 Subjects -> SOCIOLOGY (Total: 553 journals)
| A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z | | The end of the list has been reached or no journals were found for your choice. |
|
|
- Aging Workforce in the Context of Technological Advancements: Toward a
Socio-Ecological Model
Pages: 323 - 328
Abstract: AbstractTechnological advancements continue to result in fundamental changes to the work itself and the workplace. Although these changes can create challenges for older workers, older workers can draw from individual and contextual resources to maintain and enhance their wellbeing, motivation, and capacities, and thus achieving successful aging at work. These articles in this special issue characterize the different psychological mechanisms underlying workers’ responses to technological changes in the workplace, such as automation, digitization, and use of information and communications technologies. Integrating the findings from these articles, along with the existing theoretical models of successful aging at work, we propose a socio-ecological approach to guide future research on older workers’ adaptation to technological changes.
PubDate: Wed, 27 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMT
DOI: 10.1093/workar/waad025
Issue No: Vol. 9, No. 4 (2023)
- Providing Digital Technology Training as a Way to Retain Older Workers:
The Importance of Perceived Usefulness and Growth Need
Pages: 376 - 392
Abstract: AbstractThe increasing prevalence of aging workforce around the globe renders older worker retention an integral approach for organizations to maintain human capital. In the meantime, the increasing application of digital technologies at work poses new challenges for older workers. Providing digital technology training is therefore considered as a potential approach to retaining older workers. Yet, we have limited knowledge about the role played by digital technology training availability in facilitating older worker retention. Addressing this important research void, we examine the motivation-based (i.e., autonomy need satisfaction at work) and the ability-based (i.e., competence need satisfaction at work) mechanisms that transmit the positive indirect effects of digital technology training availability on older workers’ intention to remain. We also examine the critical roles of the relevance of the training (both the relevance to the situation and to the participant) in shaping the impacts of digital technology training availability. Analyzing data collected from 285 workers aged 40 years or older, we found that when digital technology was perceived to be more (vs. less) useful at work, digital technology training availability indirectly facilitated older workers’ intention to remain via both autonomy and competence needs satisfaction at work. Moreover, the amplifying effects of perceived usefulness of digital technology at work were more (vs. less) pronounced for participants who had higher (vs. lower) growth need. Theoretical and practical implications were also discussed based on our findings.
PubDate: Wed, 29 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMT
DOI: 10.1093/workar/waad004
Issue No: Vol. 9, No. 4 (2023)
- The Older, the Less Digitally Fluent' The Role of Age Stereotypes and
Supervisor Support
Pages: 393 - 398
Abstract: AbstractOver the last decades, digital technologies have progressively made their way into the workplace. Therefore, it becomes increasingly important for employees to have digital competencies, which can be measured through digital fluency, including its two sub dimensions, namely digital knowledge and digital self-efficacy. This is particularly the case for older workers, who might be affected by a digital divide that proposes younger and older employees have different prerequisites for digital fluency. Drawing from the stereotype embodiment theory, we argue that age is generally negatively related to self-perceptions of digital fluency and particularly impactful when older employees hold negative age stereotypes against older workers and therefore self-stereotype themselves. Furthermore, we argue that developmental support from the direct supervisor has the potential to either amplify or alleviate this negative relation: While a lack of supervisor support may lead to the activation of internalized negative age stereotypes, strong support by the supervisor could strengthen the employees’ self-perceptions in several ways. Performing multiple regression analyses on survey data collected from 1,007 employees, we find support for our three hypotheses. Negative age stereotypes exacerbate the negative relationship between age and digital fluency, whereas the interplay of high individual stereotypes and low supervisor support is the most negative condition for the relation of age on digital fluency. On the other hand, strong supervisor support with low negative stereotypes counteract existing age differences in digital fluency. Therefore, our findings have important theoretical and practical implications.
PubDate: Tue, 21 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMT
DOI: 10.1093/workar/waad001
Issue No: Vol. 9, No. 4 (2023)
- Concerns, Career Decisions, and Role Changes: A Qualitative Study of
Perceptions of Autonomous Vehicles in the Trucking Industry
Pages: 399 - 406
Abstract: AbstractThe increasing adoption of automation will likely replace the tasks performed in many jobs, resulting in new challenges for workers. Yet, little is known regarding how workers perceive automation, including how it may influence their job attitudes and turnover intentions. Automated vehicles (AVs) are one example of new technology poised to alter the job of truck driving, which is overwhelmingly populated by older workers. In this study, we examined truck drivers’, supervisors’, and managers’ attitudes and concerns about AV adoption and its effects on driving jobs to help the transportation industry prepare for automation with minimal workforce disruption. We drew from theorizing on self-interest in economics and lifespan coping theories to contextualize workers’ reactions to automation. We conducted focus groups and interviews with truck drivers (N = 18), supervisors of drivers (N = 8), and upper-level managers of trucking companies (N = 25). Two themes emerged from the thematic analysis: the unknown, and proficiency. AVs may be viewed as threatening by drivers, causing anxiety due to widespread uncertainty and the fear of job loss and loss of control. At the same time, there will be a greater need for drivers to be adaptable for the era of AVs. AVs are also likely to result in other changes to the role of driving, which may have implications for driver recruitment and selection. We interpret our findings together with lifespan theories of control and coping and provide recommendations for organizations to effectively prepare for automation in the trucking industry.
PubDate: Fri, 19 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT
DOI: 10.1093/workar/waac037
Issue No: Vol. 9, No. 4 (2023)
- The Moderating Effect of Scheduling Autonomy on Smartphone Use and Stress
Among Older Workers
Pages: 329 - 341
Abstract: AbstractOlder adults’ smartphone use has been shown to be a double-edged sword, linked to health and social benefits but also creating vulnerabilities. Similarly, the use of smartphones and other information and communication technologies (ICTs) in organizations also affords workers advantages, such as increased flexibility, while exposing them to risks such as exhaustion and distress. This research examines older workers’ smartphone use and identifies a contextual characteristic that may buffer the negative implications of smartphone use for work purposes. Following the job demands–resources (JD-R) model, we hypothesized that older workers’ daily work-related smartphone use is positively related to their experienced stress and negatively related to their mood, and that these relationships would be attenuated by work scheduling autonomy. We conducted an experience sampling method (ESM) study with a sample of 38 workers (ages 50–64) who completed daily measures over 8 days, and tracked their smartphone use objectively using screenshots of time spent using various apps. Contrary to our expectations, smartphone use was not significantly related to stress or mood. There were significant cross-level interactions, such that smartphone use for work was negatively related to experienced stress and positively related to a positive mood for those with lower levels of scheduling autonomy. We interpret these findings and discuss the effects that technology use for work may have on older workers’ well-being through the lens of the JD-R model. Our results suggest that ICT use in the workplace combined with work scheduling autonomy may not be advantageous for workers’ well-being.
PubDate: Tue, 19 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT
DOI: 10.1093/workar/waac017
Issue No: Vol. 9, No. 4 (2022)
- Always on Call: Is There an Age Advantage in Dealing with Availability and
Response Expectations'
Pages: 342 - 357
Abstract: AbstractThis research challenges the technology-related age stereotype that older employees might be disadvantaged in dealing with work-related information communication technology (ICT) demands. Rather, we hypothesize an age advantage in this regard. Based on theorizing on aging at work, we suggest that older employees are better at psychologically detaching from work under high availability expectations and that they show more adaptive responsiveness to response expectations. We examined a potential age-related mechanism underlying this effect, namely internal workplace telepressure. We pursued a two-study approach. Study 1 examined data from 5,938 individuals who participated in a large-scale survey of employees in Germany just before the COVID-19 pandemic, testing age as moderator of the relationship between availability expectations and psychological detachment from work. Results supported the hypothesized age advantage effect showing that for older employees, availability expectations were less strongly related to impaired psychological detachment. Study 2, a diary study with 106 participants answering more than 500 daily surveys during the pandemic, supported lower telepressure as explanation for this age advantage effect. Study 2 further extended this finding to the relationship of response expectations with responsiveness, identifying both age and telepressure as predicted by age to moderate this relationship. This research shows age advantage effects in dealing with ICT demands, enhancing understanding of the intersection between age and technology use at work.
PubDate: Thu, 03 Nov 2022 00:00:00 GMT
DOI: 10.1093/workar/waac034
Issue No: Vol. 9, No. 4 (2022)
- Getting Ready for the Future, Is It Worth It' A Dual Pathway Model of Age
and Technology Acceptance at Work
Pages: 358 - 375
Abstract: AbstractRapid technological advancements and global workforce aging shape the future of work. Drawing on the technology acceptance model, our study aims to connect the literature on aging with the research on technology use in organizations. At its heart, the technology acceptance model suggests that the two core components, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, predict the attitude toward a new technology. We connect these components with two age-related processes: first, we suggest a motivational pathway via future time perspective, including one’s perceived future opportunities and remaining time at work. Second, we propose a capability pathway via cognitive constraints, including one’s perceived struggle to process new information (i.e., perceived processing speed difficulties) and the perceived struggle to organize one’s work (i.e., perceived organization difficulties). Moreover, we explore digital leadership as a potential buffer to the detrimental relations between age and technology acceptance. We preregistered our hypotheses and tested them using three-wave data from 643 employees. Our findings support our hypotheses for the motivational pathway, showing that age is negatively linked to attitude toward new technology via future time perspective and subsequent perceived usefulness as well as perceived ease of use. Digital leadership buffered the negative indirect relations between age and attitude toward new technology. For the capability pathway, the results were the opposite of what we expected. Together, our findings put the link between age and technology acceptance into a more positive light than previous research and suggest that motivational and capability-related forces are interwoven in predicting attitude toward new technology.
PubDate: Thu, 17 Nov 2022 00:00:00 GMT
DOI: 10.1093/workar/waac035
Issue No: Vol. 9, No. 4 (2022)
|
Open Access journal
