The Meaning of Work for Post-retirement Employment Decisions

Abstract

Post-retirement employment has become an increasingly important form of labor force participation for both retirees and employers in the last decade. In order to understand post-retirement employment decision-making, the current study investigates the meaning of work and its relationship to post-retirement employment. Based on previous research, we examined four dimensions of the meaning of work (i.e., social, personal, financial, and generative meaning of work) relevant to predicting post-retirement employment. Population-representative data from the German Transitions and Old Age Potential study (N = 2,149) were used to test the hypotheses. The results from binary logistic regression analysis indicated that the social and personal meanings of work were positively related to the likelihood to engage in post-retirement employment. Further, subjective economic status was found to moderate the relationship between the financial meaning of work and post-retirement employment. Exploratory analysis was conducted for post-retirement civil engagement and post-retirement family care in order to understand the broader role of the generative meaning of work. The findings of the present study extend previous research on late career decisions. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of theoretical development and individual and organizational practices.

Consequences of knowledge hiding: The differential compensatory effects of guilt and shame

“…We controlled for participants' age, gender, and time pressure at Time 1. Specifically, we included age because older workers tend to have higher generativity motives and are therefore more likely to engage in prosocial behaviours, such as mentoring and sense giving at work (Fasbender, Wang, Voltmer, & Deller, 2016;Gyekye & Haybatollahi, 2015). Furthermore, we controlled for gender (i.e., binary coded with 0 = male and 1 = female) because gender role stereotypes suggest that women possess more expressive behaviours, such as empathy and interpersonal orientation, which in turn leads to higher levels of OCB (Chiaburu, Sawyer, Smith, Brown, & Harris, 2014;Fasbender, Wang, & Zhan, 2016).…”

Using Work Values to Predict Post‐Retirement Work Intentions

“…In line with recent literature on retirement (Kim & Hall, ; Fasbender, Wang, Voltmer, & Deller, ; Wang & Shi, ), our theoretical approach is based on the protean career theory developed by Hall and colleagues (e.g., Hall, , ; Hall, Briscoe, & Kram, ). Protean career theory states that individual work values are crucial for career‐related decision making (e.g., Briscoe & Hall, ; Hall, ; Wang & Shi, ).…”

Attitudes About Working Beyond Normal Retirement Age: The Role of Mandatory Retirement

“…Working beyond normal retirement age has mostly been related to similar antecedents, with also a strong focus on the role of motivational factors, such as working mainly for financial reasons, for personal satisfaction, for the social embeddedness of work, or for passing on knowledge to a future generation (Burkert & Hochfellner, 2017;Fasbender et al, 2016;Mor-Barak, 1995). An important moderating factor that influences both retirement timing and working beyond normal retirement age is the institutional context in which the retirement transitions takes place, encompassing factors such as the availability and eligibility age for a public pension, the strength of employment protection legislation, and, the main focus of the current study, the legality and occurrence of mandatory retirement.…”