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Retirement adjustment and employment: The role of identity and relationships in the transition period

English title Retirement adjustment and employment: The role of identity and relationships in the transition period
Applicant Froidevaux Ariane
Number 174393
Funding scheme Advanced Postdoc.Mobility
Research institution Department of Management Warrington College of Business University of Florida
Institution of higher education Institution abroad - IACH
Main discipline Applied psychology
Start/End 01.03.2018 - 31.01.2020
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All Disciplines (2)

Discipline
Applied psychology
Psychology

Keywords (6)

Late careers decisions; Bridge employment; Identity; Relationships; Transition from work to retirement; Human resources

Lay Summary (French)

Lead
S'inscrivant dans le contexte du vieillissement de la population dans les sociétés occidentales, cette recherche a pour but d'investiguer les enjeux liés à la fin de la carrière professionnelle chez les individus âgés de 60 ans et plus. Plus particulièrement, elle se focalise sur la décision de continuer à travailler après avoir atteint l'âge légal de la retraite et sur le processus d'adaptation à la retraite durant les deux années de transition.
Lay summary

Contenu et objectifs du projet de recherche

Ce projet de recherche postdoctoral poursuit deux objectifs généraux: 1) Examiner les dynamiques psychologiques sous-tendant la transition de l'emploi à la retraite; 2) Réunir les conceptualisations de la retraite (a) en tant que processus d'adaptation, et (b) en tant que carrière professionnelle se poursuivant au-delà de la retraite, pour les comprendre comme deux conséquences directes de la période de transition découlant de l'obtention de la pension de retraite. Afin de répondre à ces deux objectifs, ce projet de recherche explorera le rôle des pratiques de ressources humaines, des éventuelles tensions identitaires, et des relations interpersonnelles durant la période de transition, dans le processus d'adaptation à la retraite et le choix de continuer à travailler contre rémunération à la retraite. Concrètement, cette recherche vise à suivre sur 9 mois des travailleurs seniors dans leur dernière année juste avant de toucher leur retraite (premier et/ou deuxième pillier) et/ou dans leur première année de retraite.

Contexte scientifique et social du projet de recherche

Ce projet intègre deux domaines de recherche en psychologie: la psychologie du développement de carrière et du travail et du comportement organisationnel. Comprendre pourquoi les individus âgés de 60 ans et plus souhaitent continuer à travailler, et comment ils s'adaptent à une retraite de plus en plus longue étant donné l'augmentation de l'espérance de vie, représentent des enjeux importants non seulement pour les décideurs politiques, mais aussi pour les managers en ressources humaines. Notamment, les résultats de cette recherche fourniront des informations précieuses pour l'implémentation de pratiques organisationnelles qui renforcent la motivation à continuer à travailler des seniors.
Direct link to Lay Summary Last update: 13.09.2018

Responsible applicant and co-applicants

Publications

Publication
Leveraging aging workforce and age diversity to achieve organizational goals: A human resource management perspective
Froidevaux Ariane, Alterman Valeria, Wang Mo (2020), Leveraging aging workforce and age diversity to achieve organizational goals: A human resource management perspective, in James Jaclyn, Sharit J, Grosch J, Czaja S. J (ed.), Springer International Publishing, Cham, 33-58.
Identity incongruence and negotiation in the transition from work to retirement: A theoretical model
Froidevaux Ariane, Hirschi Andreas, Wang Mo (2019), Identity incongruence and negotiation in the transition from work to retirement: A theoretical model, in Organizational Psychology Review, 8(4), 228-255.
Is student loan debt good or bad for full-time employment upon graduation from college?
Froidevaux Ariane, Koopmann Jaclyn, Wang Mo, Bamberger Peter, Is student loan debt good or bad for full-time employment upon graduation from college?, in Journal of Applied Psychology.
Transition à la retraite
FroidevauxAriane, MaggioriChristian, Transition à la retraite, in Rossier Jérôme, Massoudi Koorosh, Masdonati Jonas (ed.), Antipodes, Lausanne.

Collaboration

Group / person Country
Types of collaboration
Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie, Universität Bern Switzerland (Europe)
- in-depth/constructive exchanges on approaches, methods or results
- Publication
- Research Infrastructure
Work and Organisational Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich Switzerland (Europe)
- in-depth/constructive exchanges on approaches, methods or results
- Research Infrastructure
Centre de recherche en psychologie du conseil et de l'orientation, Université de Lausanne Switzerland (Europe)
- in-depth/constructive exchanges on approaches, methods or results
- Publication
Department of Management, Warrington College of Business, University of Florida United States of America (North America)
- in-depth/constructive exchanges on approaches, methods or results
- Publication
- Research Infrastructure

Scientific events

Active participation

Title Type of contribution Title of article or contribution Date Place Persons involved
Age in the Workplace Research Meeting Poster Validation of a measure of identity transition incongruence and negotiation: The case of the transition from work to retirement 07.11.2019 St-Gall, Switzerland Froidevaux Ariane;
Age in the Workplace Research Meeting Poster Can retirement be perceived as a reminder of the aging process and of human mortality? Yes, and strong work identification makes things worse! 07.11.2019 St-Gall, Switzerland Froidevaux Ariane;
Annual meeting of the Academy of Management Talk given at a conference Careers Doctoral Consortium 09.08.2019 Boston, MA, United States of America Froidevaux Ariane;
Annual meeting of the Academy of Management Talk given at a conference Navigating Later Career Issues 09.08.2019 Boston, MA, United States of America Froidevaux Ariane;
Annual meeting of the Academy of Management Talk given at a conference Building bridges to what’s next for senior scholars: Exploring encore options for CASS and AOM members 10.08.2018 Chicago, IL, United States of America Froidevaux Ariane;
Annual meeting of the Academy of Management Talk given at a conference How can career theory and research expand our understanding of the aging workforce? Special session of the Community of Academy Senior Scholars 10.08.2018 Chicago, IL, United States of America Froidevaux Ariane;
Annual meeting of the Academy of Management Talk given at a conference Is student loan debt good or bad for finding employment after college? Investigation of a double sword effect. 10.08.2018 Chicago, IL, United States of America Froidevaux Ariane;
Annual meeting of the Academy of Management Talk given at a conference Thrive! Energizing ourselves and others as academics 10.08.2018 Chicago, IL, United States of America Froidevaux Ariane;
Annual meeting of the Academy of Management Talk given at a conference Careers Doctoral Consortium 10.08.2018 Chicago, IL, United States of America Froidevaux Ariane;


Knowledge transfer events

Active participation

Title Type of contribution Date Place Persons involved
"Femmes Professeures à l’Université" pour la semaine Osez tous les métiers Talk 11.11.2019 Leysin, Switzerland Froidevaux Ariane;


Communication with the public

Communication Title Media Place Year
Media relations: print media, online media La transmission intergénérationnelle du choix professionnel de la psychologie Psychoscope. le Magazine de la Fédération Suisse des Psychologues Western Switzerland German-speaking Switzerland Italian-speaking Switzerland 2020

Awards

Title Year
Outstanding Reviewer, Awarded by the Academy of Management, Careers Division 2019

Associated projects

Number Title Start Funding scheme
168394 Bridge employment as a renewed late career development phase: Fostering time and identities 01.09.2016 Early Postdoc.Mobility

Abstract

As Western countries face the demographic challenge of aging populations, the integration of seniors into society and work has been considered one of the major challenges of the 21st century. Notably, in Switzerland, September 2016 has led to two important votes regarding retirement (i.e., rejection of initiative AHV/AVSplus, acceptance of a more flexible retirement between ages 62 to 70, and of similar retirement ages for men and women). Retirement has also emerged as an important research area, defined as “an individual’s exit from the workforce, which accompanies decreased psychological commitment to and behavioral withdrawal from work” (Wang & Shi, 2014, p. 211). However, nowadays an increasing number of workers decide to remain in the workforce, even though they receive their official retirement pension, which has been referred to as bridge employment (e.g., 11.7% in Switzerland; Swiss Federal Statistical Office, 2016a). The uniqueness of this advanced postdoctoral research project is that it investigates the transition as the very beginning of the retirement adjustment process. Specifically, the objective is to broaden the research field of retirement by exploring the role of human resource practices, social relationships, and identity tensions, on senior employees’ career decisions and well-being during their transition to retirement. The research design involves following 450 participants who are transitioning to retirement (i.e., from 12 months before receiving their retirement pension (1st pillar AHV/AVS and/or 2nd pillar) to 15 months after), being/having been working for at least 20 hours a week before receiving the pension. Participants will be followed over nine months, using three online questionnaires every three-month, beginning October-November 2018.
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