The Importance of Workplace Motives in Understanding Work–Family Issues for Older Workers

Thriving, Surviving and Performing in Late Career: A Mixed-Method Study of Pathways to Successful Aging in Organizations

“…(unlike SOC strategies) shows that HR is an enabler of behaviors and well-being that in turn contribute to performance. Some of the themes identified in Study 1 are consistent with the assertion by SES theory (Carstensen et al, 1999;Kooij et al, 2011;Thrasher et al, 2016) that late-career workers tend to focus on short-term goals which manifests as a desire for relational depth with existing contacts and affirmation of self-concept. This is particularly the case for the themes "recognition of the significant role mature workers can play" and "challenging and meaningful tasks/assignments".…”

“…Not only do these informal processes let older workers know how they are doing, they also allow negotiation of roles and responsibilities, and an opportunity for older workers to craft their contribution (Kooij, 2015b;Kooij et al, 2016) and feel they are being trusted and respected (Bal, 2015;Martin et al, 2016). Furthermore, such arrangements may increase work flexibility and help older workers deal effectively with work-family balance (Thrasher et al, 2016). It is therefore important that supervisors of older workers are made aware of these dynamics, and that they know how much room for maneuver the organization allows in making informal arrangements (e.g., i-deals, see Bal., 2015).…”

“…The need to sustain longer, but also healthy and productive working lives, across the developed countries and beyond (e.g., Eurofound, 2012) has prompted investigations into what might encourage and help older workers to extend their careers (e.g., Armstrong-Stassen, 2008a). Research has examined interactions between a variety of individual and contextual factors, such as person characteristics and self-regulation strategies (e.g., Warr, 1993;2001;Abraham & Hansson, 1995), job design (Truxillo, Cadiz, Rineer, Zaniboni, & Fraccaroli, 2012), organizational climate and management strategies (Boehm, Kunze, & Bruch, 2014), and wider environmental factors (Thrasher, Zabel, Wynne, & Baltes, 2016). Recent studies have promoted the advantages of the lifespan perspective when studying aging in the workplace (Zacher, 2015a;Kooij, 2015a).…”

Future Time Perspective in the Work Context: A Systematic Review of Quantitative Studies

“…For instance, Raymo and Sweeney (2006) found that work-family conflict was positively related to preferences for retirement. Moreover, changes in motives depicted by socioemotional selectivity theory suggest that individuals are likely to place more importance on family relative to work when they grow older (Thrasher et al, 2015). In a study on the moderating role of general FTP in the relationship between work-family conflict and organizational commitment, Treadway et al (2011) found negative correlations between general FTP and both work-family conflict and family work conflict.…”

Keeping work and private life apart: Age‐related differences in managing the work–nonwork interface

“…Although few studies have directly addressed work-family dynamics across the lifespan (for a review, see Thrasher, Zabel, Wynne, & Baltes, 2015), several recent studies found older workers to report higher work-life balance than their younger colleagues (Hill, Erickson, Fellows, Martinengo, & Allen, 2014;Richert-Kazmierska & Stankiewicz, 2016;Tausig & Fenwick, 2001), as well as lower work-nonwork interference (Allen & Finkelstein, 2014;Hill et al, 2014).…”