiety, explain people's search for pension information. These factors can be used to define three clear, actionable segments of consumers.

The findings advance the customer engagement and transformative service research literature by generating insights on engagement with retirement planning, a utilitarian rather than hedonic service context that is especially relevant for financial well-being. The findings inform managerial practice and emphasize the relevance of including cognitive and emotional engagement factors that trigger behavioral engagement. The REM can help to improve pension communication. For example, the results indicate that marketers should stress the benefits of, rather than the barriers to, acquiring information.

Social norms about the timing of retirement and stereotypes about qualities of younger and older workers are pervasive, but it is unclear how they relate to employers’ ageist preferences. The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of employers’ retirement age norms and age-related stereotypes on their preferences for younger or older workers in three types of employment practices: hiring a new employee; offering training; and offering a permanent contract.

Survey data from 960 Dutch employers from 2017 are analysed to study employers’ preferences for younger or older workers. Effects of organisations’ and managers’ characteristics, retirement age norms and stereotypes are estimated with multinomial logistic regression analyses.

Many employers have a strong preference for younger workers, especially when hiring a new employee, while preferences for older workers are highly uncommon. Higher retirement age norms of employers are related to a lower preference for younger workers in all employment decisions. When employers are more positive about older workers’ soft qualities (such as reliability and social skills), but not about their hard qualities (such as their physical capacity and willingness to learn), they rate older workers relatively more favourable for hiring and offering training, but not for providing a permanent contract.

This is one of the first studies to estimate the effects of retirement age norms and age-related stereotypes on ageist preferences for a diverse set of employment practices.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the Healthy Retirement Program's effectiveness toward skills improvement and evaluate changes in subjective health.

A quasi-experimental, pre and posttest of the comparison groups was conducted. Teachers who were going to retire within one year were recruited into the experimental (n = 47) and the comparison groups (n = 43). Questionnaires were administered at baseline, posttest and at the 6-months follow-up. An independent t-test and Mann–Whitney U test were applied to determine the differences in outcomes between groups.

The results revealed different effects regarding teachers' health status. In those who had no chronic disease, the experimental group had higher skills to understand health information at posttest and at follow-up (p = 0.036, 0.028). Skills to apply health information was also greater at follow-up (p = 0.042). Among those suffering from a chronic disease, skills to access and apply health information were significantly higher in the experimental group than that of the comparison at follow-up (p = 0.011, 0.046). Greater perceived health of the experimental group was also indicated (p = 0.032).

While the health conditions of teachers at the preretirement period are inconsistent, healthy lifestyle management after retirement is a crucial skill for retirement adjustment. Supporting teachers to be health literate should be included in the retirement planning program which emphasizes preretiree's ability to understand and take control of their health.