Franco Fraccaroli

A lifespan perspective on job design: Fitting the job and the worker to promote job satisfaction, engagement, and performance

The workforce in most industrialized countries is aging. However, the role of age in job design has largely been ignored. In the present paper, we apply lifespan development perspectives to the interaction between job characteristics and age. Specifically, we examine the possible joint effects of age and job characteristics on job satisfaction, engagement, and performance, developing a series of propositions to guide future research. We also discuss possible boundary conditions, mediating mechanisms, and future research challenges.

Postponing job retirement

Purpose – The study seeks to investigate individual preference for early or late retirement. The aim is to determine the impact that variables at personal, work and organizational, and retirement‐related levels exert on such preference.Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire was submitted to 275 Italian workers, aged from 45 to 63. The “preferred” and “expected” retirement ages were measured, and a preference for retiring before or after the expected age was computed. The questionnaire included personal (e.g. age, income), work and organizational (e.g. work importance, job demands and control), and retirement‐related variables (level of information on pensions and attitudes to retirement). Hierarchical multiple regressions analyses were conducted to test the impact of such variables on the preference for early or late retirement.Findings – The results show a significant preference for retiring on average three years before the expected age. The preference for postponing retirement is related to chro...

Workplace bullying and its relation with work characteristics, personality, and post-traumatic stress symptoms: an integrated model

Workplace bullying refers to prolonged exposure to frequent hostile behaviors at work, which can lead to severe stress reactions. Research in this area has not revealed a clear picture on how bullying escalates in organizations. Drawing on recent developments in work stress theory, this study tested a comprehensive model of bullying in which work environmental and personality factors were hypothesized to act as antecedents of bullying and post-traumatic stress symptoms as an outcome. Structural equation modeling on data provided by 609 public sector employees in Italy showed that job demands (workload and role conflict) and job resources (decision authority, co-worker support and salary/promotion prospects) were related to bullying over and above neuroticism, and that bullying mediated the relationship between job demands and PTSD symptoms. Evidence also emerged for a buffering effect of job resources on the job demands–bullying relationship. Overall results are compatible with a view of bullying as a strain phenomenon, initiated by both work environmental and personality factors.

Differential effects of task variety and skill variety on burnout and turnover intentions for older and younger workers

The purpose of the present studies was to compare the effects of two job characteristics, task variety and skill variety, on the burnout and turnover intentions of older and younger workers. Based on socioemotional selectivity theory and selective optimization with compensation theory, we hypothesized that task variety would lead to more positive outcomes for younger workers, whereas skill variety would lead to more positive outcomes for older workers. Across two samples using time-lagged designs, we found that increased task variety led to less work-related burnout and turnover intentions for younger workers compared to older workers. On the other hand, increased skill variety led to lower turnover intentions for older workers than for younger workers. We discuss the implications for lifespan ageing theories and for organizational practices regarding older and younger workers.

The job demands–resources model and counterproductive work behaviour: The role of job-related affect

The Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) model postulates that job demands and job resources constitute two processes: the health impairment process, leading to negative outcomes, and the motivational process, leading to positive outcomes. In the current research we extended the JD-R model by including both counterproductive work behaviour (CWB) as a behavioural stress-reaction and job-related affect as a mediator in both processes. In a sample of 818 public-sector employees we found support for a model where job demands (workload, role conflict, and interpersonal demands) were associated with abuse/hostility CWB, whereas job resources (decision authority, social support, and promotion prospects) were associated with work engagement. Furthermore, job-related negative affect mediated the relationship between job demands and abuse/hostility CWB, whereas job-related positive affect mediated the relationship between job resources and work engagement. We also found that the impact of job demands on negative affect was attenuated by job resources.

The impact of role stressors on workplace bullying in both victims and perpetrators, controlling for personal vulnerability factors: A longitudinal analysis

Abstract Although it has been suggested that a poor work environment can be related to the incidence of bullying, little work with robust research designs has been conducted on the matter. By drawing on the concept of hindrance stressors and using a longitudinal research design, we investigated whether role conflict and role ambiguity predicted being a victim of bullying twelve months later, over and above personal vulnerability factors. With a parallel analysis we also investigated whether the same role stressors predicted the enactment of bullying. The sample consisted of 234 employees of a National Health Service agency in Italy, including medical, nursing and administrative staff. The results indicated that role conflict positively affected both being bullied and bullying enactment, with personal vulnerability (reporting a doctors diagnosis of depression at baseline) affecting only the first of the two outcomes. However, some evidence also emerged of reciprocal relationships between role stressors and bullying. Directions for future research on the relations between working conditions and bullying are discussed.

Relationships between Mobbing at Work and MMPI-2 Personality Profile, Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms, and Suicidal Ideation and Behavior

This study investigates the relationships between the experience of mobbing at work and personality traits and symptom patterns as assessed by means of the revised version of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2). Participants were 107 workers who had contacted mental health services because they perceived themselves as victims of mobbing. In line with previous research, the results showed that the MMPI-2 mean profile was characterized by a neurotic component as evidenced by elevations of Scales 1, 2, and 3 and a paranoid component as indicated by elevation of Scale 6. Contrary to previous research, a pattern of positive and significant correlations was found between the frequency of exposure to mobbing behaviors and the MMPI-2 clinical, supplementary, and content scales, including the posttraumatic stress scale. Only about half the participants showed a severity of posttraumatic stress symptoms indicative of a posttraumatic stress disorder. The frequency of exposure to mobbing predicted suicidal ideation and behavior, with depression only partially mediating this relationship.

How are psychosocial factors related to retirement intentions

Purpose - This study aims to explore the psycho-social factors (i.e. older worker identity, development opportunities on the job, anticipation of lost social integration upon retirement) related to three types of retirement intention (i.e. full retirement, part-time retirement, job mobility). Design/methodology/approach - A representative sample of 196 workers aged 50 and over employed in an Italian public-sector organization completed a research questionnaire. Hypotheses were tested by using structural equation models. Findings - The results showed that: the older-worker identity was related positively to full retirement intention and negatively to job mobility; development opportunity on the job was negatively related to the full retirement intention; the anticipation of lost social integration upon retirement was positively related to the intention to take part-time retirement and job mobility. Research limitations/implications - There are several limitations to the study: the cross-sectional design; use of single items; the fact that the findings can be generalized only to the organization in which the study was conducted. Practical implications - Retirement preparation programs should consider the various factors that affect the transition from work to retirement and which may facilitate prior planning by both the individual and the organization. Originality/value - Expanding previous research studies, the study considers the complexity of preparation for retirement transition by exploring different types of retirement intentions and the psychosocial factors related to them.

Who benefits from more tasks? Older versus younger workers

Purpose – Although a substantial body of research has examined the effects of job characteristics on job attitudes, there is a paucity of work on individual difference moderators of these relationships. Based in selective optimization with compensation theory and socio-emotional selectivity theory, the purpose of this paper is to show that age moderated the relationship between task variety and two key job attitudes, job satisfaction and engagement. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected through self-report questionnaires (n=152), using a time-lagged design with two waves (two to three weeks between T 1 and T 2). Findings – The authors found that task variety had a stronger relationship with job satisfaction and work engagement for younger workers compared to older workers. Research limitations/implications – Although there was good age variance in the sample, it had fewer late-career workers and more workers who are in their early and mid-career. Practical implications – To have workers of all...

Research themes on age and work: Introduction to the Special Issue

The workforce is ageing in most industrialized countries, with people working longer and fewer younger workers entering the workforce. These trends can be attributed to a number of factors: increased lifespans and subsequent increases in the retirement age; lower birth rates; and high levels of youth unemployment, particularly in Europe. These trends have resulted in the development of a broad range of workplace challenges associated with age, such as larger numbers of older and younger people working together, organizations needing to find ways to motivate and accommodate workers across the work-life span, and the emergence of new forms of retirement such as bridge employment. These changes have many implications for individuals, employers, governments, and societies, and they have become a focus of study in a number of academic disciplines such as economics, demography, and ergonomics. Recently, the number of age-related studies in the field of work and organizational psychology has also increased, resulting in several books, journal Special Issues, and conferences. Specifically, age has moved from being a statistical control variable in work and organizational psychology research to a central focus of study. The development of this Special Issue originally grew from an EAWOP small group meeting on age in the workplace, expanding from there to an open call for journal articles. The results of the call were far beyond our expectations, with well over 50 formal submissions. Our goal in this editorial is to introduce the articles in this Special Issue, contextualizing them within the field of workplace ageing and giving a “bird’s eye” view of the current research landscape. The articles in this Special Issue show the diversity of research that work and organizational (W/O) psychologists around the world are conducting on age and the ways in which W/O psychology can help address the challenges of an ageing and age-diverse workforce. EXPLANATORY VARIABLES FOR CHRONOLOGICAL AGE