IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ausman/v49y2024i4p790-811.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Money matters, but what else? Mature worker motives and the importance of gender, age, socioeconomic status and age-inclusive HR practices

Author

Listed:
  • Vanessa Loh
  • Myra Hamilton
  • Marian Baird
  • Nate Zettna
  • Andreea Constantin

    (The University of Sydney Business School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia)

  • Daniela M Andrei
  • Gretchen A Petery
  • Sharon K Parker

    (Centre for Transformative Work Design, Future of Work Institute, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia)

Abstract

Policies encouraging extended workforce participation mainly focus on financial motives, but socioemotional selectivity theory and research suggest that mature worker motives are multifaceted, with emotionally meaningful goals gaining importance with age. We adopt a person-centred approach using latent class analysis of survey data from 1501 Australian workers aged 45 years and over. Two motivational profiles based on patterns of motives were identified, which we term income-dominant (income is the main reason) and socioemotional-income (socioemotional reasons are dominant, but income is important too). Contrary to expectations, we found no evidence of a socioemotional-dominant profile. This provides new theoretical insights, as it suggests that even though socioemotional reasons may increase in importance with age, financial reasons remain important to most mature workers, especially those who may view work as being transactional. Being female, older, and having higher socioeconomic status and age-inclusive HR policies increase the odds of having a socioemotional-income rather than income-dominant profile. The socioemotional-income subgroup had lower turnover intentions and later desired retirement ages than the income-dominant subgroup, highlighting the potential for more socioemotionally focused policies and practices to encourage extended workforce participation. JEL Classification: J26, M12, M54

Suggested Citation

  • Vanessa Loh & Myra Hamilton & Marian Baird & Nate Zettna & Andreea Constantin & Daniela M Andrei & Gretchen A Petery & Sharon K Parker, 2024. "Money matters, but what else? Mature worker motives and the importance of gender, age, socioeconomic status and age-inclusive HR practices," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 49(4), pages 790-811, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:ausman:v:49:y:2024:i:4:p:790-811
    DOI: 10.1177/03128962231176322
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/03128962231176322
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/03128962231176322?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Moritz Hess & Laura Naegele & Jana Mäcken, 2021. "Attitudes towards working in retirement: a latent class analysis of older workers’ motives," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 357-368, September.
    2. Aitken, Andrew & Singh, Shruti, 2023. "Time to change? Promoting mobility at older ages to support longer working lives," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 24(C).
    3. David Neumark & Maysen Yen, 2020. "Relative Sizes of Age Cohorts and Labor Force Participation of Older Workers," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(1), pages 1-31, February.
    4. Robert M. Blackburn & Jennifer Jarman & Girts Racko, 2016. "Understanding gender inequality in employment and retirement," Contemporary Social Science, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(2-3), pages 238-252, July.
    5. Anthony Asher & Ramona Meyricke & Susan Thorp & Shang Wu, 2017. "Age pensioner decumulation: Responses to incentives, uncertainty and family need," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 42(4), pages 583-607, November.
    6. Kuvaas, Bård & Buch, Robert & Weibel, Antoinette & Dysvik, Anders & Nerstad, Christina G.L., 2017. "Do intrinsic and extrinsic motivation relate differently to employee outcomes?," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 244-258.
    7. Valerie Dawn Caines & Monique F Crane & Jack Noone & Barbara Griffin & Shiksha Datta & Joanne Kaa Earl, 2020. "Older workers: Past, present and future," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 45(3), pages 425-448, August.
    8. Ben Farr-Wharton & Tim Bentley & Leigh-ann Onnis & Carlo Caponecchia & Abilio De Almeida Neto & Sharron O’Neill & Catherine Andrew, 2023. "Older Worker-Orientated Human Resource Practices, Wellbeing and Leave Intentions: A Conservation of Resources Approach for Ageing Workforces," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-13, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Peiris, J. M. P. M., 2024. "The Role of Career Satisfaction and Career Advancement Opportunities in Shaping Employees’ Job-Related Affect and Turnover Intention," International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation, International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI), vol. 11(12), pages 78-92, December.
    2. Ralph Stevens & Jennifer Alonso Garcia & Hazel Bateman & Arthur van Soest & Johan Bonekamp, 2022. "Saving preferences after retirement," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/342267, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    3. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Gao, Changyuan & Zhai, LiLi & Shahzad, Fakhar & Khan, Imran, 2021. "Environmental air pollution management system: Predicting user adoption behavior of big data analytics," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    4. Jorge Chica‐Olmo & Marina Checa‐Olivas, 2021. "Spatial impact of factors influencing the achievement of the Europa2020 employment targets," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 100(3), pages 633-649, June.
    5. Butt, Adam & Khemka, Gaurav & Warren, Geoffrey J., 2022. "Heterogeneity in optimal investment and drawdown strategies in retirement," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    6. Rocha de Jesus Fernandes, Anderson & Lanza Queiroz, Bernardo, 2024. "Aging, education and some other implications for the silver dividend in developing countries: Evidence from Brazil," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 27(C).
    7. Andréasson, Johan G. & Shevchenko, Pavel V. & Novikov, Alex, 2017. "Optimal consumption, investment and housing with means-tested public pension in retirement," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 32-47.
    8. Siyuan Miao & Jaehoon Rhee & In Jun, 2020. "How Much Does Extrinsic Motivation or Intrinsic Motivation Affect Job Engagement or Turnover Intention? A Comparison Study in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-18, May.
    9. Jennifer Alonso‐García & Hazel Bateman & Johan Bonekamp & Ralph Stevens, 2021. "Spending from Regulated Retirement Drawdowns: The Role of Implied Endorsement," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 123(3), pages 810-847, July.
    10. Gaurav Khemka & Yifu Tang & Geoffrey J. Warren, 2021. "The ‘right’ level for the superannuation guarantee: identifying the key considerations," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(3), pages 4435-4474, September.
    11. Acemoglu, Daron & Mühlbach, Nicolaj Søndergaard & Scott, Andrew J., 2022. "The rise of age-friendly jobs," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 23(C).
    12. repec:prg:jnlcfu:v:2021:y:2021:i:4:id:568 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Nasir Iqbal & Muhammad Majid Khan & Yasir Tariq Mohmand & Bahaudin G. Mujtaba, 2020. "The Impact of in-Service Training and Motivation on Job Performance of Technical & Vocational Education Teachers: Role of Person-Job Fit," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 529-548, September.
    14. I Putu Sadewo & Surachman Surachman & Rofiaty Rofiaty, 2021. "The influence of working environment to employee performance mediated by work motivation: A study of Malang, Indonesia retails stores," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 10(3), pages 213-222, April.
    15. Geoffrey Kingston & Susan Thorp, 2019. "Superannuation in Australia: A Survey of the Literature," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 95(308), pages 141-160, March.
    16. Qëndrim BYTYQI, 2020. "The Impact of Motivation on Organizational Commitment: An Empirical Study with Kosovar Employees," Prizren Social Science Journal, SHIKS, vol. 4(3), pages 24-32, December.
    17. Dorothea Wahyu Ariani, 2023. "Relationship Model of Compensation, Motivation, Job Satisfaction and Employee Performance," International Review of Management and Marketing, Econjournals, vol. 13(4), pages 9-13, July.
    18. Bonekamp, Johan & van Soest, Arthur, 2022. "Evidence of behavioural life-cycle features in spending patterns after retirement," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 23(C).
    19. Kateřina Knorová & Jana Fibírová, 2020. "Work motivation. Self-determination theory: literature review [Motivace v pracovním prostředí. Teorie sebeurčení a její vývoj: Literární rešerše]," Český finanční a účetní časopis, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2020(3-4), pages 71-93.
    20. Argyro Avgoustaki & Hans T. W. Frankort, 2023. "All work intensity is not created equal: Effort motives, job satisfaction and quit intentions at a grocery chain," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(4), pages 869-894, December.
    21. Fawad Ahmed & Yuan Jian Qin & Luis Martínez, 2019. "Sustainable Change Management through Employee Readiness: Decision Support System Adoption in Technology-Intensive British E-Businesses," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-28, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Age-inclusive HR practices; employee motivation; older workers; working longer;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies
    • M12 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Personnel Management; Executives; Executive Compensation
    • M54 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Labor Management

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ausman:v:49:y:2024:i:4:p:790-811. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.agsm.edu.au .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.