Age, psychological contracts and job attitudes Matthijs Bal Management & Organization VU University Amsterdam The Netherlands Annet de Lange (RUG) PhD Paul Jansen (VU) PhD Mandy van der Velde (UU) PhD EAWOP 2007 Stockholm

Outline Psychological contracts Age and relation with psychological contracts Hypotheses Study Results and discussion

B A C K G R O U N D

Psychological contracts Rousseau (1989): “The individual beliefs regarding the terms and conditions of a reciprocal exchange agreement between that focal person and another party.” Perceived obligations Obligation fulfillment

Age (1) Age is a proxy; not a causal variable Loss: Health, cognitive abilities Growth: Knowledge and experience

Age (2) Lifespan theory (Baltes & Baltes, 1990; Carstensen et al., 1999): maximizing gains (through knowledge) vs. minimizing losses (through prevention). H1: Older workers perceive less obligations concerning knowledge than younger workers

Moderation of age Older people better emotion regulation: quicker return to positive moods after negative events Older people less negative affectivity No differences in positive affectivity H2: Age moderates relations fulfillment – attitudes. Younger employees stronger correlations for negative events, no differences in positive events.

Descriptives Study N=727 Insurance company 42% female M age: 40.33 years Org. Tenure: 10.56; job tenure: 5.51 4 psychological contract factors measured: Rewards job content job conditions development

Note: N= 727;* p <.05; ** p <.01; *** p<.001 Results (1) Variable Rewards Job content Job conditions Development Age .01 .02 -.00 -.17*** Control for job tenure, gender, work status, education Adjusted R2 .03 .10 .00 .04 Note: N= 727;* p <.05; ** p <.01; *** p<.001

Results (2) Work engagement Affective commitment Turnover Intention Control for age, job tenure, gender, work status, education Psychological contract fulfillment .42*** .34*** -.43*** Interactions: Contract fulfillment * age -.08* -.02 .09* Adjusted R2 .20 .16 Note: N= 727;* p <.05; ** p <.01; *** p<.001

Results: interactions

Discussion Older workers see less organizational obligations concerning development. Cognitive dissonance: not offered, thus not expected?

Discussion Age plays a role in how psychological contracts shape attitudes and behavior: younger people respond with lower engagement, and higher turnover intention when psychological contracts are not fulfilled. But not affective commitment…

Limitations Cross-sectional data: cohort differences Self-reports Healthy worker effects and early retirement: Few people >60 Thus: Follow up study Older samples

Older workers have lower expectations concerning development Conclusions Older workers have lower expectations concerning development and Older workers respond differently to organizational inducements compared to younger workers.

Questions? For more information: Matthijs Bal pbal@feweb.vu.nl http://staff.feweb.vu.nl/pbal