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This study aims to investigate the impacts of pandemic-related media coverage on younger hospitality and tourism employees’ ageist attitudes toward older people by applying the media priming theory and the terror management theory.

This study takes a mixed-method approach through an online survey. A total of 416 usable responses are collected from current US hospitality and tourism employees under 55 years. Qualitative data were analyzed using word cloud. Partial least squares structural equation modeling is then used to test the hypothesized model.

The study’s results show that younger employees' cognitive reaction negatively affects aging anxiety and intergenerational tension, which subsequently influence their willingness to work with older people. Negative media-induced emotions are positively associated with aging anxiety, whereas positive emotions exert no significant impact. Intergenerational contact frequency moderates the effect of intergenerational tension on younger employees’ willingness to work with older people.

This study’s findings contribute to the hospitality and tourism workforce literature by considering the priming effects of media coverage on younger employees’ attitudes toward self-aging and the older group. This study also offers managerial insights on developing effective age-inclusion interventions to reduce workplace ageism in the post-pandemic era.

Existing hospitality and tourism studies on older workers are scant and largely descriptive. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first study that assesses the effects of pandemic-related media coverage on workplace ageism toward older people among the current hospitality and tourism workforce.

This study investigates the impact of the increasing proportion of older workers in the workforce by establishing a theoretical framework and estimating the degree of substitutability between them and their younger counterparts.

The first step is to establish a theoretical framework that combines older and younger workers with imperfect substitutability in the production of final goods within an aggregate production function. The author then derives an equation that relates the relative wage, relative supply and elasticity of substitution between the worker types, for use in estimation. Using data from Japan’s Basic Survey on Wage Structure and Population Census from 2010 to 2019 across 47 prefectures, the author estimates the elasticity of substitution between older and younger workers in Japan.

The author finds that workers aged 55 and over and their younger counterparts are gross substitutes, and the estimated elasticity of substitution is in the range of 2.33–2.86. This implies that a 10% increase in the relative number of workers aged 55 and older leads to a fall in their relative wage in the range of 3.5–4.3%. The study estimations suggest that since 2010, there has been a convergence in the relative wage of older workers across Japan’s prefectures.

Understanding the degree of substitutability between older and younger workers is essential for quantitatively assessing the impact of workforce aging, technological advancements and labor policies on the wage distribution. This study estimates the elasticity of substitution between the two worker types based on a theoretical model, and utilizes recent datasets and methodology not adequately addressed in previous literature.

This study examines factors that influence organizations’ choices of an internal human capital development strategy and an external human capital acquisition strategy. The human resource architecture indicates that organizations will use different human capital acquisition strategies. Following the resource-based view, human capital theory and the human resource architecture, we examine factors that impact the choices of different human capital acquisition strategies.

We examine these important human capital decisions in the context of Major League Soccer. Data to test the hypotheses were collected from a variety of publicly available sources. We tested the hypotheses with regression analyses.

We find that while organizations employ both internal and external human capital strategies, organizations may have one dominant human capital strategy and the other strategy may be used to supplement the human capital needs of organizations. Additionally, our results indicate that organizations with an older workforce tend to use an internal human capital development strategy, while higher performing organizations are less likely to use an internal human capital development strategy.

This study makes contributions by examining the choices between internal and external human capital strategies and factors that influence the choice of an internal or external human capital strategy.

Teleworking seems to be the new future of the workplace. It has been widely adopted during the COVID-19 crisis, which has greatly influenced work organization conditions. This pandemic and its accompanying changes represent significant challenges for employees' performance, depending on their age if the study considers the physical and psychological vulnerabilities of older employees and their assumed or expected difficulties to cope with the new information and communication technologies (ICTs). This study aims at examining the direct effects of teleworking, and age on job performance (in-role). As well as analyzing the moderating effect of age on the relationship between teleworking and in-role job performance in times of crisis.

Data were collected in Canada from 18 companies, with a sample of 272 employees. Multivariate regression and moderation regression analyses were performed using Stata 13.

Results revealed that when teleworking, older age is associated with lower job performance and younger age is associated with higher job performance. Conversely, when working on-site, older age is associated with higher job performance, whereas younger age is associated with lower job performance.

From a practical perspective, these results highlight the importance of decision authority and recognition. As well as the presence of age disparities related to work arrangements. Managers need to adopt an inclusive approach and develop work arrangements that take into consideration employees' needs and ages. Some insights and practical recommendations are presented in this paper to support managers and human resource practitioners.

Studies examining the in-role job performance of teleworkers and the effects of age are sparse. This study helps to expand research on human resources management, job performance and age.

This paper examines the human resource (HR) strategies and practices that are considered to be particularly beneficial for aging employees in organizations in Thailand, which is an underresearched developing economy, from an employee perspective and the implications of national institutions and cultures for the adoption and implementation of those HR strategies and practices across organizations.

The results of the study, based on a cross-case analysis of seven organizations across industries, are primarily drawn from structured interviews and focus groups with aging employees, field visits and a review of archival documents and web-based resources, including newspaper reports and magazines.

This paper proposes that HR strategies that are appropriate for managing aging employees in organizations in Thailand’s developing economy can be classified into four bundles: growth, maintenance, recovery and regulation. Each bundle of HR strategies consists of several HR practices that are appropriate for managing aging employees in organizations. In particular, from the perspective of aging employees, these HR practices help aging employees upgrade their skills, prepare them to have a sufficient amount of financial savings after retirement, ensure that they are safe, secure and healthy, help them feel that their tacit knowledge and experience are still valuable, and help them perform jobs that are appropriate for their physical health conditions. Additionally, the adoption and implementation of the proposed HR strategies and practices tend to be influenced by national institutions in terms of deficiencies in the national skill formation system, healthcare institutions, regulatory institutions and welfare state regime and by the national culture in terms of reciprocity and respect for elderly people (i.e. aging employees). However, there are five important HR practices that are specifically appropriate for managing aging employees in Thailand and other developing economies where the level of household debt and/or personal debt is high, where the increasing number of aging employees leads to high demand for medical services when the medical services offered by private hospitals are expensive, and where tacit knowledge and experience are important for creating and maintaining firms’ competitive advantage: (1) the facilitation of financial planning, (2) safety and health training, (3) annual health check-ups, (4) the appointment of aging employees as advisors/mentors and (5) knowledge transfer/job enrichment.

One of the limitations of this research is its methodology. Because this research is based on case studies of seven firms located in Thailand, the findings may not be generalizable to all other firms across countries. Rather, the aim of this paper is to further the discussion regarding HR strategies and practices for managing aging employees in organizations. Another limitation of this research is that it does not include firms located in several other industries, including the agricultural and fishery industry and the financial services industry. Future research may explore HR strategies and practices for managing aging employees in organizations located in these industries. Moreover, quantitative studies using large samples of aging employees who work in firms across industries might also be useful in deepening the understanding of HR strategies and practices for managing aging/retired employees in organizations.

This paper provides practical implications for top managers and/or HR managers of firms in Thailand and other developing economies where the level of household debt and/or personal debt is high, where the increasing number of aging employees leads to high demand for medical services when the medical services offered by private hospitals are expensive, and where tacit knowledge and experience are important for creating and maintaining firms’ competitive advantage. In particular, the aging employees in this study identified the HR practices that they perceive as being appropriate for aging employees and that were already available in firms or that they expect their firms to have but are currently missing. In this regard, HR managers should take note of these good and appropriate HR practices to ensure that they become part of official, structured HR strategies and practices. This would ultimately help line managers and aging employees think more positively about the future of aging employees within the company and help retain invaluable aging employees over time.

This paper provides social/policy implications for the government and/or relevant public agencies of Thailand and several other developing economies where the majority of aging people do not have sufficient savings to support themselves after retirement, especially when these countries are becoming aging societies, where the increasing demand for medical services cannot be adequately addressed by existing public hospitals while private hospitals’ medical prices are quite expensive, and where intellectual property right (IPR) protection laws are weak. That said, such governments should encourage firms located in their countries to implement these HR strategies and practices for developing, maintaining, deploying and supporting aging employees.

This paper aims to contribute to the literature on human resource management (HRM), specifically on HR practices for aging employees, in the following ways. First, this study is different from the previous studies in that it examines HR practices for managing aging employees from an employee perspective, while most of the previous studies in this area have focused on the management of such employees from an employer perspective. In this case, it is possible that formal company policies may be different from actual HR practices as perceived by aging employees (Khilji and Wang, 2006). Second, this paper explores the implications of national institutions and cultures of Thailand’s developing economy for the adoption and implementation of HR strategies and practices that are appropriate for managing aging employees in organizations. Finally, this paper examines HR practices that are specifically appropriate for managing aging employees in Thailand and other developing economies. The literature on HR practices for aging employees has overlooked developing economies, including the underresearched country of Thailand, as most of the studies in this area have focused on developed economies. In fact, developed economies and developing economies are very different in several respects, which may influence the HR strategies and practices that are appropriate for managing aging employees in organizations.

This paper aims to apply a mixed-methods approach to redefine essential work skill sets, propose components of these skill sets that are necessary for workers in the contexts of emerging market economies (EMEs), examine potential selection tools that should be applied across firms and explain implications for the labour process theory (LPT) of work.

During the first phase of this study, qualitative data was collected from methods, including semi-structured interviews with human resources (HR) experts from the Personnel Management Association of Thailand, top and HR executives and managers of firms across industries in Thailand. Non-participant observations were made during the pre-interview, interview and post-interview stages. Analysis of archival documents and Web-based resources was then conducted. The authors used the qualitative data obtained from the first phase to develop survey instruments for conducting quantitative research during the second phase of this study.

The empirical findings demonstrate that essential work skill sets are “soft skills” that help workers survive and thrive in the business arena in EMEs. These essential work skill sets have implications for the LPT of work in that they play an important role in transferring the power of negotiation from employers to workers in the labour market. Essential work skill sets here can be divided into eight skill domains: (1) ideation and system thinking, (2) information and digital literacy, (3) social skills with appreciation for diversity and inclusion, (4) communication and language, (5) creativity and innovation, (6) emotional quotient (EQ) for self-management and development, (7) growth/outward mindset and (8) cognitive skills for the job role. Within each essential work skill set, there are several skills that workers in the current world of work need to possess (42 skills in total). Additionally, potential selection tools include behavioural observation, behavioural-based interviews, STAR (Situation, Task, Action and Results) interviews, role plays, case studies and simulations, high-pressure interview questions, project assignments, assessment centres, in-depth interview questions and special methods, such as face reading and fingerprint reading. Top and HR managers across industries strongly agree that the eight essential work skill sets and 42 skills are necessary for workers to survive in the business arena in EMEs. They also strongly agree that talent selection tools, especially behavioural-based interviews, are used by their firms to select high-skilled job candidates in the labour market.

Because the eight essential skill sets proposed in this paper are based primarily on the qualitative data obtained from top/HR managers in firms across some industries, generalization to respondents across other industries or across other EMEs may be limited. It is possible that the context of other EMEs may be different from that of Thailand. In this regard, some of the essential work skill sets that are suitable in the case of Thailand may not be suitable in the case of other EMEs. Future studies should thus explore how institutional contexts of other countries/economies shape the definition of essential skill sets and their components, as well as potential selection tools that shall be applied to select high-skilled labour in those contexts.

This paper provides practical implications for top managers and/or HR managers of firms across various industries in EMEs. In particular, managers should internally train and develop their employees/workers to possess the eight essential skill sets: (1) ideation and system thinking, (2) information and digital literacy, (3) social skills with appreciation for diversity and inclusion, (4) communication and language, (5) creativity and innovation, (6) EQ for self-management and development, (7) growth/outward mindset and (8) cognitive skills for the specific job role so that their employees/workers can survive and thrive in the era of the brittleness, anxiety, non-linearity and incomprehensibility of the business world under pandemic conditions. Additionally, top managers and/or HR managers of these firms should apply the potential selection tools proposed in this paper to probe into job candidates’ past experience and behaviours to better predict such candidates’ success at work. In this regard, job candidates/workers should prepare themselves to possess these essential work skill sets so that they can be successful in the business arena and should understand potential selection tools that firms may apply to recruit and select them.

This paper provides social/policy implications for the government and/or relevant public agencies of Thailand and of other EMEs. These governments should encourage firms across industries to invest resources in training and developing their employees/workers to possess those essential work skill sets so that these employees/workers are industry-ready, leading to the alleviation of the problems of skill and mismatch in the labour market.

This paper contributes to the prior literature on human resource management (HRM), the comparative institutional perspective on employment systems based on the varieties of capitalism (VoC) framework and the LPT of work in the following ways: first, this paper fills in the research gap in the field of HRM that calls for studies that explore how the COVID-19 pandemic shapes essential skill sets and skills development among workers within firms (Cooke et al., 2021). Second, this paper provides implications for the LPT of work regarding how essential work skill sets are likely to return the power of negotiation from employers to workers in EMEs during the current situation. Third, the VoC framework tends to focus on only two types of economies, liberal market economies and coordinated market economies. However, this paper examines essential work skill sets and potential screening tools in the context of the underresearched country of Thailand, an EME. In fact, the Thai labour market is quite different from that of other EMEs labour markets, as it is impacted by an aging workforce. This paper contributes to the literature on comparative institutional perspectives on employment systems as it redefines essential work skill sets, proposes various components of these skill sets among workers and examines potential selection tools that are applied across firms located in EMEs.

The purpose of this study is to synthesize the current turnover literature that has investigated the nonfinancial antecedents of turnover intention across generations. This paper provides an integrative and analytical review of prior empirical studies with two research questions: What nonfinancial factors influencing employee turnover have been empirically identified across different generations? and What generational commonalities and uniqueness exist among the turnover antecedents?

To identify nonfinancial antecedents of employee turnover, an integrative literature review that allows a systematic process of searching and selecting literature was conducted. While synthesizing the antecedents identified in the articles, the authors were able to categorize them at three different levels: individual, group and organizational

The authors discuss each antecedent according to three categories: individual, group and organizational levels. Based on the findings from the first research question, the authors further explore the commonalities and uniqueness among three generations (i.e. Millennials, Generation X and older workers).

This study found both generational commonalities and uniqueness in terms of turnover intention antecedents. Based on the findings of the study, the authors discuss how to facilitate these common factors across all generations as well as considering the factors unique to each generation. Differentiation within organizations regarding retention strategies should yield positive results for both employees and organizations.

The current article investigates the impact of generational diversity on knowledge sharing and group performance. It, further, explores the moderating effects of intergenerational climate, boundary-spanning leadership, and respect in facilitating greater knowledge sharing and enhanced group performance.

The authors applied partial least square structural equation modeling to test the model, using a sample of 635 employees working in the banking industry.

Results indicate that generational diversity negatively influences knowledge sharing among employees at work. However, the moderating roles of intergenerational climate and boundary-spanning leadership aid in mitigating this negative affect and facilitate knowledge sharing among employees, thereby, resulting in better group performance.

The study extends extant literature on generational diversity and differences by examining its impact on knowledge sharing and group performance. Further, the study also contributes by highlighting intergenerational climate and boundary-spanning leadership as key facilitators in promoting knowledge sharing among employees. Future research may include other industries/contexts to widen the generalizability of the findings and a longitudinal design to ascertain the causal effects.

This study identifies the need to effectively manage multigenerational workforce to capitalize on the unique benefits of each generation. An intergenerational climate free from ageist attitudes and employing leaders possessing boundary-spanning abilities would help organizations to create an inclusive workplace.

The authors attempt to explore the relationship between generational diversity, knowledge sharing, and group performance through the moderating effects of intergenerational climate and boundary-spanning leadership, which has not been studied in the past.

Job market shifts, such as workforce mobility and aging societies, cause the exit of knowledgeable personnel from organizations. The ensuing knowledge loss (K-loss) has broad negative effects. This study analyzes the knowledge management literature on K-loss published from 2000 to 2021 and identifies fruitful directions for future research.

The authors conduct a systematic literature review of 74 peer-reviewed articles published between 2000 and 2021. These articles were retrieved from ProQuest Central, Science Direct, EBSCOhost and Emerald databases. The analysis utilizes Jesson et al.’s (2011) six principles: field mapping, comprehensive search, quality assessment, data extraction, synthesis and write-up.

Three sub-topics emerge from the systematic literature review: K-loss drivers, positive and negative impacts of K-loss and mitigation strategies. Over half of the literature addresses mitigation strategies and provides solutions for K-loss already in progress, rather than proposing preventive measures.

This study has limitations related to the time span covered. Moreover, it focuses on articles published in refereed journals. Therefore, important contributions from conference papers, books and professional reports were excluded.

This research comprehensively synthesizes the K-loss literature and proposes future avenues of research to address under-investigated areas and potentially lead to theoretical and empirical advancements in the field. This study also provides suggestions for improving managerial practices.

Age is one of the critical factors used by many organizations to determine employees' performance. It is being considered in the retirement process of construction professionals. However, age as a critical factor is not considered in the recruitment of a specific set of workers in the construction industry. Therefore, this study investigated the significant relationship between the ages of tradespeople and their performance in construction projects. The study also explored the age at which performance begins to decline and proposes strategies that can be used to sustain their effectiveness before the official retirement age.

Mixed methods research designs were adopted in the study. To be precise, physical observations, interviews and questionnaires were the instruments used for data collection in the mixed methods research design.

The outcomes of the study revealed that the age groups of tradespeople in the Nigerian construction industry are 16–30 (group one), 31–45 (group two) and 46–58 (group three) respectively. Group three is the prevalent age group. It was also discovered that performance begins to decline at 53 years. The age-performance decline of tradespeople in Nigerian construction projects can be delayed through certain strategies such as regular strength training exercises and an adequate nutritional lifestyle.

The study enables construction managers to have an adequate understanding of the negative influence of old age on the performance of tradespeople in construction projects. This will enable construction firm managers to recruit from the age range of 16–52 and stop retiring employees within this age bracket, consequently curbing the skills gap which is prevalent in the study context and the global construction industry. The study is limited to tradespeople performance in construction firms in Abuja, Nigeria where there are several ongoing projects on a daily basis.

The study enables project managers to estimate the number of tradespeople required for a particular task and consequently save the aged tradespeople from health risks associated with excessive workloads.

This paper is the first of its kind to be conducted in the study context, to establish the specific age at which performance begins to decline among construction tradespeople.