Search results

In this chapter the relationship between job design and older workers is considered. Starting from a conceptual definition of what the concept job and work design is, we consider theoretic approaches to the study of job design over the last decades, including recent frameworks, measurement, and research. We follow this with a specific focus on the topic of job design for older workers. We argue that the rules of “good job design” are not applicable to all workers, focusing specifically on the issues of age and career stage. We next show through a theoretical model and some empirical research that some job characteristics may be more suitable or beneficial for people in older age groups or later stages of their careers (e.g., Truxillo, Cadiz, Rineer, Zaniboni, & Fraccaroli, 2012). Empirical support for the role of age in job design is considered. We conclude by defining some avenues for future research, including the identification of additional factors that may determine how age and job characteristics affect worker behavior, attitudes, and well-being.

Although a substantial body of research has examined the effects of job characteristics on job attitudes, there is a paucity of work on individual difference moderators of these relationships. Based in selective optimization with compensation theory and socio-emotional selectivity theory, the purpose of this paper is to show that age moderated the relationship between task variety and two key job attitudes, job satisfaction and engagement.

Data were collected through self-report questionnaires (n=152), using a time-lagged design with two waves (two to three weeks between T ₁ and T ₂).

The authors found that task variety had a stronger relationship with job satisfaction and work engagement for younger workers compared to older workers.

Although there was good age variance in the sample, it had fewer late-career workers and more workers who are in their early and mid-career.

To have workers of all ages satisfied and engaged at work, we need to understand which work characteristics are the best for them. For example, it may be a competitive gain for organizations to challenge younger workers with different tasks, and to challenge older workers in ways that utilize their experience.

The study addresses a societal issue related to profound demographic changes in the age composition of the workforce, gaining a better knowledge of differences between workers of different ages to promote effective interventions and policies.

This is the first study to show that task variety differentially affects worker satisfaction and engagement depending on the age of the worker.

This study aims to explore the psycho‐social factors (i.e. older worker identity, development opportunities on the job, anticipation of lost social integration upon retirement) related to three types of retirement intention (i.e. full retirement, part‐time retirement, job mobility).

A representative sample of 196 workers aged 50 and over employed in an Italian public‐sector organization completed a research questionnaire. Hypotheses were tested by using structural equation models.

The results showed that: the older‐worker identity was related positively to full retirement intention and negatively to job mobility; development opportunity on the job was negatively related to the full retirement intention; the anticipation of lost social integration upon retirement was positively related to the intention to take part‐time retirement and job mobility.

There are several limitations to the study: the cross‐sectional design; use of single items; the fact that the findings can be generalized only to the organization in which the study was conducted.

Retirement preparation programs should consider the various factors that affect the transition from work to retirement and which may facilitate prior planning by both the individual and the organization.

Expanding previous research studies, the study considers the complexity of preparation for retirement transition by exploring different types of retirement intentions and the psychosocial factors related to them.

The purpose of this study is to validate, in an Italian sample, a multidimensional training motivation measure (T‐VIES‐it) based on expectancy (VIE) theory, and to examine the nomological network surrounding the construct.

Using a cross‐sectional design study, 258 public sector employees in Northeast Italy (participating in a range of employer‐sponsored training programs) filled out the T‐VIES‐it and questionnaires on goal orientation, job support for learning, and intention to transfer learning gained through training to the workplace. To validate the T‐VIES‐it and test its nomological network confirmatory factor analysis and structural equations models were used.

Results showed acceptable confirmatory factor analysis fit indices and psychometric properties of the T‐VIES‐it. Acceptable fit indexes were also found for the structural equations models tested. The modified model showed significant relations between learning goal orientation and the three dimensions of training motivation; and between the expectancy subscale and job support and intention to transfer.

The paper highlights that the T‐VIES‐it is a validated multidimensional assessment of training motivation, and the first its kind in Italian. The scale should provide value in training evaluations and in research related to training motivation.

This study aims to examine the organizational socialization of women soldiers in the Italian Army.

Following an interactionist interpretation of socialization, a model was tested to determine the influence of organizational socialization tactics, proactive behaviours, supervisor support on organizational identification, and cohesion of teamwork. This study used a comparative research design. The sample consisted of 324 soldiers, 43 per cent of whom are men and 57 per cent per cent are women.

Structural equation models showed the influences exerted by general socialization and by the acquisition of organizational values/goals on the outcomes of socialization. Multisample analysis showed gender differences. Compared to men, women seemed to set greater value on tutoring by expert colleagues. Women also seemed to value the support provided by their superiors for learning the organizational values and goals on which the degree of identification with the military structure depends.

These findings could add new information concerning the organizational socialization strategies (e.g. newcomers' training, tutoring/shadowing programmes) giving some guidelines for the insertion of woman newcomers in a non‐traditional organization.

In a systemic perspective the present study explored the process of organizational socialization using the content of organizational learning. The research highlighted the gender difference regarding the socialization process in a male‐dominated organization.

The aging of the population is changing the composition of the workforce in most developed countries. With increasingly older and age-diverse workforces, organizations need to redesign jobs to keep their workers healthy, happy and productive across the lifespan. In the current research, the authors integrate socioemotional selectivity theory and selection, optimization and compensation theory with job design to investigate how certain job characteristics influence the work engagement of older and younger workers.

In a two-wave survey with age-diverse employees from multiple organizations (N = 372), the authors explore how autonomy and feedback contribute to the engagement of older and younger workers, depending on levels of task variety.

In the case of older workers the relationships between autonomy and engagement, and feedback and engagement are positive when task variety is low but non-significant when task variety is high. Conversely, in the case of younger workers the relationships between autonomy and engagement, and feedback and engagement are positive when task variety is high but non-significant when task variety is low.

The research contributes to the growing body of knowledge on aging and work, particularly the lifespan perspective on job design. Nonetheless, the correlational design warrants caution about drawing causal inferences.

The findings inform managers on how to combine autonomy, feedback and task variety to design jobs that can engage the multi-age workforce.

The research is among the first to investigate the combined effects of different job characteristics on age-diverse employees' engagement at work.