Altersunterschiede in der Arbeitsmotivation und im Erleben während der Arbeit
Final Report Abstract
Age differences at work not only go along with differences in job-related abilities and expertise, but also with diverging attitudes and experiences at work. Indeed, there seem to be systematic age differences both in work motivation and stress which might provide important guidelines for age-differentiated human resource management. Among these systematic age differences, the following seem to be quite robust across samples and studies: 1) Learning goals are more attractive for younger compared to older workers, 2) goals directed towards emotion regulation and positive experiences at work are more important for older compared to younger workers, 3) need for autonomy is more pronounced in older compared to younger workers, 4) generativity motives (helping others, legacy, etc.) are more prioritized by older compared to younger workers, 5) older workers have developed higher congruencies between their implicit and their explicit motive systems, reducing the need for self-regulation, 6) older compared to younger workers suffer more when implicit and explicit motives are incongruent, as well as when individual work values are in conflict with given task characteristics, 7) older workers experience lower stress levels than middle-aged workers which is not only a consequence of differences in external stressors, 8) even though older workers seem to have a lower need for self-regulation and often have more opportunities for active control at work, they also possess higher self-regulation skills compared to younger workers. These empirical research findings are in line with the general theoretical framework of our research project, connecting work psychology models of motivation and stress with life-span models of aging. Notably, both the theoretical predictions as well as the empirical findings clearly speak against a mere deficit perspective of aging at work. Older workers do have various strengths compared to their younger colleagues both in motivational and in stress-related work competencies. Understanding these potential strengths and their dynamics is central for a successful leverage and development of these potentials in modern work environments.
Publications
- (2011). Age differences in strain and emotional reactivity to stressors in professional careers. Stress and Health, Vol. 27. 2011, Issue 2, pp. e48–e60.
Rauschenbach, C., Hertel, G.
(See online at https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/smi.1335) - (2011). Alt und ausgepowert? - Wie ältere Berufstätige ihre Arbeit erleben. Themenausgabe Alternde Gesellschaft(en). In-Mind Magazine, No. 2/2011.
Rauschenbach, C.
- (2012) Age stereotypes about emotional resilience at work. Educational Gerontology, Vol. 38. 2012, Issue 8, pp. 511-519.
Rauschenbach, C., Göritz, A., Hertel, G.
(See online at https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03601277.2011.567187) - (2012) Reconstruction methods: Using episodic memory traces to capture experiences at work efficiently. In: Bakker, A.B. & Daniels, K. (eds.) A day in the life of the happy worker. 2012, pp. 100-113.
Hertel, G., Stamov-Rossnagel, C.
- (2013) Facilitating age diversity in organizations - part I: Challenging popular misbeliefs. Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 28 . 2013, Issue 7/8, pp.729–740.
Hertel, G., van der Heijden, B., De Lange A., Deller J.
(See online at https://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JMP-07-2013-0233) - (2013) Facilitating age diversity in organizations - part II: Managing perceptions and interactions. Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 28 Iss: 7/8, pp.857 - 866.
Hertel, G., van der Heijden, B., De Lange A., Deller J.
(See online at https://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JMP-07-2013-0234) - (2013) No time for compromises: Age as a moderator of the relation between needs-supply fit and job satisfaction. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 22. 2013, Issue 5, pp. 547-562.
Krumm, S., Grube, A., Hertel, G.
(See online at https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1359432X.2012.676248) - (2013) The Munster Work Value Measure. Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 28. 2013, Issue 5, pp. 532–560.
Krumm, S., Grube, A., Hertel, G.
(See online at https://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JMP-07-2011-0023) - (2013). Age and work stress: A review and meta-analysis. Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 28. 2013, Issue 7/8, pp.781–804.
Rauschenbach, C., Krumm, S., Thielgen, M., Hertel, G.
(See online at https://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JMP-07-2013-0251) - (2013). Age differences in motivation and stress at work. In: Schlick, C., Frieling, E. & Wegge, J. (Eds.), Age-differentiated work systems. Berlin: Springer, 2013, pp. 119-147.
Hertel, G., Thielgen, M., Rauschenbach, C., Grube, A., Stamov-Roßnagel, C., Krumm, S.
(See online at https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35057-3_6) - (2015) Older but wiser: Age moderates congruency effects between implicit and explicit motives on job satisfaction. Motivation and Emotion, Vol. 39. 2015, Issue 2, pp 182-200.
Thielgen, M.M., Krumm, S., Rauschenbach, C., Hertel, G.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-014-9448-8) - (2015) When being old pays off - age mitigates adverse effects of low implicit-explicit motive congruency on work motivation. Journal of Career Assessment, Vol. 23. 2015, Issue 3, pp. 459-480.
Thielgen, M.M., Krumm, S., Hertel, G.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1177/1069072714547613) - (2015). Are older workers more active copers? Longitudinal effects of age-contingent coping on strain at work. Journal of Organizational Behavior Vol. 36. 2015, Issue 4, pp. 514–537.
Hertel, G., Rauschenbach, C., Thielgen, M. M., Krumm, S.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1002/job.1995)
