Marjorie Armstrong‐Stassen, Francine Schlosser and Deborah Zinni
This study aims to employ a resource‐oriented theoretical perspective to examine retirees' desire to return to their former organization.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to employ a resource‐oriented theoretical perspective to examine retirees' desire to return to their former organization.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a cross‐sectional field study design, data were collected from 243 retirees under 65 years of age who had been retired from a career job less than ten years.
Findings
Regression results indicate that retirees who had experienced financial and pervasive role loss as well as retirees who perceived a higher fit with their former organization and the availability of desired job role options expressed significantly greater interest in returning. Retirees who experienced gains in leaving work as well as gains in their life satisfaction following retirement reported significantly less interest in returning to their former organization.
Research limitations/implications
The cross‐sectional design and self‐report data create a potential for bias. Even though the findings are based on respondents' “interest” in returning to their former organization, it is not known if they actually did return.
Practical implications
Programs should focus on creating an environment that values older workers, and provides them with opportunities such as mentoring other workers.
Social implications
Policy changes are needed to ensure that returning to work following retirement results in resource gains and not resource losses.
Originality/value
This study uses resource theory with a diverse sample of retirees and considers their desire to return to their original employers, thus adding value to human resources and management who wish to retain or re‐engage their own knowledgeable retirees.
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Francine Schlosser, Deborah Zinni and Marjorie Armstrong‐Stassen
The purpose of this study is to identify antecedents of intentions to unretire among a group of retirees that included both those who had not returned to the workforce since their…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to identify antecedents of intentions to unretire among a group of retirees that included both those who had not returned to the workforce since their retirement and those who had previously unretired.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross‐sectional survey collected data from 460 recent retirees between the ages of 50 and 70.
Findings
Results of hierarchical regression indicated that retirees are more likely to remain retired if they feel financially secure and have a positive retirement experience. Conversely, they are more likely to intend to return to the workforce if they experience financial worries, wish to upgrade their skills or miss aspects of their former jobs.
Practical implications
Aging boomers who anticipate early retirement have created a dwindling labor pool. Simultaneously, the global pension crisis has impacted on the financial decisions of retirees. A trend to abolish mandatory retirement and/or increase mandatory age in various countries provides individuals with more freedom in their retirement decisions. Accordingly, managers must be creative in their HR planning strategies to retain or recruit skilled retirees.
Originality/value
Previous research has addressed retirement as a final stage, however, given simultaneous global demographic changes and economic concerns, this study provides new knowledge regarding the factors that push and pull retirees to participate in the labor market.
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Francine Schlosser, Deborah M. Zinni and Andrew Templer
Resource constraints in the Canadian publicly funded healthcare system have created a need for more volunteer leaders to effectively manage other volunteers. Self-concept theory…
Abstract
Resource constraints in the Canadian publicly funded healthcare system have created a need for more volunteer leaders to effectively manage other volunteers. Self-concept theory has been conceptualized and applied within a volunteer context, and the views of healthcare stakeholders, such as volunteers, volunteer leaders, and supervisors, triangulated to form an understanding of the attitudes and behaviors of volunteer leaders. We propose that leaders are differentiated from others by how they view their roles in the organization and their ability to make a difference in these roles. This interpretation can be informed by self-concept theory because each individual's notion of self-concept influences how employees see themselves, how they react to experiences, and how they allow these experiences to shape their motivation. A small case study profiles a volunteer leader self-concept that includes a proactive, learning-oriented attitude, capitalizing on significant prior work experience to fulfill a sense of obligation to the institution and its patients, and demands a high level of respect from paid employees.
Francine Schlosser, Deborah M. McPhee, Jody L. Ralph and Hanna Salminen
Deborah M. McPhee and Francine K. Schlosser
The authors contribute to scholarship on motivation for late-career transition, by examining how older executives drew on individual ambidexterity (IA) in the stigmatized…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors contribute to scholarship on motivation for late-career transition, by examining how older executives drew on individual ambidexterity (IA) in the stigmatized, Canadian-licensed recreational cannabis industry.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology utilizes a qualitative method, utilizing semi-structured interviews with 15 late-career executives. Inductive examination of data uncovered subthemes related to motivations for late-career transition, exploring and exploiting competencies, and known and unknown boundary conditions.
Findings
Motivations explained the impetus to join, while ambidexterity allowed executives to employ explorative and exploitive competencies to weather boundary conditions. Late-career transitioning to a stigmatized emerging industry presents an unprecedented mode of bridging employment for older workers.
Research limitations/implications
This small exploratory study of a nascent industry is limited in its generalization across different contexts but relevant to others in cannabis and other emerging industries. Increased focus on Human resources management (HRM) related research on late-career transition due to limited studies and IA.
Practical implications
Cannabis can be a risky employment venture for older workers that may affect future job prospects due to stigmatized views or present devastating financial risk. Older workers with knowledge, experience and skill remain relevant utilizing IA and their ability to manage difficult boundary conditions. Older experienced workers can bridge novel new opportunities before retiring.
Originality/value
The authors incorporated IA, expanding on literature related to boundary conditions in the late-career transition of executives into stigmatized recreational Cannabis. The authors introduce a new mode of bridge employment for late-career workers.
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Deborah McPhee, Mark Julien, Diane Miller and Barry Wright
Drawing upon the theoretical concept of social identities, the purpose of this paper is to investigate if an aboriginal employee resource group (ERG) helps to improve…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing upon the theoretical concept of social identities, the purpose of this paper is to investigate if an aboriginal employee resource group (ERG) helps to improve connectedness between the participants of the ERG and the organization in a Canadian context.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative research was used to interview 13 members of this ERG situated within a large Canadian bank.
Findings
The ERG created a positive experience for its members. It provided a bridge between the aboriginal identity and the organizational identity. Those who were part of the ERG felt that it encouraged them to bond to their cultural identity and that it also generated affirmative connections to the organization.
Practical implications
For employers seeking a more diverse workforce who have struggled with retaining employees from marginalized groups, ERGs may prove helpful.
Originality/value
This study posits a theoretical perspective of how ERGs are able to connect minority members to organizations through the recognition of dual identities. This is also the first study to examine the benefits of an aboriginal ERG.
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Hanna Salminen, Monika E. von Bonsdorff, Deborah McPhee and Pia Heilmann
By relying on a sustainable career perspective and recent studies on senior employees’ late career phase, this study aims to examine senior (50+) nurses’ late career narratives in…
Abstract
Purpose
By relying on a sustainable career perspective and recent studies on senior employees’ late career phase, this study aims to examine senior (50+) nurses’ late career narratives in the context of extending retirement age. Given the current global nursing shortage, there is a pressing need to find ways on how to promote longer and sustainable careers in the health-care field. Yet, there is limited knowledge about the extended late career phase of senior nurses.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirical data were derived from 22 interviews collected among senior (50+) nursing professionals working in a Finnish university hospital. The qualitative interview data were analysed using a narrative analysis method. As a result of the narrative analysis, four career narratives were constructed.
Findings
The findings demonstrated that senior nurses’ late career narratives differed in terms of late career aspirations, constraints, mobility and active agency of one’s own career. The identified career narratives indicate that the building blocks of sustainable late careers in the context of extending retirement age are diverse.
Research limitations/implications
The qualitative interview data were restricted to senior nurses working in one university hospital. Interviews were conducted on site and some nurses were called away leaving some of the interviews shorter than expected.
Practical implications
To support sustainable late careers requires that attention be based on the whole career ecosystem covering individual, organizational and societal aspects and how they are intertwined together.
Originality/value
So far, few studies have investigated the extended late career phase of senior employees in the context of a changing career landscape.