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The future retirement of US Air Force (USAF) legacy weapon systems (WSs) removes their associated funding from within the Air Force Working Capital Fund and their parts from its organic supply chain inventory. The trending outsourcing of product support to contracted logistics support and its potential long-term consequences to the USAF government-owned, government-operated, organic supply chain and the reconstitution capabilities it enables in the USAF’s organic industrial base, suggests the need to assess its risks. Although there is an existing body of research into the risks of outsourcing the USAF’s industrial repair, and federal legislation such as Core 50/50 laws enacted to institutionalize its risk management, there is comparatively little research into the outsourcing risks to the long-term viability of the supply chain on which that repair capability is dependent. The aim of this research is to fill that research gap by assessing and modeling those risks. This research concludes by providing several future research directions that may be evaluated to provide more detail.

Leveraging a conceptual model derived from research and a multi-criteria analysis framework to assess supply chain risk. Quantifying the predicted impact of retirements on funding and inventories of unique parts. Modeling the potential risk due to WS retirement.

Results indicated long term enterprise risks to the Air Force’s supply chain correlated to the retirement of WSs and their associated funding and spare parts inventory.

This research provides an in-depth evaluation of the USAF’s supply chain to assess the holistic risk of product support outsourcing and its long-term impacts on viability by using resource-based view and contingency theory as theoretical underpinnings. In addition, insights and implications for defense supply chain managers and decision-makers.

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.

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 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.

Previous research has shown that self-employed workers are more likely than employees to retire late or to be uncertain about retirement timing. However, little is known about the underlying mechanisms. This study aims to fill this gap, by focusing on the explanatory role of various job characteristics – flexibility, autonomy, skills-job match and job security – for explaining differences in retirement preferences between the solo self-employed and employees.

Data were used of 8,325 employees and 663 solo self-employed respondents (age 45–64) in the Netherlands, who participated in 2016 in the Study on Transitions in Employment, Ability, and Motivation (STREAM). The outcome variable distinguished between early, on-time, late and uncertain retirement preferences. Multinomial logistic regression models were estimated, and mediation was tested using the Karlson-Holm-Breen (KHB) method.

The solo self-employed are more likely than employees to prefer late retirement (vs “on-time”) and to be uncertain about their preferred retirement age. Job characteristics mediate 21% of the relationship between solo self-employment and late retirement preferences: the self-employed experience more possibilities than employees to work from home and to choose their own working times, which partly explains why they prefer to retire late.

In discussions about retirement, often reference is made to differences in retirement savings and retirement regulations between the solo self-employed and employees. The current study shows that differences in job characteristics also partly explain the relatively late preferred retirement timing of solo self-employed workers.

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.

Retirement is a complex process that can impact daily lives and relationships. While some gender differences in academic retirement experiences have been noted, few studies have focused exclusively on women academics’ retirement experiences. This follow-up study aims to explore the meaning of retirement and its impact on retired women academics' daily lives and relationships over time from an occupational perspective.

Using a qualitative, longitudinal descriptive design, semi-structured interviews (n = 11) were completed with women retirees from one university and an academically linked university-level, college of education and liberal arts, in the Republic of Ireland (n = 11). This paper presents the findings of follow-up interviews conducted one year later (n = 10). Data were analysed using Braun and Clarke’s six-phase thematic analysis. A longitudinal analysis was then undertaken using a recurrent cross-sectional approach (Grossoehme and Lipstein, 2016) to enable discussion of changes and continuity that had occurred over time in their daily lives.

The analysis yielded four themes: (i) continuing to navigate occupational identity challenges, (ii) structuring free time, (iii) appreciating health and well-being and (iv) continuing meaningful professional relationships and activities. Participants described on-going occupational identity challenges linked with contextual factors and experiences of occupational injustices of lack of recognition, lack of inclusion and a lack of choice to continue working in their paid academic employment.

These findings suggest that occupational therapists advocate for older adults, so that meaningful choices in retirement timing can be offered to all equally and so that older people are acknowledged for their contributions to society.

We conducted consumer research with more than 2,000 adults and more than 100 representatives from retirement housing providers from across the UK to identify the “perception gap” and gathered high-profile representatives from across the retirement housing sector to discuss the data.

Our research shows that the public are unsure about the benefits and services provided by retirement housing schemes – often confusing them with care homes and nursing homes to the detriment of the sector.

We identify an untapped referrer market for retirement living, that men should be targeted with entry-level information and people should be targeted before retirement age when perceptions are less “fixed”.

We show the services that matter most to ABC1 demographic and the sources they use to find information.

We outline how the sector can make retirement housing a model of “want” instead of a model of “need”.

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.

People around the world are not sufficiently capable or willing to engage in retirement planning. New technological tools have been proposed as a promising solution to foster involvement and consequently encourage retirement planning. This paper aims to test whether an interactive online pension planner can improve participants’ behaviour, behavioural intentions, attitude, knowledge and perceived ease of use, usefulness and enjoyment.

In collaboration with a company specialised in technologically advanced pension planners, three different versions of an online pension planner were created. The control condition only allowed participants to check their pension situation and the composition of future retirement income. In the medium interactivity level, participants could choose to modify certain variables affecting their pension income, on top of the features from the control. The highly interactive planner additionally included an interactive budget tool and showed whether the accumulated pension income was sufficient to cover the desired spending. Data were collected with the help of an online panel (N = 285).

This paper finds a positive effect of interactivity on behaviour within the planner, that is, the number of clicked options, as well as on participants’ intention to check their personal pension situation in the upcoming three to six months. Moreover, this paper finds gender differences: male participants prefer a high level of interactivity, while women prefer a medium level.

An interesting modification to the current research design would be to use personal, self-relevant data in the online pension planner. Moreover, conducting the study in a computer laboratory could increase concentration on the task, and hence involvement. Next to gender, there might be other factors that possibly influence the results. It would be interesting to investigate other measures of behaviour such as the time spent on the pension planner. Further research should also study the effects of other features that shape user’s perception of interactivity, which include human-to-human interactivity.

The results show that technological services, such as advanced online pension planners, can positively affect engagement with retirement planning. Thus, pension providers are encouraged to use interactive online pension planners. The results with respect to gender suggest tailoring pension planners to match specific preferences of recipients. New service technologies provide novel opportunities to cater to individual differences by, for example, integrating less interactive features for women than for men in a pension planner. Moreover, cognitive involvement should be stimulated by integrating relevant, interesting and valuable information.

Lack of engagement with retirement planning is an important challenge to Western societies. People who do not sufficiently search for information about their expected pension benefits may encounter significant pension gaps resulting in detrimental welfare effects at retirement. This problem is enhanced by the fact that increasingly, the risks and responsibility for retirement planning are being shifted towards pension plan participants themselves. Thus, finding ways to increase engagement with retirement planning by making use of advances in service technologies brings benefits to society.

First, this paper contributes to the customer engagement literature by studying how new technological interfaces improve user experiences, knowledge and engagement within the low involvement context of retirement planning. Second, this paper advances service research by zooming in on customer heterogeneity in using the technology-based online pension planner and studying the moderating effect of involvement and gender more closely. Third, this paper contributes to the financial services literature by studying how new service technologies can help to increase attitudes, knowledge and engagement with retirement planning.