Cornelia Rauschenbach’s research while affiliated with University of Münster and other places

In the light of an aging workforce, age differences in workers’ motives are important guidelines for an age-differentiated human resource management. Whereas research has addressed age differences in explicit work values or motives, age differences in implicit motives and in the congruency between implicit and explicit motives (i-e-congruency) have been neglected so far. In two studies (N = 201 and 751), we investigated chronological age as a moderator of the relationship between i-e-congruency and job satisfaction. In general, we expected that high i-e-congruency is positively related to job satisfaction. Moreover, life-experience and a change in future-work time-perspective should lead to higher i-e-congruency for older than for younger workers. Finally, we hypothesized that the relationship between i-e-congruency and job satisfaction is moderated by workers’ age such that i-e-congruency is more strongly related to job satisfaction for older than for younger workers. Results supported our hypotheses in the affiliation motive domain. Implications for workers’ careers and an age differentiated human resource management are discussed.

This study addresses coping processes as explanation of age-related differences in strain experience. Based on the life-span theory of control, we posit that older workers employ more active problem-focused and more active emotion-focused coping strategies than younger workers, which should mediate age effects on strain at work. The correlation between age and passive avoidance coping, in contrast, is expected to be qualified by external resources such as job control. Hypotheses were tested in a two-wave panel study (8 months lag) with 634 workers (age range 16–65 years). Job demands were considered as control variables. As predicted, older as compared with younger workers reported more active problem-focused coping, which mediated age differences on strain in the longitudinal analysis. No mediation was found for active emotion-focused coping. Moreover, age-contingent effects of passive avoidance coping were moderated by job control. When job control was low, younger as compared with older workers reported more avoidance coping, which in turn decreased strain in the longitudinal analysis. Finally, reverse longitudinal effects of age-contingent strain on active problem-focused and active emotion-focused coping provide initial evidence for age-contingent resource spirals. Together, the results reveal specific strengths of older workers for stress management at work. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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: • Learning goals are more attractive for younger as compared to older workers. • Goals directed towards emotion regulation and positive experiences at work are more important for older as compared to younger workers. Need for autonomy is more pronounced in older as compared to younger workers. • Generativity motives (helping others, legacy, etc.) are more prioritized by older as compared to younger workers. • Older workers have developed higher congruencies between their implicit and their explicit motive systems, reducing the need for self-regulation. • Older as 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. • Older workers experience lower stress levels as middle-age workers, which is not only a consequence of differences in external stressors. • 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 as 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 (see also Hertel et al. 2013a). Understanding these potential strengths and their dynamics is central for a successful leverage and development of these potentials in modern work environments.

In light of an aging workforce, age stereotypes have become an important topic both for researchers and for practitioners. Among other effects, age stereotypes might predict discriminatory behavior at work. This study examined stereotypic beliefs about emotional resilience as a function of both targets’ and judges’ age. In a web-based study, 4,181 persons between 15 and 87 years rated four targets (young male worker, young female worker, older male worker, older female worker) on emotional resilience in a work context. An age effect showed that older targets were rated lower on emotional resilience than younger targets. Moreover, older compared to younger judges provided more positive assessments of younger targets.

While age differences of workers gain increasing importance because of demographic changes in most industrialized countries, age differences in stress experience and resistance have been rarely addressed. In this initial empirical study, we explore the general relationship of age and strain as a function of three processes: (1) older workers might experience less strain because of better coping strategies; (2) older workers might experience more strain because of higher vulnerability; or (3) age and strain might be curvilinearly related with highest strain reported by middle-age workers. Using both general and experience-based measures, strain and emotional reactivity to stressful job events were reported by 274 workers aged between 18 and 65 years. Results showed an inverted U-shaped relationship between age and strain experience. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.