Outcomes of Occupational Self-Efficacy in Older Workers

Abstract

Because of the increasing number of older workers, it is important to develop models of work-related constructs for this population. The present article developed a model surrounding occupational self-efficacy, testing its relation to other factors (e.g., intrinsic job motivation), predictors (e.g., self-perceptions of aging), and outcomes (e.g., job satisfaction). Employed adults of ages 50 and older (n = 313) were recruited via organizations and social media sites. Study participants (M = 59.7, SD = 6.1, range = 50–78) volunteered to fill out an Internet survey. Occupational self-efficacy predicted job satisfaction, and intrinsic job motivation fully mediated this relationship. More negative self-perceptions of aging predicted poorer occupational self-efficacy. Occupational self-efficacy also predicted life satisfaction. Expected retirement age and job performance were unrelated to occupational self-efficacy. These findings may inform workplace interventions that seek to maintain or increase older worker job and life satisfaction.

Keywords

older workers retirement age job performance job satisfaction job motivation

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Aquino

J. A.

Russell

D. W.

Cutrona

C. E.

Altmaier

E. M.

(1996) Employment status, social support, and life satisfaction among the elderly. Journal of Counseling Psychology 43(4): 480.

Arbuckle

J. L.

(2009) Amos 18.0, Crawfordville, FL: Amos Development Corporation.

Baker

L. A.

Cahalin

L. P.

Gerst

Burr

J. A.

(2005) Productive activities and subjective well-being among older adults: The influence of number of activities and time commitment. Social Indicators Research 73: 431–458. doi:10.1007/s11205-005-0805-6.

Bandura

(1977) Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review 84(2): 191–215.

Bandura

(2012) On the functional properties of perceived self-efficacy revisited. Journal of Management 38(1): 9–44.

Barger

S. D.

Donoho

C. J.

Wayment

H. A.

(2009) The relative contributions of race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, health, and social relationships to life satisfaction in the United States. Quality of Life Research: An International Journal of Quality of Life Aspects of Treatment, Care & Rehabilitation 18(2): 179–189. doi:10.1007/s11136-008-9426-2.

Beehr

T. A.

Bennett

M. M.

(2007) Examining retirement from a multi-level perspective. In: Shultz

K. S.

Adams

G. A.

(eds) Aging and work in the 21st century, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 277−302.

Boumans

N. P. G.

De Jong

A. H. J.

Janssen

S. M.

(2011) Age-differences in work motivation and job satisfaction. The influence of age on the relationships between work characteristics and workers’ outcomes. International Journal of Aging and Human Development 73(4): 331–350.

Cheung

G. W.

Lau

R. S.

(2007) Testing mediation and suppression effects of latent variables: Bootstrapping with structural equation models. Organizational Research Methods 11(2): 296–325. doi:10.1177/1094428107300343.

10.

Elovainio

Forma

Kivimäki

Sinervo

Sutinen

Laine

(2005) Job demands and job control as correlates of early retirement thoughts in Finnish social and health care employees. Work & Stress 19(1): 84–92. doi:10.1080/02678370500084623.

11.

Fletcher

W. L.

Hansson

R. O.

Bailey

(1992) Assessing occupational self-efficacy among middle-aged and older adults. Journal of Applied Gerontology 11(4): 489–501. doi:10.1177/073346489201100408.

12.

Heber

David

D. E.

Lehr

Nobis

Berking

Riper

(2013) Efficacy and cost-effectiveness of a web-based and mobile stress-management intervention for employees: Design of a randomized controlled trial. BMC Public Health 13(1): 1–12. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-13-655.

13.

Hedge

J. W.

Borman

W. C.

Lammlein

S. E.

(2006) The aging workforce: Realities, myths, and implications for organizations, Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, pp. 203.

14.

Hertzog

Dixon

R. A.

Hultsch

D. F.

(1990) Relationships between metamemory, memory predictions, and memory task performance in adults. Psychology and Aging 5(2): 215–227. doi:10.1037/0882-7974.5.2.215.

15.

L.-T.

Bentler

P. M.

(1998) Fit indices in covariance structure modeling: Sensitivity to underparameterized model misspecification. Psychological Methods 3: 424–453.

16.

L.-T.

Bentler

P. M.

(1999) Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal 6: 1–55.

17.

Hughes

S. L.

Seymour

R. B.

Campbell

R. T.

Shaw

J. W.

Fabiyi

Sokas

(2011) Comparison of two health-promotion programs for older workers. American Journal of Public Health 101(5): 883–890. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2010.300082.

18.

Johnson, J. (2006). Analysis of the national study of the changing work force (Unpublished analysis). Center on Aging and Work/Workplace Flexibility, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA.

19.

Jopp

Hertzog

(2007) Activities, self-referent memory beliefs, and cognitive performance: Evidence for direct and mediated relations. Psychology and Aging 22(4): 811–825. doi:10.1037/0882-7974.22.4.811.

20.

Jopp

Leipold

(2004) Perception of resources and their meaning for well-being: Age-associated similarities and differences among young and old adults. Zeitschrift fur Gerontologie und Geriatrie 37(5): 354–356. doi:10.1007/s00391-004-0258-6.

21.

Judge

T. A.

Bono

J. E.

(2001) Relationship of core self-evaluations traits—self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, locus of control, and emotional stability—with job satisfaction and job performance: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology 86(1): 80–92. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.86.1.80.

22.

Judge

T. A.

Jackson

C. L.

Shaw

J. C.

Scott

B. A.

Rich

B. L.

(2007) Self-efficacy and work-related performance: The integral role of individual differences. Journal of Applied Psychology 92(1): 107–127. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.92.1.107.

23.

Kanfer

Ackerman

P. L.

(2004) Aging, adult development, and work motivation. Academy of Management Review 29(3): 440–458.

24.

Kline

R. B.

(2011) Principles and practice of structural equation modeling, 3rd ed. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

25.

Koolhaas

Brouwer

Groothoff

J. W.

van der Klink

J. J.

(2010) Enhancing a sustainable healthy working life: Design of a clustered randomized controlled trial. BMC Public Health 10: 461.

26.

Lawton

M. P.

(1975) The Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale: A revision. Journal of Gerontology 30: 85–89.

27.

Levy

B. R.

(1996) Improving memory in old age through implicit self-stereotyping. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 71(6): 1092–1107.

28.

Levy

B. R.

Slade

M. D.

Kasl

S. V.

(2002) Longitudinal benefit of positive self-perceptions of aging on functional health. Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 57(5): 409–417.

29.

Levy

B. R.

Slade

M. D.

Kunkel

S. R.

Kasl

S. V.

(2002) Longevity increased by positive self-perceptions of aging. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 83: 261–270.

30.

Little

R. J. A.

(1988) A test of missing completely at random for multivariate data with missing values. Journal of the American Statistical Association 83(404): 1198.

31.

Maestas

Zissimopoulos

(2010) How longer work lives ease the crunch of population aging. The Journal of Economic Perspectives 241: 139–160. Retrived from http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/jep.24.1.139.

32.

McAdams

D. P.

de St Aubin

(1998) Generativity and adult development, Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

33.

McNamara, T. (2006). The meaning of work and retirement: Analyses of the health and retirement study, 1994–2004 (Unpublished analyses). Center on Aging and Work, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA.

34.

Moen

Erickson

Argarwal

Fields

Todd

(2000) The Cornell retirement and well-being study, Ithaca, NY: Bronfenbrenner Life Course Center at Cornell University.

35.

National Association of Area Agencies on Aging. (2015). AAAs & Title VI aging programs. Retrived from http://www.n4a.org/aaastitlevi.

36.

Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development. (2015). Employment policies and data. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/els/emp/onlineoecdemploymentdatabase.htm#unr.

37.

Pavot

W. G.

Diener

Colvin

C. R.

Sandvik

(1991) Further validation of the satisfaction with life scale: Evidence for the cross-method convergence of well-being measures. Journal of Personality Assessment 57: 149–161.

38.

Perera

Sardeshmukh

S. R.

Kulik

C. T.

(2015) In or out: Job exits of older workers. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources 53(1): 4–21. doi:10.1111/1744-7941.12051.

39.

Pitt-Catsoupes, M., & Smyer, M. A. (2005). Older workers: What keeps them working? (Issue Brief No. 1). Chestnut Hill, MA: The Center on Aging and Work/Workplace Flexibility, Boston College.

40.

Schaie

K. W.

(1996) Adult intellectual development: The Seattle longitudinal study, New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

41.

Schreurs

de Cuyper

van Emmerik

I. J. H.

Notelaers

de Witte

(2011) Job demands and resources and their associations with early retirement intentions through recovery need and work enjoyment. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology 37(2): 63–72.

42.

Schwarzer

Jerusalem

(1995) Generalized self-efficacy scale. In: Weinman

Wright

Johnston

(eds) Measures in health psychology: A user’s portfolio. Causal control beliefs, Windsor, England: NFER-Nelson, pp. 35–37.

43.

Schyns

von Collani

(2002) A new occupational self-efficacy scale and its relation to personality constructs and organizational variables. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology 11(2): 219–241.

44.

van den Berg

P. T.

(2011) Characteristics of the work environment related to older employees’ willingness to continue working: Intrinsic motivation as a mediator. Psychological Reports 109(1): 174–186.

45.

Wang

Shultz

K. S.

(2010) Employee retirement: A review and recommendations for future investigation. Journal of Management 36: 172–206. doi:10.1177/0149206309347957.

46.

Warr

Butcher

Robertson

Callinan

(2004) Older people’s well-being as a function of employment, retirement, environmental characteristics and role preference. British Journal of Psychology 95(3): 297–324. doi:10.1348/0007126041528095.

47.

Warr

Cook

Wall

(1979) Scales for the measurement of some work attitudes and aspects of psychological well-being. Journal of Occupational Psychology 52(2): 129–148. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8325.1979.tb00448.x.

48.

Werner

Karin Schermelleh-Engel

K. K.

(2009) Introduction to structural equation modeling with LISREL, Frankfurt, Germany: Goethe University.

49.

West

R. L.

Bagwell

D. K.

Dark-Freudeman

(2008) Self-efficacy and memory aging: The impact of a memory intervention based on self-efficacy. Neuropsychology, Development, and Cognition Section B: Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition 15(3): 302–329.

50.

Woo

Schmitter-Edgecombe

Fancher

J. B.

(2008) Memory prediction accuracy in younger and older adults: A cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition 15(1): 1–27. doi:10.1080/13825580701626936.

51.

Wothke

Arbuckle

J. L.

(1996) Full-information missing data analysis with Amos. In: Faulbaum

Bandilla

(eds) Softstat ’95 advances in statistical software 5, Stuttgart, Germany: Lucius & Lucius, pp. 219–228.