Maintaining a focus on work-related opportunities at higher ages [Elektronische Ressource] / vorgelegt von Hannes Zacher

justus-liebig-universitat_giessen - Zacher , Hendrik Hannes

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223 pages

English

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Psychologie

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Publié par	justus-liebig-universitat_giessen
Publié le	01 janvier 2009
Nombre de lectures	18
Langue	English

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Maintaining a Focus on Work-Related
Opportunities at Higher Ages

Inaugural-Dissertation
zur Erlangung
des Doktorgrades der Philosophie
des Fachbereiches 06 Psychologie und Sportwissenschaft
der Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen

vorgelegt von

Hannes Zacher

aus Bremen

2009

Dekan/in: Prof. Dr. Joachim Brunstein
1. Berichterstatter/in: Prof. Dr. Michael Frese
2. Berichterstatter/in: Prof. Dr. Gudrun Schwarzer
Acknowledgements
I am very grateful to my mentor Prof. Dr. Michael Frese for his support over the past three
years, for his ideas and constructive criticism that helped greatly to improve my studies, and
for his enthusiasm for research that deeply inspired me. Thank you.
My thanks go also to the other members of the project “Demographic Change in Germany:
Challenges for Organizations and Human Resource Management,” particularly Prof. Dr.
Andreas Bausch and Dr. Mario Krist as well as the people working at RWE AG, The
Advisory House, the Jacobs University Bremen, and the Bremer Energie Institut who made
this dissertation possible.
I thank Prof. Dr. Gudrun Schwarzer for serving as the second examiner of my dissertation,
and Prof. Dr. Andreas Bausch, Prof. Dr. Joachim Brunstein, and PD Dr. Thorsten Diemer for
serving as members of my defense committee.
I also thank the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for a short-term doctoral
scholarship (D/07/43732) that allowed me to advance my research at the University of
Minnesota, Minneapolis, in the summer of 2007.
Several students from the Justus-Liebig-University Giessen contributed to this dissertation by
helping with data collection for my studies. I thank Holger Hartmann, Anselm Kälberer, and
Claudia Liermann for collecting parts of the Study 1 data; Sandra Heusner, Michael Schmitz,
and Monika Zwierzanska for collecting the Study 3 data; and Elena Honstein for collecting
the Study 4 data.
I further thank the visiting professors to our department for their suggestions and advice:
Miriam Erez, James Farr, Michele Gelfand, David Hofmann, Filip Lievens, and Robert Lord.
I thank my colleagues Ronald Bledow, Heike Clasen, Michael Gielnik, Dr. Nina Keith,
Perdita Müller, Kathrin Rosing, Antje Schmitt, Dr. Holger Steinmetz, Katharina Tornau, and
Dr. Jens Unger for their support and many helpful discussions.
Last but not least, I am very grateful to my parents Helga and Klaus, my siblings Merle,
Timo, and Loni, and my friends near and far who greatly supported me at all phases of this
dissertation. I am especially grateful to my wife Megan Bissing-Olson for her love, support,
and patience. Thank you! Abstract
Individuals with a strong focus on opportunities believe that they will have many new goals,
plans, options, and possibilities in their personal future. This dissertation consists of four
empirical studies that investigated which person- and context-related factors help individuals
to maintain a focus on work-related opportunities, especially at higher ages. In addition,
relationships between focus on opportunities and important work outcomes were examined.
In Study 1, two dimensions of the concept of future time perspective were adapted to the
occupational context: Perceptions of the length of personal remaining time at work and focus
on opportunities at work. Relationships between these dimensions and age as well as two
important work characteristics, job complexity and job control, were examined. Hierarchical
moderated regression analyses and structural equation modeling of data collected from 176
employees of various occupations (mean age = 39 years, standard deviation = 13, range = 19
to 60 years) showed that age was negatively related to both remaining time and focus on
opportunities. Job complexity and control were positively related to focus on opportunities
and moderated the negative relationship between age and focus on opportunities, such that
the relationship was weaker at high compared to low levels of job complexity and control.
Study 2 investigated the interplay between age, job complexity, and the use of a successful
aging strategy entitled selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) in predicting focus
on opportunities at work. First, it was expected that employees in high-complexity jobs are
better able to maintain a focus on opportunities at higher ages than employees in low-
complexity jobs. Second, it was expected that SOC strategy use is more strongly positively
related to focus on opportunities in low-complexity jobs than in high-complexity jobs. Third,
it was expected that employees in low-complexity jobs with high levels of SOC strategy use
are better able to maintain a focus on opportunities at higher ages than employees in low-
complexity jobs with low levels of SOC strategy use. Data were collected from 133 emplo-
yees of one company (mean age = 38 years, standard deviation = 13, range = 16 to 65 years).
Results of a hierarchical moderated regression analysis supported the three main assumptions.
Study 3 investigated focus on opportunities as a mediator of the relationships between age
and work performance and between job complexity and work performance. In addition, it
was expected that job complexity buffers the negative relationship between age and focus on
opportunities and moderates the negative and indirect effect of age on work performance
(through focus on opportunities), such that the indirect effect is weaker for employees in
high-complexity jobs than for employees in low-complexity jobs. Results of simple and
moderated mediation analyses with data of 168 employees from 41 organizations (mean age
= 40 years, standard deviation = 10, range = 19 to 64 years) and peer-ratings of work
performance supported the assumptions for overall work performance as well as for more
specific work performance dimensions (i.e., task, career, and citizenship performance).
In Study 4, focus on opportunities was investigated as a mediator of the relationships between
business owners’ age and venture growth and between mental health and venture growth. In
addition, it was expected that mental health buffers the negative relationship between age and
focus on opportunities and moderates the negative and indirect effect of age on venture
growth (through focus on opportunities), such that the indirect effect is weaker for business
owners high in mental health than for business owners low in mental health. Simple and
moderated mediation analyses with data collected from 84 small business owners (mean age
= 44 years, standard deviation = 10, range = 24 to 74 years) supported the assumptions.
In conclusion, focus on opportunities at work is an important concept to better understand the
role of age in the work context. Future research should conceptualize focus on opportunities
as an aspect of older adults’ positive psychological capital and apply longitudinal designs. Table of Contents
1 Introduction...........................................................................................................................7
2 Remaining Time and Opportunities at Work: Relationships between Age, Work
Characteristics, and Occupational Future Time Perspective............................................11
2.1 The Concept of Occupational Future Time Perspective................................................11
2.2 Development of Hypotheses..........................................................................................14
2.2.1 Age and Occupational Future Time Perspective....................................................14
2.2.2 Job Complexity, Job Control, and Focus on Opportunities ...................................15
2.2.3 Interactions between Age, Job Complexity, and Job Control.................................16
2.3 Method ...........................................................................................................................17
2.3.1 Participants and Procedure....................................................................................17
2.3.2 Measures.................................................................................................................18
2.3.3 Analyses.21
2.4 Results............................................................................................................................23
2.4.1 Intercorrelations of Study Variables.......................................................................23
2.4.2 Test of Hypotheses ..................................................................................................23
2.5 Discussion.....30
2.5.1 Summary of Findings ..............................................................................................30
2.5.2 Limitations ..............................................................................................................32
2.5.3 Implications for Future Research ...........................................................................33
2.5.4 Implications for Theory and Practice.....................................................................34
3 Maintaining a Focus on Opportunities at W