Guido Sarchielli

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...

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.

The downside of organizational identification: Relations between identification, workaholism and well-being

Abstract Employee organizational identification has been proposed and found to be positively related to employee health and well-being. The empirical evidence, however, is not unequivocal, and some authors have suggested possible downsides of identification with the organization as a whole or with a group within it. The potential negative effect of over-identification was tested empirically for the first time in the present paper. Two studies were conducted; Study 1 was cross-sectional and used a sample of Italian law court clerks (N=195) and Study 2 was longitudinal and employed a sample of Italian teachers (N=140 at T2). We proposed a curvilinear mediation model with identification curvilinearly predicting workaholism, and workaholism, in turn, negatively affecting employee well-being. This curvilinear link between organizational identification and workaholism means that workaholism at first decreases with growing identification, but when identification becomes too strong, workaholism increases. The results confirmed our hypotheses, and we discuss theoretical and practical implications.

Staying or leaving: A combined social identity and social exchange approach to predicting employee turnover intentions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to combine social identity and social exchange theories into a model explaining turnover intentions. Design/methodology/approach – Questionnaires measuring the constructs of organizational identification, perceived organizational support, emotional exhaustion, and turnover intentions were completed by 195 employees. Findings – Results supported our hypotheses: social identification increased the perception of organizational support which in turn reduced emotional exhaustion which was finally related to turnover intentions. Furthermore, social identification moderated the relation between organizational support and turnover intentions. Research limitations/implications – The study design was cross-sectional and data were collected using self-report with no assessment of objective data. Practical implications – To reduce turnover, managers should focus on both support and employees’ identification with teams and organizations. Originality/value – This study combines tw...

Prepararse para la jubilación: el papel del apoyo social en la gestión de la ansiedad

Retirement can be considered a transition that implies losing one?s work role and therefore there is a need to be capable of restructuring one?s systems of personal roles and activities. This study used a sample of 250 employees of public administration aged over 48 to find the extent to which work and non-work sources of social support can affect anxiety during the period of preparation for retirement. In addition, the study explored the relation between social support and intended retirement age. LISREL structural equation model analysis shows that supervisor?s social support and job involvement increase the anxiety resulting from identity loss, whereas family social support decreases this anxiety. Moreover, friends? social support reduces the anxiety owing to anticipated social exclusion. Finally, retirement related anxiety predicts intended retirement age.

Exploring Identity Dynamics from a Combined Social Exchange and Social Identity Perspective

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to explore identity dynamics of unit and department leaders in a healthcare setting using both social identity and social exchange theories. In particular, we developed a mediational moderated model in which supervisor trust indirectly influences identification with a subordinate level (i.e., the clinical unit) through its effect on identification with a superordinate level (i.e., the organization as a whole). Furthermore, we predicted and found that this relation is moderated by organizational tenure, contract breach, and the clinical-managers role (heads of clinical units vs. chairs of departments). We tested our hypotheses with doctors of a large public hospital in northern Italy. A total of 370 doctors completed questionnaires measuring organizational and unit identification, supervisor trust, and contract breach. Results supported our hypotheses: supervisor trust was related to unit identification through its effect on organizational identification. As expected, this relation was stronger for more tenured department chairs, and for those doctors who perceived less contract breach.

Is medical perspective on clinical governance practices associated with clinical units’ performance and mortality? A cross-sectional study through a record-linkage procedure:

Objective: Assessment of the knowledge and application as well as perceived utility by doctors of clinical governance tools in order to explore their impact on clinical units’ performance measured through mortality rates and efficiency indicators. Methods: This research is a cross-sectional study with a deterministic record-linkage procedure. The sample includes n = 1250 doctors (n = 249 chiefs of clinical units; n = 1001 physicians) working in six public hospitals located in the Emilia-Romagna Region in Italy. Survey instruments include a checklist and a research-made questionnaire which were used for data collection about doctors’ knowledge and application as well as perceived utility of clinical governance tools. The analysis was based on clinical units’ performance indicators which include patients’ mortality, extra-region active mobility rate, average hospital stay, bed occupancy, rotation and turnover rates, and the comparative performance index as efficiency indicators. Results: The clinical governance tools are known and applied differently in all the considered clinical units. Significant differences emerged between roles and organizational levels at which the medical leadership is carried out. The levels of knowledge and application of clinical governance practices are correlated with the clinical units’ efficiency indicators (bed occupancy rate, bed turnover interval, and extra-region mobility). These multiple linear regression analyses highlighted that the clinical governance knowledge and application is correlated with clinical units’ mortality rates (odds ratio, −8.677; 95% confidence interval, −16.654, −0.700). Conclusion: The knowledge and application, as well as perceived utility by medical professionals of clinical governance tools, are associated with the mortality rates of their units and with some efficiency indicators. However, the medical frontline staff seems to not consider homogeneously useful the clinical governance tools application on its own clinical practice.