Retirement-eligible employees in an aging workforce: Achieving productive retention

As a large swath of older workers approach retirement, this aging workforce is triggering the threat of a labor shortage and brain drain in many organizations. To mitigate these problems, organizations need to understand the factors associated with retention behaviors of their retirement eligible employees (REEs). Research to date has focused primarily on age in relation to preparation for the cessation of work life, rather than prolonging it. The purpose of this dissertation is to systematically identify, analyze, and synthesize existing research in order to identify factors that motivate REEs to delay retirement while maintaining job performance – termed productive retention. This dissertation employs an evidence-based research methodology to conduct a systematic review of the relevant research, analyzed through a realist philosophical lens. The findings show that mechanisms of perceived organizational support and self-efficacy are positively related to productive retention. However, different contexts were found to cause those mechanisms to misfire, in tandem or separately, resulting in different outcomes. Four contexts revealed by the research that matter include (a) an authentic culture of organizational support for REEs, (b) an inauthentic culture of low organizational support, (c) authentic organizational support within the high stress child social welfare job environment, and (d) inauthentic organizational support within the high stress context. Outcomes range from production retention, a lack of retention and productivity, and an outcome of low retention while productivity is maintained. This study addresses a gap in the research on productive retention of REEs, as well as the need for systematic reviews on the topic of older worker retention. Furthermore, this study provides practitioners with a framework of understanding for productive retention of their valued REEs.i RETIREMENT-ELIGIBLE EMPLOYEES IN AN AGING WORKFORCE: ACHIEVING PRODUCTIVE RETENTION By JoAnne Koravos Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland University College, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Management 2015 Advisory Committee: Dr. Thomas J. Mierzwa Dr. Denise A. Breckon ii iii ABSTRACT As a large swath of older workers approach retirement, this aging workforce is triggering the threat of a labor shortage and brain drain in many organizations. To mitigate these problems, organizations need to understand the factors associated with retention behaviors of their retirement eligible employees (REEs). Research to date has focused primarily on age in relation to preparation for the cessation of work life, rather than prolonging it. The purpose of this dissertation is to systematically identify, analyze, and synthesize existing research in order to identify factors that motivate REEs to delay retirement while maintaining job performance – termed productive retention. This dissertation employs an evidence-based research methodology to conduct a systematic review of the relevant research, analyzed through a realist philosophical lens. The findings show that mechanisms of perceived organizational support and self-efficacy are positively related to productive retention. However, different contexts were found to cause those mechanisms to misfire, in tandem or separately, resulting in different outcomes. Four contexts revealed by the research that matter include (a) an authentic culture of organizational support for REEs, (b) an inauthentic culture of low organizational support, (c) authentic organizational support within the high stress child social welfare job environment, and (d) inauthentic organizational support within the high stress context. Outcomes range from production retention, a lack of retention and productivity, and an outcome of low retention while productivity is maintained. This study addresses a gap in the research on productive retention of REEs, and the need for a systematic review on the topic of older worker retention. Furthermore, this study provides practitioners with a framework of understanding for productive retention of their valued REEs. Keywords: aging workforce, older worker, retention, productivity, self-efficacy, organizational support, retirement iv © Copyright by JoAnne Koravos 2015 v Dedication First and foremost, this dissertation is dedicated to my mother, Patricia Ann Stacy Koravos; an educator, an intellectual, and my best friend. She opens her heart and mind to people and possibilities and loves all forms of knowledge. Her positive attitude about life is extraordinary. The world would be a better place if more people possessed her accepting love for humanity and the belief that everyone at their core are good. I will never be the woman she is, but will forever be grateful for her influence. She is the main reason I am a life-long learner and a fearless participant in my own life. I will forever cherish our conversations and am grateful she will be here to see my dream of achieving a doctorate come to fruition. For over 3 years my family and friends have worked around my schedule, as I declined events and visits to slog away at my schoolwork. I am grateful for their love and understanding and hope my grandchildren will someday realize what their grandmother accomplished in the sixth decade of her life. It is never too late to pursue your dreams and make them a reality. And finally, I thank my husband, Mike Soboroff. How can I put into words how grateful I am for the sacrifice you willingly accepted? You took on so many responsibilities, such as: keeping the household running in my absence; bringing me coffee at my desk and filling my cup when it was empty; rescheduling and rearranging our life around my course deliverables without one complaint; gracefully standing back during my many periods of frustration and let them run the course; and, chauffeuring me for many, many, many hours up and down the east coast to visit family, while I worked in my “mobile office” in the back seat of the car. Without your love and support this journey would have been much harder, and possibly unsustainable. This is the definition of unconditional love. vi Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my dissertation advisors Dr. Tom Mierzwa and Dr. Denise Breckon for their support and patience as they guided me through the process of conducting my research and assembling the dissertation. I would also like to acknowledge the unwavering support of Dr. Wanda Wagner, TA extraordinaire. As I reflect on the past years, I realize how difficult it is to train a group of experienced practitioners in a new way of thinking and making sense of the world. Closing the gap between scholarship and practice by creating a generation of managers who practice evidence-based management is on the horizon and I am honored to be part of this community. Also, and most importantly, I want to acknowledge my cohort of fellow students who propped me up day after day. Although, all of us have impressive professional accomplishments, we were reduced to our core intellects and intuitions during hundreds of lengthy debates and discussions on management topics ranging from theory, to research methods, to innovation, and beyond. At the beginning I was skeptical of the cohort model, but as time went on I came to realize the benefits and how lucky I was to be in a cohort learning environment. We learned to respect each other’s perspectives, interpretations, and ultimately our newly acquired scholarly prowess. So to all of you – Brenda, Cami, Jamie, Jessica, Joe, Katherine, Penny, Robert, Sean, Steve, and Terri - congratulations on your academic achievement! Our connection to each other will not end with the successful attainment of the Doctor of Management degree. In fact, many of you will continue to be my life-long friends and confidants. vii Table of Contents Dedication ............................................................................................................................v Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ vi List of Tables .................................................................................................................... xii List of Figures .................................................................................................................. xiii Chapter 1: Introduction and Research Problem ............................................................1 Overview ..................................................................................................................1 The Older Worker Demographic .................................................................9 Employment and occupation..........................................................10 Compensation ................................................................................12 Global phenomenon .......................................................................14 Defining the Retirement Eligible Employee (REE) ...................................18 Definition of Terms................................................................................................21 Research Question .................................................................................................24 Purpose of this Study .............................................................................................25 Significance of this Study ......................................................................................25 Scope and Limitations............................................................................................28 Summary ................................................................................................................29 Organization of the Study ......................................................................................30 Chapter 2: Literature Review and Conceptual Framework ........................................31 Integrative Themes in the Literature ......................................................................33 Employee Age and Self-Efficacy...............................................................34 Employee Age and Discrimination ............................................................36 viii Employee Age and Leadership ..................................................................39 Employee Age and Employee Retention ...................................................42 Employee Age and Productivity ................................................................44 Strategic Human Resource Management ...................................................50 Organizational Culture and Change ...........................................................54 Regulatory Environment ............................................................................57 Summary of the Literature Review ........................................................................59 Conceptual Framework ..........................................................................................63 Theoretical Framework ..............................................................................63 Interpreted Theoretical Model ...................................................................67 Discussion of Research Variables ..............................................................68 Dependent variables .......................................................................70 Independent variables ....................................................................72 Moderating variables .....................................................................78 Thesis Statement ....................................................................................................81 Chapter 3: Methodology..................................................................................................83 Theory and Practice of Evidence-Based Research ................................................85 Research Design.....................................................................................................87 The Realist Approach ............................................................................................88 Systematic Review Methodology ..........................................................................89 Search Strategy ......................................................................................................91 Keywords and Search Phrase .....................................................................91 Data Sources Explored ...............................................................................92 ix Search Results ............................................................................................93 Quality Appraisal ...................................................................................................93 Iterative Searches .......................................................................................99 Considerations from the Expert Panel ...................................................................99 Summary of Results .............................................................................................101 Descriptive Statistics ................................................................................101 Data Extraction and Data Analysis ..........................................................102 Triangulation ........................................................................................................105 Synthesis of Results .............................................................................................107 Threats to Validity ...............................................................................................109 Next Steps: Synthesis, Findings, and Dissemination ...........................................110 Chapter 4: Analysis of Findings ...................................................................................111 Theoretical Explanation of REE Factors .............................................................112 Findings of Evidence ...........................................................................................113 Generative Mechanisms ...........................................................................114 Finding #1: Authentic Organizational Support Context ..........................115 Interventions within the authentic organizational support context ..........................................................................................117 Outcome pattern to Finding #1 ....................................................119 Finding #2: Inauthentic Organizational Support......................................119 Interventions ................................................................................121 Outcome pattern to Finding #2 ....................................................121 Findings #3 and #4: High-Stress Work Environment ..............................122 x Interventions ................................................................................124 Outcome patterns for Findings #3 & #4 ......................................124 Using Theory to Make Sense of the Patterns within the Findings .......................125 REE Productive Retention Theory.......................................................................128 Summary of Findings – Addressing the Research Question ...............................129 Limitations of Interpretation of Findings .............................................................131 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................132 Chapter 5: Conclusions and Implications ...................................................................133 Study Conclusions ...............................................................................................133 Implications for Management Practice ................................................................136 Building Contextual Layers .................................................................................139 Implications for Future Research .........................................................................140 Summary of Observations....................................................................................142 References ........................................................................................................................145 Appendix A The Process of Realist Synthesis .................................................................173 Appendix B A task-and-time template for realist synthesis ............................................174 Appendix C Citation Report for Topic Search on Aging Workforce ..............................175 Appendix D Databases Searched Directly by UMUC OneSearch Discovery Tool ........176 Appendix E Literature Search Results .............................................................................177 Appendix F Search Results and Study-Level Quality Appraisal .....................................178 Appendix G Results from Iterative Searches During Data Extraction and Analysis ......186 Appendix H Panel of Subject Matter Experts ..................................................................187 Appendix I Master Data Table .........................................................................................193 xi Appendix J Data Extraction Process for Realist Review .................................................196 Appendix K Primary Research Data Table ......................................................................197 Appendix L Coding Hierarchy: Parent Nodes and Child Nodes Expanded to Level 2 ...231 Appendix M Synthesis Map: Collation of Evidential Data around the C-M-O Framework ...........................................................................................................232 Appendix N Summary of Node “Organizational Support” .............................................238 xii List of Tables Table 1. Demographic Profile of the Older Worker ......................................................... 10 Table 2. Median Usual Weekly Earnings of Full-Time Wage and Salary Workers in the United States by Age for Second Quarter, 2015 ......................................... 12 Table 3. Longitudinal Search Results by Country for Aging Workforce Research ......... 27 Table 4. Themes and Propositions Derived from Literature Review ............................... 61 Table 5. Management Theories Emerging from the Literature Review Explaining Older Worker Behavior in Relation to Productive Retention ............................... 66 Table 6. Summary of Research Variables that Define the Relationships in the Conceptual Model ................................................................................................. 70 Table 7. Thesis Statement Recast in Realist Terms .......................................................... 81 Table 8. Set of ‘a priori’ Themes to Inform Initial Search Strategy ................................. 91 Table 9. Study-Level Appraisal Tool for Classification and Quality Assessment ........... 96 Table 10. Review-Level Appraisal Tool for Classification and Quality Assessment ...... 97 Table 11. Iterative Search Results (Intervention studies = 18, Theoretical studies = 8) .. 99 Table 12. Descriptive Statistics for Final Sample of 18 Studies..................................... 102 Table 13. Sample of Primary Research Data Table ........................................................ 104 Table 14. Interventions the Parent Node Used to Code Review-Level Data within NVivo10 .................................................................................................. 105 Table 15. Master Data Table Hierarchy Supporting the Realist Framework ................. 108 Table 16. Sample of Synthesis Map-Collation Table: CMO Framework ...................... 109 Table 17. Thesis Statement for Productive Retention of REEs ...................................... 113 Table 18. Sets of Interventions Emerging from the Evidential Literature ...................... 117 Table 19. Theories Related to Generative Mechanisms of Self-Efficacy and POS ........ 128 Table 20. Retirement-Eligible Employee (REE) Productive Retention Theory ............. 129 Table 21. Summary of CMO Configuration for Productive Retention of the REE ........ 130 xiii List of Figures Figure 1. As the population ages, so will the workforce .................................................... 4 Figure 2. As the population ages, so will the workforce .................................................... 5 Figure 3. As the year 2020 approaches, the percentage of the labor force represented by older workers increases ...................................................................................... 6 Figure 4. Mandated coverage increases costs of younger workers compared to older workers ........................................................................................................ 13 Figure 5. Population 65-84 years and 85 years and over in the world’s four largest countries: 2012, 2030, and 2050 ............................................................... 15 Figure 6. Proportion of the population aged 60 years or over: World and development regions 1950 to 2050 ............................................................................................. 17 Figure 7. The decision tree that follows the REE’s decision of whether to delay retirement and stay in the workforce, or retire and leave the workforce .............. 21 Figure 8. Published items and citations by ye