Abstract
Abstract. This paper investigates the relationship between employee age and levels of trait-like dispositional motivation in a sample of 7644 individuals from five Northern European countries (Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden) who completed a comprehensive motivation questionnaire for selection or development purposes. Age differences in motivation were examined by controlling for demographic variables and testing for non-linear relationships. On the whole, effects were small, with age explaining up to 7 % incremental variance in specific motivation scales. Small effects were found for five motivation scales, which indicated a tendency for older employees in this sample to be more motivated by intrinsically rewarding job features but less motivated by features that entail low perceived utility or that are mainly extrinsically rewarding. Results were generally consistent across the five Nordic countries but in countries where the average retirement age is higher (i. e., in late-exit cultures) the decline was lower for progression. The findings generally support propositions from the literature which suggest a shift in people’s motivators rather than a general decline in motivation with age. As effect sizes are small, however, the differences observed for the age groups investigated in this sample are likely to have very little practical implications for human resource management.
Zusammenfassung. Diese Studie untersucht den Zusammenhang zwischen dem Alter von Erwerbstätigen und dispositioneller Motivation in einer Stichprobe von 7644 Individuen aus fünf nordeuropäischen Ländern (Dänemark, Deutschland, Niederlande, Norwegen und Schweden), die einen umfangreichen Motivationsfragebogen im Rahmen der Personalauswahl oder Personalentwicklung bearbeitet hatten. Altersbezogene Unterschiede in der Arbeitsmotivation wurden untersucht, indem für demografische Variablen kontrolliert und nicht-lineare Zusammenhänge geprüft wurden. Die beobachteten Effekte waren insgesamt klein; so erklärte die Variable Alter bis zu 7 % inkrementelle Varianz in spezifischen Motivationsskalen. Kleine Effekte fanden sich in Bezug auf fünf Motivationsskalen, die darlegen, dass ältere Mitarbeiter in dieser Stichprobe mehr durch intrinsische Anreize am Arbeitsplatz motiviert waren, als durch Arbeitsmerkmale, die einen niedrigen wahrgenommen Nutzen haben oder aus eher extrinsischen Anreizen bestehen. Die Ergebnisse waren im Allgemeinen über die fünf nordeuropäischen Länder hinweg übereinstimmend mit Ausnahme von Ländern, in denen das Pensionierungsalter höher ist (late exit-cultures): Dort war die Abnahme von beruflichem Weiterkommen als Motivator weniger stark. Generell bestätigen die Ergebnisse die theoretischen Modelle aus der Literatur, die mit zunehmenden Alter eine Verlagerung von Motiven nahelegen, anstatt einen allgemeinen Rückgang von Motivation. Die Effektgrößen sind jedoch sehr klein, so dass die beobachteten altersbezogenen Unterschiede sehr geringe praktische Auswirkungen für das Personalmanagement haben.
References
(1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioural sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
& (1983). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences (2ndedition). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
& (1999). National employment systems and job autonomy: Why job autonomy is high in the Nordic countries and low in the United States, Canada, and Australia. Organization Studies, 20, 257– 291.
(1990). The three worlds of welfare capitalism. Oxford, UK: Polity Press.
& (1975). Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior: An introduction to theory and research. Reading. MA: Addison-Wesley.
(2003). The quality of working life: Is Scandinavia different? European Sociological Review, 19, 61– 79.
& (1995). The new career contract: Developing the whole person at midlife and beyond. Journal of Vocational Behaviour, 47, 269– 289.
& (2007). The next 20 years: How customer and workforce attitudes will evolve. Harvard Business Review, July–August, 2007, 41–52.
& (2008). Age and labour market commitment in Germany, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Work, Employment and Society, 22, 109– 128.
& (2002). Production regimes and work orientations: A comparison of six Western countries. European Sociological Review, 18, 315– 331.
, & (2008). Age differences in work motivation. Paper presented at the 23rd Annual Conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, San Francisco.
(1987). Task specific motivation: An integrative approach to issues of measurement, mechanisms, processes, and determinants. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 5 , 237– 264.
(in press). Identifying use-inspired research directions. Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice.
& (2004). Aging, adult development, and work motivation. Academy of Management Review, 29, 440– 458.
& (2005). Global aging: The challenge of success. Population Bulletin 60, 3– 40.
(1990). A logic of institutional change. In K. S. Cook & M. Levi (Eds). The limits of rationality, (pp. 402–419) Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
(2001). Generativity in midlife. In M. E. Lachman (Ed.) Handbook of midlife development, (pp. 395–446). New York: Wiley.
& (1998). Generativity and Adult Development: How and Why We Care for the Next Generation. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association Press.
& (2002). Labour market transitions and employment regimes. Evidence on the flexibility-security nexus in transitional labour markets. Discussion paper FS, 02–204. Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung .
& (2008). The relationship between age to ten dimensions of job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 392– 423.
(2000). Reforms in an ageing society. Paris, France: OECD.
(1998) Just institutions matter: The moral and political logic of the universal welfare state. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
(2005). Developmental influences on adult intellectual development: The Seattle Longitudinal Study. New York : Oxford University Press.
& (2006). Eigenschaftstheorien der Motivation [Trait theories of motivation]. In Heckhausen, J. & Heckhausen, H. (Hrsg.), Motivation und Handeln (pp. 45–72). Heidelberg: Springer.
(1992, 2002). Motivation Questionnaire manual and user’s guide. Thames Ditton, UK: SHL.
& (2002). Generational differences: revisiting generational work values for the new millennium. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23, 363– 382.
(2003). Welfare regimes and welfare opinions: a comparison of eight western countries. Social Indicators Research, 64, 495– 520.
(2006). Employment initiatives for an ageing workforce in the EU15. Dublin, Ireland: European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions .
(2001). Age and work behavior: Physical attributes, cognitive abilities, knowledge, personality traits, and motives. International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 16, 1– 36.
