Sustainable employment: the importance of intrinsically valuable work and an age-supportive climate

The aging workforce emphasizes the importance of sustainable employment, that is the extent to which workers are able and willing to remain working now and in the future . This raises the question how organizations can design work contexts that contribute to sustainable employment. This study invest...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational journal of human resource management Vol. 28; no. 17; pp. 2449 - 2472
Main Authors van Dam, Karen, van Vuuren, Tinka, Kemps, Sofie
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Routledge 25.09.2017
Subjects
Affective commitment
age-supportive climate
employability
intrinsic job value
older employees
sustainable employment
work engagement
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Summary:The aging workforce emphasizes the importance of sustainable employment, that is the extent to which workers are able and willing to remain working now and in the future . This raises the question how organizations can design work contexts that contribute to sustainable employment. This study investigated the role of a intrinsically motivating job (intrinsic job value) and an age-supportive climate for three indicators of employees' sustainable employment: employability, work engagement and affective commitment. The questionnaire was completed by 119 office employees (response 35%) of a Dutch public transport organization. A SEM analysis revealed that intrinsic job value was strongly and positively related with all three indicators of sustainable employment for employees of all ages. In contrast, an age-supportive climate was especially important for older employees' work engagement and affective commitment. This study has implications for practice and for research of sustainable employment, HRM and aging.
ISSN:0958-5192
1466-4399
DOI:10.1080/09585192.2015.1137607