Search results

This study empirically examines the construct of emotional Intelligence (EI) cross-culturally. Participants ( N = 200) from Germany ( N = 100) and India ( N = 100) completed the Emotional Intelligence Scale, NEO-Five Factor Personality Inventory (Form-S) and Hofstede's Value Survey (Module 94). The major objectives of the study were to examine cross-culturally (a) the factor structure of EI, and (b) the construct of EI as distinct from personality. Results revealed different factor structures for these two cultures, and the construct of EI failed to correlate with the dimensions of personality. Implications of the findings for leadership in a specific culture as well as across different cultures are discussed.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship of personal motivational goals and the corresponding occupational characteristics of volunteer, work-related activities in retirement with life and work satisfaction.Design/methodology/approach– Fully retired individuals working for a non-profit organization in their former professional career field on a non-paid basis were surveyed using an online survey (n=661) to assess their motivational goals, the occupational characteristics of their projects, and satisfaction with life and work.Findings– Results suggested that post-retirement volunteer workers differentiated between perceived life and work satisfaction. The motives of achievement, appreciation, autonomy, contact, and generativity significantly directly affected life satisfaction and indirectly affected work satisfaction. Occupational characteristics assessing achievement, appreciation, autonomy, contact, and generativity had direct effects on work satisfaction but not on life satisfaction except for occupational autonomy.Research limitations/implications– The study was cross-sectional and based on self-report data of highly educated German retirees working in volunteer professional positions, thus potentially limiting the generalizability of findings.Practical implications– Organizations should enable post-retirement volunteer workers to meet their motivation goals by designing work opportunities to fulfill the motivational goals of achievement, appreciation, autonomy, contact, and generativity.Social implications– Post-retirement activities possess the potential to help solve societal problems by countering the shortage of specialists and managers at the same time that the burden on social security systems is reduced.Originality/value– The paper presents evidence that different personal motivational goals and occupational characteristics are important in post-retirement activities. The findings imply that work designs created for post-retirement activities should provide a variety of occupational characteristics, such as occupational achievement and appreciation.

AbstractThe present three studies focused on the development and validation of a multifaceted measure of organizational practices for the aging workforce, the Later Life Workplace Index (LLWI). The first study developed a comprehensive item pool based on expert interview evidence from Germany and the United States. Two further studies among workers across industries in Germany (N = 609, N = 349) provided psychometric evidence. The LLWI comprises nine distinct domains of organizational practices for the aging workforce, namely an age-friendly organizational climate and leadership style, certain work design characteristics, health management, individual development opportunities, knowledge management, the design of the retirement transition, continued employment opportunities, and health and retirement coverage. The final LLWI consists of 80 items in total. In addition, the studies demonstrated that the LLWI measures correlated with older workers' work outcomes such as stress level, workability, person-organization fit, and post-retirement work intentions in meaningful ways. Applications for the LLWI in research and practice are discussed.

The objective of this double special issue on Facilitating Age Diversity in Organizations is to present new research that might help to facilitate age diversity in organizations, and to benefit rather than to suffer from the inevitable demographic changes. Part I of the special issue (""Facilitating Age Diversity in Organizations - Part I: Challenging popular misbeliefs about older workers""), focuses on the potential strengths of older workers that are often overlooked due to age-related biases and misbeliefs. It contributes to facilitating age diversity in organizations by critically reflect

Abstract
Research on the effectiveness of age-friendly organizational practices tends to focus on older employees' perceptions of these. Drawing on perceptual congruence and psychological contract theory, we hypothesize that leaders' perceptions of these organizational practices are relevant as well. Specifically, we argue that (dis)agreement between leaders' and older employees' perceptions (i.e., perceptual (in)congruence) of organizational practices related to age-friendly organizational climate, management, and work design plays a role in older employees' well-being. Polynomial regression and response surface analysis were applied to a dyadic sample of 484 older employees and their leaders from 100 diverse organizations. Results reveal that leader-employee perceptual congruence on high levels of perceived age-friendly work design was related to higher employee well-being. By contrast, older employees' well-being was lower when leaders evaluated the three age-friendly organizational practices higher than their older employees. Our findings suggest that further theoretical consideration of the role of leader-employee perceptual (in)congruence for aging workforces is needed, and that scholars and organizations should acknowledge the relevance and interplay of different stakeholders' perceptions within an organization.