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  • © 2015

Aging Workers and the Employee-Employer Relationship

  • Introduces new perspectives on aging workers and the employment relationship

  • Provides unique theoretical insights in how HRM can be adapted to aging workers

  • Brings together new theoretical frameworks (job crafting, I-deals) and older workers

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Table of contents (15 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiii
  2. Introduction to Aging Workers and the Employee-Employer Relationship

    • P. Matthijs Bal, Dorien T. A. M. Kooij, Denise M. Rousseau
    Pages 1-9
  3. The Role of Context and the Organization

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 11-11
    2. Age Diversity and Age Climate in the Workplace

      • Stephan A. Boehm, Florian Kunze
      Pages 33-55
    3. Strategic HRM for Older Workers

      • Dorien T. A. M. Kooij, Karina van de Voorde
      Pages 57-72
    4. The Role of Line Managers in Motivation of Older Workers

      • Eva Knies, Peter Leisink, Jo Thijssen
      Pages 73-86
    5. A Lifespan Perspective on Leadership

      • Hannes Zacher, Michael Clark, Ellen C. Anderson, Oluremi B. Ayoko
      Pages 87-104
  4. The Role of the Older Worker

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 105-105
    2. The Psychological Contracts of Older Employees

      • Tim Vantilborgh, Nicky Dries, Ans de Vos, P. Matthijs Bal
      Pages 107-127
    3. Successful Aging at Work: The Role of Job Crafting

      • Dorien T. A. M. Kooij, Maria Tims, Ruth Kanfer
      Pages 145-161
    4. Aging Workers’ Learning and Employability

      • Isabel Raemdonck, Simon Beausaert, Dominik Fröhlich, Nané Kochoian, Caroline Meurant
      Pages 163-184
  5. Working Beyond Retirement

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 185-185
    2. Intentions to Continue Working and Its Predictors

      • René Schalk, Donatienne Desmette
      Pages 187-201
    3. Adjustment Processes in Bridge Employment: Where We Are and Where We Need To Go

      • Cort W. Rudolph, Annet H. De Lange, Beatrice Van der Heijden
      Pages 221-242
    4. Conclusion and Future Research

      • Dorien T. A. M. Kooij, Denise M. Rousseau, P. Matthijs Bal
      Pages 261-268

About this book

This book focuses on the aging workforce from the employment relationship perspective. This innovative book specifically focuses on how organizations can ensure their aging workers remain motivated, productive and healthy. In 15 chapters, several experts on this topic describe how organizations through effective human resource management can ensure that workers are able to continue working at higher age. In addition, this book discusses the role older workers themselves play in continuing work at higher age. To do this, the authors integrate research from different areas, such as literature on leadership, psychological contracts and diversity with literature on the aging workforce. Through this integration this book provides innovative ways for organizations and workers to maintain productivity, motivation and health. Aging Workers and the Employee-Employer Relationship summarizes the latest research on how employment relationships change with age and its implications for supporting the well-being, motivation and productivity of older workers. It identifies ways to improve how both companies and workers solve the problems they face. These include better designed employment practices and more adaptive job content and developmental opportunities for aging workers along with activities aging workers can engage to enhance their own job crafting, learning and employability.

Editors and Affiliations

  • School of Management, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom

    P. Matthijs Bal

  • Department of Human Resource Studies, University of Tilburg, Tilburg, The Netherlands

    Dorien T.A.M. Kooij

  • H. John Heinz III College, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA

    Denise M. Rousseau

About the editors

P. Matthijs Bal is Reader at the School of Management, University of Bath, United Kingdom. He obtained his PhD cum laude at VU University Amsterdam with research on psychological contracts of older workers. He worked at Erasmus University Rotterdam and VU University Amsterdam before he moved to Bath. His research interests concern the aging workforce, individualization of work arrangements, psychological contracts and the impact of fictional narratives in the workplace. He has published in a wide range of journals, including Journal of Management Studies, Journal of Vocational Behavior and PLOS One.

Dorien Kooij is an assistant professor at the Department of Human Resource Studies of Tilburg University, the Netherlands. Her research focuses on aging at work and in particular on HR practices for older workers and on how work motivation changes with aging. She has published in international peer reviewed journals such as Journal of Organizational Behavior and Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology.

Denise M. Rousseau is the H.J. Heinz II University Professor of Organizational Behavior and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University's H. John Heinz III College and the Tepper School of Business. She is the faculty director of the Institute for Social Enterprise and Innovation and chair of Health Care Policy and Management program. She was previously on the faculty of Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, the University of Michigan's Department of Psychology and Institute for Social Research and the Naval Postgraduate School at Monterey. Rousseau's research focuses upon the impact workers have on the employment relationship and the firms that employ them. It informs critical concerns such as worker well-being and career development, organizational effectiveness, the management of change, firm ownership and governance and industrial relations.

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access