The workforce in most industrialized countries is aging. However, the role of age in job design has largely been ignored. In the present paper, we apply lifespan development perspectives to the interaction between job characteristics and age. Specifically, we examine the possible joint effects of age and job characteristics on job satisfaction, engagement, and performance, developing a series of propositions to guide future research. We also discuss possible boundary conditions, mediating mechanisms, and future research challenges.
BaltesB. B.DicksonM. W. (2001). Using life-span models in industrial-organizational psychology: The theory of selective optimization with compensation. Applied Developmental Science, 5, 51–62.
2.
BaltesP. B.BaltesM. M. (1990). Psychological perspectives on successful aging: The model of selective optimization with compensation. In BaltesP. B.BaltesM. M. (Eds.), Successful aging: Perspectives from the behavioral sciences (pp. 1–34). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
3.
BaltesP. B.StaudingerU. M.LindenbergerU. (1999). Lifespan psychology: Theory and application to intellectual functioning. Annual Review of Psychology, 50, 471–507.
4.
BanduraA. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
5.
BarakB. (1987). Cognitive age: A new multidimensional approach to measuring age identity. The International Journal of Aging & Human Development, 25, 109–128.
6.
BarlingJ.GriffithsA. (2011). A history of occupational health psychology. In QuickJ. C.TetrickL. E. (Eds.), Handbook of occupational health psychology (2nd ed., pp. 21–34). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
7.
BarrickM. R.MountM. K.StraussJ. P. (1993). Conscientiousness and performance of sales representatives: Test of the mediating effects of goal setting. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 715–722.
8.
BormanW. C.MotowidloS. (1993). Expanding the criterion domain to include elements of contextual performance. In SchmittN.BormanW. (Eds.), Personnel selection in organizations (Vol. 71, pp. 71–98). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
9.
BormanW. C.MotowidloS. J. (1997). Task performance and contextual performance: The meaning for personnel selection research. Human Performance, 10, 99–109.
10.
CampionM. A.McClellandC. L. (1991). Interdisciplinary examination of the costs and benefits of enlarged jobs: A job design quasi-experiment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 76, 186–198.
11.
CaroneG.CostelloD. (2006). Can Europe afford to grow old?Finance and Development, 49, 1–9.
12.
CarstensenL. L.IsaacowitzD. M.CharlesS. T. (1999). Taking time seriously: A theory of socioemotional selectivity. American Psychologist, 54, 165–181.
13.
CateR. A.JohnO. P. (2007). Testing models of the structure and development of future time perspective: Maintaining a focus on opportunities in middle age. Psychology and Aging, 22, 186–201.
14.
CattellR. B. (1971). Abilities: Their structure, growth, and action. Oxford, UK: Houghton Mifflin.
15.
ChristianM. S.GarzaA. S.SlaughterJ. E. (2011). Work engagement: A quantitative review and test of its relations with task and contextual performance. Personnel Psychology, 64, 89–136.
16.
Chung-YanG. A.ButlerA. M. (2011). Proactive personality in the context of job complexity. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue Canadienne des Sciences du Comportement, 43, 279–286.
17.
De LangeA. H.TarisT. W.JansenP.KompierM. A. J.HoutmanI. L. D.BongersP. M. (2010). On the relationships among work characteristics and learning-related behavior: Does age matter?Journal of Organizational Behavior, 31, 925–950.
18.
EdwardsJ. R.CableD. M.WilliamsonI. O.LambertL. S.ShippA. J. (2006). The phenomenology of fit: Linking the person and environment to the subjective experience of person–environment fit. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91, 802–827.
19.
FreundA. M.BaltesP. B. (2002). Life-management strategies of selection, optimization and compensation: Measurement by self-report and construct validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 642–662.
20.
GrantA. M. (2008). The significance of task significance: Job performance effects, relational mechanisms, and boundary conditions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 108–124.
21.
GrantA. M.FriedY.JuilleratT. (2010). Work matters: Job design in classic and contemporary perspectives. In ZedeckS. (Ed.), APA handbook of industrial and organizational psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 417–453). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
22.
GrantA. M.ParkerS. K. (2009). Redesigning work design theories: The rise of relational and proactive perspectives. The Academy of Management Annals, 3, 317–375.
23.
GriffithsA. (2000). Designing and managing healthy work for older workers. Occupational Medicine, 50, 473–477.
24.
HackmanJ. R.OldhamG. R. (1975). Development of the Job Diagnostic Survey. Journal of Applied Psychology, 60, 159–170.
25.
HackmanJ. R.OldhamG. R. (1976). Motivation through the design of work: Test of a theory. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 16, 250–279.
26.
HerzbergF. I. (1966). Work and the nature of man. Oxford, UK: World.
27.
HumphreyS. E.NahrgangJ. D.MorgesonF. P. (2007). Integrating motivational, social, and contextual work design features: A meta-analytic summary and theoretical extension of the work design literature. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 1332–1356.
28.
JohnsonR. W.MerminG. B. T.RessegerM. (2011). Job demands and work ability at older ages. Journal of Aging & Social Policy, 23, 101–118.
29.
JudgeT. A.BonoJ. 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, 80–92.
30.
KahnW. A. (1990). Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work. Academy of Management Journal, 33, 692–724.
31.
KanferR.AckermanP. L. (2004). Aging, adult development, and work motivation. Academy of Management Review, 29, 440–458.
32.
KarasekR. A. (1979). Job demands, job decision latitude, and mental strain: Implications for job redesign. Administrative Science Quarterly, 24, 285–308.
33.
KarasekR. A.BrissonC.KawakamiN.HoutmanI.BongersP.AmickB. (1998). The Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ): An instrument for internationally comparative assessments of psychosocial job characteristics. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 3, 322–355.
34.
KiggunduM. N. (1983). Task interdependence and job design: Test of a theory. Organizational Behavior & Human Performance, 31, 145–172.
35.
KooijD. T. A. M.de LangeA. H.JansenP. G. W.DikkersJ. S. E. (2008). Older workers’ motivation to continue to work: Five meanings of age: A conceptual review. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 23, 364–394.
36.
LawrenceB. S. (1988). New wrinkles in the theory of age: Demography, norms, and performance ratings. Academy of Management Journal, 31, 309–337.
37.
MaslachC.LeiterM. P. (1997). The truth about burnout: How organizations cause personal stress and what to do about it. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
38.
MaslachC.LeiterM. P. (2008). Early predictors of job burnout and engagement. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 498–512.
39.
McAdamsD. P.de St. AubinE.LoganR. L. (1993). Generativity among young, midlife, and older adults. Psychology and Aging, 8, 221–230.
40.
McKayP. F.AveryD. R.TonidandelS.MorrisM. A.HernandezM.HeblM. R. (2007). Racial differences in employee retention: Are diversity climate perceptions the key?Personnel Psychology, 60, 35–62.
41.
MorgesonF. P.CampionM. A. (2003). Work design. In BormanW. C.IlgenD. R.KlimoskiR. J. (Eds.), Handbook of psychology: Industrial and organizational psychology (Vol. 12, pp. 423–452). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
42.
MorgesonF. P.HumphreyS. E. (2006). The Work Design Questionnaire (WDQ): Developing and validating a comprehensive measure for assessing job design and the nature of work. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91, 1321–1339.
43.
MorgesonF. P.HumphreyS. E. (2008). Job and team design: Toward a more integrative conceptualization of work design. In MartocchioJ. J. (Ed.), Research in personnel and human resources management (Vol. 27, pp. 39–91). Bradford, UK: Emerald.
44.
NeugartenB. L.HagestadG. O. (1976). Age and the life course. In BinstockR.ShanasE. (Eds.), Handbook of aging and social sciences (pp. 35–55). New York, NY: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
45.
NgT. W. H.FeldmanD. C. (2008). The relationship of age to ten dimensions of job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 392–423.
46.
NgT. W. H.FeldmanD. C. (2010a). Organizational tenure and job performance. Journal of Management, 36, 1220–1250.
47.
NgT. W. H.FeldmanD. C. (2010b). The relationships of age with job attitudes: A meta-analysis. Personnel Psychology, 63, 677–718.
48.
OrganD. W. (1988). Organizational citizenship behavior: The good soldier syndrome. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
49.
PerryE. L.DokkoG.GolomF. (2012). The aging worker and person–environment fit. In HedgeJ. W.BormanW. C. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of work and aging. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
50.
PerryE. L.FinkelsteinL. M. (1999). Toward a broader view of age discrimination in employment-related decisions: A joint consideration of organizational factors and cognitive processes. Human Resource Management Review, 9, 21–49.
51.
PerryE. L.KulikC. T.BourhisA. C. (1996). Moderating effects of personal and contextual factors in age discrimination. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81, 628–647.
52.
PetersonN. G.MumfordM. D.BormanW. C.JeanneretP. R.FleishmanE. A.LevinK. Y. DyeD. M. (2001). Understanding work using the occupational information network (O*NET). Personnel Psychology, 54, 451–492.
53.
PodsakoffP. M.MacKenzieS. B.PaineJ. B.BachrachD. G. (2000). Organizational citizenship behaviors: A critical review of the theoretical and empirical literature and suggestions for future research. Journal of Management, 26, 513–563.
54.
RobertsB. W.WaltonK. E.ViechtbauerW. (2006). Patterns of mean-level change in personality traits across the life course: A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 132, 1–25.
55.
RobinsR. W.TrzesniewskiK. H.TracyJ. L.GoslingS. D.PotterJ. (2002). Global self-esteem across the life span. Psychology and Aging, 17, 423–434.
56.
RothmannS. (2008). Job satisfaction, occupational stress, burnout and work engagement as components of work-related wellbeing. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology, 34, 11–16.
57.
RotundoM.SackettP. R. (2002). The relative importance of task, citizenship, and counterproductive performance to global ratings of job performance: A policy-capturing approach. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 66–80.
58.
SchaufeliW. B.SalanovaM.González-RomáV.BakkerA. B. (2002). The measurement of engagement and burnout: A two sample confirmatory factor analytic approach. Journal of Happiness Studies, 3, 71–92.
59.
SetterstenR. A.MayerK. U. (1997). The measurement of age, age structuring, and the life course. Annual Review of Sociology, 23, 233–261.
60.
SpectorP. E. (1997). Job satisfaction: Application, assessment, cause, and consequences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
61.
SturmanM. C. (2003). Searching for the inverted u-shaped relationship between time and performance: meta-analyses of the experience/performance, tenure/performance, and age/performance relationships. Journal of Management, 29, 609–640.
62.
SullivanS. J.MikelsJ. A.CarstensenL. L. (2010). You never lose the ages you’ve been: Affective perspective taking in older adults. Psychology and Aging, 25, 229–234.
63.
TaylorF. W. (1911). The principles of scientific management. New York, NY: Harper and Brothers.
64.
ToossiM. (2009). Labor force projections to 2018: Older workers staying more active. Monthly Labor Review, 132, 30–51.
65.
TristE. L.BamforthK. W. (1951). Some social and psychological consequences of the Longwall method of coal-getting. Human Relations, 4, 3–38.
66.
Truxillo, D. M., Cadiz, D. A., & Rineer, J. R. (2012). Designing jobs for an aging workforce: An opportunity for occupational health. In J. Houdmont, S. Leka, & R. R. Sinclair (Eds.), Contemporary Occupational Health Psychology: Global Perspectives on Research and Practice, Volume 2, pp. 109–125. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
67.
TwengeJ. M.CampbellS. M.HoffmanB. J.LanceC. E. (2010). Generational differences in work values: Leisure and extrinsic values increasing, social and intrinsic values decreasing. Journal of Management, 36, 1117–1142.
68.
WarrP. (1987). Work, unemployment, and mental health. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
69.
WilliamsL. J.AndersonS. E. (1991). Job satisfaction and organizational commitment as predictors of organizational citizenship and in-role behaviors. Journal of Management, 17, 601–617.
70.
ZacherH.FreseM. (2009). Remaining time and opportunities at work: Relationships between age, work characteristics, and occupational future time perspective. Psychology and Aging, 24, 487–493.
71.
ZacherH.FreseM. (2011). Maintaining a focus on opportunities at work: The interplay between age, job complexity, and the use of selection, optimization, and compensation strategies. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 32, 291–318.
72.
ZacherH.HeusnerS.SchmitzM.ZwierzanskaM. M.FreseM. (2010). Focus on opportunities as a mediator of the relationships between age, job complexity, and work performance. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 76, 374–386.
73.
ZaniboniS.TruxilloD. M.FraccaroliF.McCuneE. A.BertolinoM. (2011, April). Age moderates the effects of WDQ factors on job attitudes. In K. James & G. Burlacu (Chairs), Age and career development in a changing world of work. Symposium conducted at the 26th Annual Conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Chicago, IL.
