Suchergebnisse

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.

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.

AbstractResearch on measures for organizational practices targeted toward older employees has grown during the past decade. However, existing measures tend to capture the construct with unidimensional scales, use single-item operationalizations, or focus on specific domains. Thus, the Later Life Workplace Index (LLWI) was developed to serve as a multidimensional framework for measuring organizational practices for the aging workforce. The LLWI covers 9 domains, namely organizational climate, leadership, work design, health management, individual development, knowledge management, transition to retirement, continued employment after retirement, and health and retirement coverage. The index has recently been operationalized and validated in Germany. Given that the quantitative evidence for the framework is limited to Germany so far, we aimed to translate and validate an English version of the LLWI using a sample of older U.S. employees (N = 279). Findings regarding the psychometric properties of the measure are presented, supporting the domain level factor structure through confirmatory factor analyses, but revealing some redundancy among the items for the overall 9 domain factor structure. Multigroup factor analyses comparing the U.S. sample to a German sample (N = 349) further confirmed configural and (partial) metric measurement invariance of the English version of the LLWI. Results also supported convergent and discriminant validity as well as criterion and incremental validity regarding individual level attitudinal, health-related, intention, and behavioral outcomes. Based on these findings, implications for the use of the LLWI in research and practice and future research directions are discussed.

Background: COVID-19 has a direct impact on the employment of older people. This adds to the challenge of ageism. The World Health Organization has started a worldwide campaign to combat ageism and has called for more research and evidence-based strategies that have the potential to be scaled up. This study specifically aims to identify solutions to combat the adverse effects of COVID-19 on the global ageing workforce. Methods: We present 15 case studies from different countries and report on what those countries are doing or not doing to address the impact of COVID-19 on ageing workers. Results: We provide examples of how COVID-19 influences older people's ability to work and stay healthy, and offer case studies of what governments, organizations or individuals can do to help ensure older people can obtain, maintain and, potentially, expand their current work. Case studies come from Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Germany, Israel, Japan, Nigeria, Romania, Singapore, Sweden, South Korea, Thailand, United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US). Across the countries, the impact of COVID-19 on older workers is shown as widening inequalities. A particular challenge has arisen because of a large proportion of older people, often with limited education and working in the informal sector within rural areas, e.g. in Nigeria, Thailand and China. Remedies to the particular disadvantage experienced by older workers in the context of COVID are presented. These range from funding support to encouraging business continuity, innovative product and service developments, community action, new business models and localized, national and international actions. The case studies can be seen as frequently fitting within strategies that have been proven to work in reducing ageism within the workplace. They include policy and laws that have increased benefits to workers during lockdowns (most countries); educational activities such as coaching seniorpreneurship (e,g, Australia); intergenerational contact interventions such as ...

Background: COVID-19 has a direct impact on the employment of older people. This adds to the challenge of ageism. The World Health Organization has started a worldwide campaign to combat ageism and has called for more research and evidence-based strategies that have the potential to be scaled up. This study specifically aims to identify solutions to combat the adverse effects of COVID-19 on the global ageing workforce. Methods: We present 15 case studies from different countries and report on what those countries are doing or not doing to address the impact of COVID-19 on ageing workers. Results: We provide examples of how COVID-19 influences older people's ability to work and stay healthy, and offer case studies of what governments, organizations or individuals can do to help ensure older people can obtain, maintain and, potentially, expand their current work. Case studies come from Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Germany, Israel, Japan, Nigeria, Romania, Singapore, Sweden, South Korea, Thailand, United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US). Across the countries, the impact of COVID-19 on older workers is shown as widening inequalities. A particular challenge has arisen because of a large proportion of older people, often with limited education and working in the informal sector within rural areas, e.g. in Nigeria, Thailand and China. Remedies to the particular disadvantage experienced by older workers in the context of COVID are presented. These range from funding support to encouraging business continuity, innovative product and service developments, community action, new business models and localized, national and international actions. The case studies can be seen as frequently fitting within strategies that have been proven to work in reducing ageism within the workplace. They include policy and laws that have increased benefits to workers during lockdowns (most countries); educational activities such as coaching seniorpreneurship (e,g, Australia); intergenerational contact interventions such as ...