Psychology Ph.D. Dissertations

Title

Antecedents of older nurses' intentions to continue working in the same organization after retirement

Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Steve Jex (Committee Co-Chair)

Second Advisor

Yiwei Chen (Committee Co-Chair)

Third Advisor

Russell Matthews (Committee Member)

Fourth Advisor

Alfred DeMaris (Committee Member)

Abstract

This study contributes to the literature on bridge employment by examining the relationships between job-related psychosocial factors (i.e., generativity opportunities, workplace incivility, and relational job crafting) and intentions to continue working in the same organization after retirement, as well as the underlying mechanism through work meaningfulness. Furthermore, the moderating role of individuals’ communion striving motivation was tested. A sample of 384 nurses 50 years old or above was recruited to test the hypothesized moderated mediation model. Results indicated that all the three examined job-related psychosocial factors (except generativity opportunities) were significantly related to older nurses’ intentions to continue working in the same organization after retirement. Work meaningfulness partially mediated the relationships between workplace incivility, relational job crafting, and older nurses’ intentions to continue working in the same organization after retirement. Work meaningfulness also fully mediated the relationship between generativity opportunities and older nurses’ intentions to continue working in the same organization after retirement. Finally, communion striving motivation enhanced the positive relationship between generativity opportunities and work meaningfulness and exaggerated the indirect relationship between generativity opportunities and older nurses’ intentions to continue working after retirement via work meaningfulness. Overall, findings suggest that in order to retain older nurses, organizations should lower workplace incivility, provide generativity opportunities, encourage relational job crafting, and cultivate work meaningfulness. Implications of these findings, as well as directions for future research, are discussed.

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