Student: Babette van de Wal | 10086323 June 29th, 2015 – First draft
MSc. Business Administration – Leadership & management track Amsterdam Business School (UvA)
Supervisor: Dr. Wendelien van Eerde
Age-related differences in motivating and
retaining employees
Age
Needs
Motivation
Statement of originality
This document is written by student Babette van de Wal, who declares to take full responsibility for the contents of this document.
I declare that the text and the work presented in this document is original and that no sources other than those mentioned in the text and its references have been used in creating it.
The Faculty of Economics and Business is responsible solely for the supervision of completion of the work, not for the contents.
Table of contents
1. Abstract……… 4
2. Introduction………. 4
3. Literature review………. 7
3.1. Age……….. 7
3.2. Future time perspective……… 12
3.3. Work motivation……….. 13
3.4. Intention to continue to work……….. 16
3.5. Hypotheses……….………. 17 3.6 Research model……….. ………25 4. Methods………....………25 4.1. Sample……….………25 4.2. Measurement of variables………... 27 5. Results……….……… 31 6. Discussion……… 37 7. Conclusion………... 43 8. References………... 43
9. Appendix 1: Scale and items………... 53
10. Appendix 2: Single mediation (Process model 4)………... 55
1. Abstract
A quantitative research focusing on the influence of age on the intention to continue to work via psychological needs satisfaction and work motivation. To enlarge the concept of age, time perspective is taken into account as a moderator, because some people act or behave differently to their age groups. Besides, a mediation effect is based on the self-determination theory. This theory argues the integration of three psychological needs is necessary for intrinsic motivation or autonomous motivation. Therefore, a double mediation is tested, in which the first mediation represents the need satisfaction and the second mediation represent three types of motivation, specifically intrinsic, extrinsic autonomous and extrinsic controlled motivation. Employees in a Dutch organization are approached via e-mail with a link to a questionnaire. The results showed a significant, but small double mediation effect of either the need for autonomy or the need for competence in combination with intrinsic motivation. Therefore, the current research suggest employees should focus what their needs are and, in turn, the organization should focus on satisfying those needs by providing opportunities in employees jobs and tasks. This collaboration between employee and employer creates a motivated workforce, which is highly recommended for becoming a successful organization and also for maintaining a reputation of good employer.
2. Introduction
Are you aware what drives you to work hard? Are you motivated by the job itself or by the money or other rewards that follow the job? And do you think your motivation has changed during your career? Since, January 2014, the retirement age in the Netherlands became 67 instead of 65 (Belastingdienst, 2015). In conjunction with the enhanced healthcare and similar years of education, the workforce in many European and other developed countries is aging
(Inceoglu, Segers & Bartram, 2012) and, in turn, also the range of age in the workforce is growing.
As people get older, work motivation seems to shift from extrinsic to more intrinsic work motivation (Kooij, De Lange, Janssen & Dikkers, 2008). Intrinsic motivation refers to doing an activity, because satisfaction is derived from the activity itself, opposed to extrinsic motivation that derives satisfaction from the extrinsic consequences to which the activity leads (Porter & Lawler, 1968). The level of motivation can be placed on a continuum between controlled and autonomous motivation (Gagné and Deci, 2005). Specifically, the more autonomous, the more the motivation will be intrinsic. In addition, internalization of external regulation determines the level of motivation. The satisfaction of three needs influence this process of internalization, specifically the need for autonomy, competence and relatedness. But do different types of motivation lead to different results in intentions or behaviour?
Since the safety net of funded retirement or financially attractive exit arrangements, older employees might feel redundant and will retire when they reach the retirement age (Kooij et al., 2008). In other words, employees above the age of 67 will have less intention to continue working. Noticeable, is that age is negatively related to intention to leave, because older employees will rely more on job security and might have less job opportunities as a result of the changes related to aging (Ng & Feldman, 2013). Still, it is unclear if those effects change the intention to continue to work before employees reach the retirement age. Besides, motivation is related to organizational commitment (Gagné and Deci, 2005) and lower turnover intentions (Richer, Blanchard & Vallerand, 2002). This might also suggests motivation plays a role in the intention of employees to continue to work.
Age-related differences in work motivation are examined in various previous researches. However, some focus only on process theories, such as goal setting and
expectancy theories, instead of self-determination theory (Kanfer and Ackerman, 2004). Other research specifies work motivation in both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and concluded age is more positively related to intrinsic motivation. Still, the distinguished types of work motivation as proposed by the self-determination theory are not taken into account. The current research examines if age influences those types of work motivation as conceptualized in the self-determination theory differently. In addition, the self-determination theory argues that the satisfaction of three psychological needs, specifically autonomy, competence and relatedness, are necessary for intrinsic motivation (Gagné & Deci, 2005). However, few researches have included those needs as a predictor of motivation. Therefore, the current research contributes by including both needs and work motivation as mediating variables.
Moreover, the concept of age is commonly used as either a main variable or a control variable. However, measuring the concept of age by only a number might not be sufficient enough, as people might feel younger or older mentally. Therefore, the current research includes future time perspective to control for differences in perspectives that can lead to different effects in work motivation, psychological needs and the intention to continue to work. Besides, most research on motivation related to retention of employees focus on the public sector (Johnsrund & Vosser, 2002; Simons, 2008; Van der Heijden, Kümmerling, Dam, Schoot, Estryn-Behar & Hasselborn, 2010). However, there are significant difference in motivation between public and private sector, whereas employees in the public sector are less extrinsically motivated (Beulens & Van den Broeck, 2007). As most motivation researches are focusing on the public sector, the current research focus on the private sector. Therefore, it is important to create a sample of work population in the private sector, to clarify specific result for a private organization.
The focus on private sector employees also leads to a more practical importance as this research attempts to specify the relation of age and the intention to continue to work. The turnover rate of organizations is important, as organizations invest in people and want them to stay in the organization instead of leaving with their acquired knowledge, which may ultimately helps saving money. Besides, organization want to have motivated employees that enjoy working for the organization as their performance is better than non-motivated employees (Kanfer & Ackerman, 2004). Therefore, this research provides more insights in age-related factors that influence the motivation of young and older workers and also their intention to continue to work. Those factors can be addressed in HRM policies to motivate and retain employees. The current research focuses on the following research question:
To what extent does age influence the intention of employees to continue to work and is this
relationship influenced by future time perspective, psychological needs satisfaction and work
motivation?
3. Literature review
First, the concept of age is reviewed, followed by the concept of future time perspective. Next, the concepts of work motivation, psychological needs and the intention to continue to work will be discussed. Thereafter, the relations and hypotheses will be explained.
3.1 Age
In work context, research has shown differences between younger and older employees (Bal & Smit, 2012; Bal, De Lange, Jansen & Velde, 2013). During an individual’s life, changes occur in biological, psychological and social factors at various points in the life cycle (Kooij, De Lange, Janssen, Kanfer & Dikkers, 2011). The primary meaning of age is simply the calendar age. In most labour market studies employees older than 50 or 55 years are labelled
as older workers, because those people show a decline in participation rate (Kooij et al., 2008). However, most studies in organizations, label employees older than 40 as older workers (Ng & Feldman, 2013). Still, those employees older than 40 years are valuable, because they possess knowledge and experience acquired over the years, however the process of learning and development of new skills reduces (Ng & Feldman, 2013). According to Kanfer and Ackerman (2004) age leads to two types of differences. On the hand, inter-individual difference, referring to differences between inter-individuals. On the other hand, intra-individual difference, referring to within-person changes. This research focuses on the latter type, because those changes might explain the change in psychological needs or work motivation when employees are older.
3.1.1. Within-person changes
Ng & Feldman (2013) examined the within-person changes associated with age in five domains and also the effect of these changes on job performance. The first domain focuses on cognitive capacity. In the process of aging there is mostly a decrease in cognitive ability (Kanfer & Ackerman, 2004) and capacity (Ng & Feldman, 2013), including memory and information retrieval (Dodson, Bawa & Kreuger, 2007), spatial ability (Finkel, Reynolds, McArdle & Pedersen, 2007), verbal ability and learning capacity (Rast, 2011). In, turn, this decrease in cognitive capacity results in a decline of information processing speed (Salthouse & Babcock, 1991). The processing speed theory of cognitive aging explains the decline in cognitive capacity with the help of two mechanisms (Salthouse, 1996; Henninger, Madden & Heuttel, 2010). First, the limited time mechanism implies older workers have difficulties with time pressures. Second, the simultaneity mechanism implies older workers have difficulties with the simultaneous use of previously acquired and recently received information, especially under time pressure. However, compensating for this decline, older workers have
increased experience-based judgement (Ng & Feldman, 2013); because their richer experience resource help exhibit greater common sense and wisdom in decision-making (Cornelius & Capi, 1987). Moreover, Kanfer and Ackerman (2004) argue intellectual ability consist of both fluid intellectual and crystalized ability, whereas maximum levels of fluid intellectual abilities are reached in the early twenties. In contrast, crystalized intellectual abilities show increasing levels of performance into middle age and older employees. To compensate for the decline in fluid intelligence and increase of crystalized intelligence, older employees select jobs and goals that optimize existing knowledge and skills.
The second domain is personality. Earlier research argues, one’s personality is created at the end of adolescence and is expected to show consistency over time (Roberts & DelVecchio, 2000), however recent research suggest personality is developed during childhood and changes throughout adulthood (Soto, John, Goslign & Potter, 2011). The Big five traits seem to change with age; there is an increase in both agreeableness and conscientiousness and a decline in extraversion, neuroticism and openness to new experiences (Wortman, Lucas & Donnellan, 2012; Caspi, Roberts & Shiner, 2005), thus older employees can be expected, on average, to be more conscientious, but less active, sociable, outgoing, change oriented, open to new experience and career motivated than younger employees (Kanfer & Ackerman, 2004). The maturity principle explains this process as becoming more agreeable, responsible and emotionally stable, which lead to successfully fulfilling different social roles. Changes in neuroticism appear to be smaller and less systematic across life (Ng & Feldman, 2013). On the contrary, Specht, Egloff and Schmukle (2011) argue openness to new experiences changes in a curvilinear rather than linear pattern over the course of a lifetime. There is a downward trend during the age of 30 to 60 and thereafter there is no significant further decline. Moreover, they also found the level of conscientiousness remained steady between the ages of 40 to 60. The self-esteem of individuals is steadier during work
life, however likely to decline at older age (Wagner, Ludtke, Jonkmann & Trautwein, 2013). This might be explained by the change in strategies preserving positive self-concepts over time (Rice & Pasupathi, 2010), for example younger adults try to change their external environment to match their own personal preferences whereas older adults are more likely to try to adjust their personal preferences to situational constraints. Older employees are better able to preserve a positive self-image and self-perception when being in control over their environment.
Thirdly, individuals’ goal orientation is changing. The socio-emotional selectivity theory (Carstensen, 1991) explains individuals’ goal orientations change as people consciously and subconsciously monitor how much time they have left in life. Older people are likely to feel they have less time and limited future options (Fung, Lai & Ng, 2001). This leads to minimizing losses instead of maximizing gains (Ng & Feldman, 2013). In contrast, young adults are more focused on growth-oriented goals (Ebner, Freund & Baltes, 2006).
Fourth, related to goal orientation, aging individuals are more focused on positive socio-emotional experiences and try to avoid negative socio-emotional experience (Ng & Feldman, 2013). Mroczek and Kolarz (1998) found a curvilinear relation between age and positive affect, whereas positive affect increased faster in later life stages. The change to a more positive experience can also be explained by the socio-emotional selectivity theory (Carstensen, 1991), because older individuals perceive they have limited time and options. Some argue both younger and older adults experience positive motions through sixty, but older adults also report fewer negative emotions than younger adults (Ng & Feldman, 2013). Therefore, older adults seem to make more frequent use of emotional control strategies than younger adults to keep up the positive experience. Contrasting, Teachman (2006) argues as individuals enter their 30-40, levels of negative affect decline, because they enter a positive
stage in their career. However, in late adulthood, levels of negativity increase, because individuals experience more physical declines and psychological pressures.
Finally, changes in health are expected when individuals age. These changes in health include physical health, for example diminished hearing (Murphy, Daneman & Schneider, 2006) and increased insomnia (Buman, Hekler, Bliwise & King, 2011). Salient is that serious diseases are more likely to occur after people leave the workforce (Asakawa, Senthiselvan, Feeny, Johnson & Rolfson, 2012). The selection, optimization and compensation model helps to explain how older workers sustain sufficient physical health to remain active members of the workforce (Ng & Feldman, 2013). Selection refers to individuals’ identification of their most important goals and choice to devote more resources to those goals, as older worker may retire because they want to spent more time pursuing their dreams or hobbies. Optimization refers to how individuals organize their resources to attain valued goals, as older workers may work less to conserve their energy. Compensation refers to the utilization of technology or external sources of assistance to maintain levels of functioning, for example getting hearing aids. Decline in physical health seems to co-vary with mental health (Gana et al., 2013), especially with older individuals above 75 years (Ng & Feldman, 2013).
One of the limitations of the research of Ng and Feldman (2013) is that age is only seen as calendar or chronological age. This is most commonly used in studies, but it may not be sufficient to operationalize age only as chronological in work settings (De Lange, Taris, Jansen, Smulders, Houtman & Kompier, 2006). This can be seen as a result of mental age, whereas older employees still feel young mentally and, in turn, show behaviours that are more compliant with younger people. One approach for a more sufficient view on the influence of age is to include the future time perspective of employees. According to Carstensen (2006), future time perspective has a greater influence than chronological age, because it takes into
account the change in perspective of employees. The following part will discuss future time perspective in further detail.
3.2 Future time perspective
According to the socio-emotional selectivity theory, time perspective has an important role in the psychological and social goals of employees (Bal & Smith, 2012). Time perspective refers to the relative importance of past, present and future time frames (Mohammed & Nadkarni, 2011) and is defined as “the totality of the individual’s views of his or her psychological future and psychological present existing at a given time (Lewin, 1951, p 75). As people live in the present, but can look back at previous experiences and also anticipate on the future (Lens, Paixao, Herrera & Grobler, 2012).
Zimbardo and Boyd (1999) distinguished five dimensions to describe individual time perspective from past oriented to future oriented (Stolarski, Bitner & Zimbardo, 2011). First, a past negative time perspective relates to a generally negative, aversive view of the past, which may emerge as a result of actual experience of unpleasant events. Second, opposed to past negative, a past positive time perspective reflects a warm, sentimental attitude toward the past. Third, a present hedonistic time perspective refers to risk-taking and pleasure-oriented attitude towards life, with high impulsivity and little concern for future consequences of one’s action. Fourth, a present-fatalistic time perspective refers to a belief that the future is predestined and uninfluenced by individual action. Finally, a future time perspective relates to a general future orientation, with behaviour dominated by striving for future goals and rewards.
However, the current research focus on future time perspective, because motivation goals are by definition situated in the future (Lens et al, 2012). But, when someone is
motivated to maintain the present state, the motivation is to hold on to the same state in the future. Therefore, present hedonistic and present fatalistic are included as control variables. The temporal distance of those motivational goals can vary from very short (the same day) to very long (several years). Some goals are even beyond the lifetime, for example go to heaven after life. These goals are labelled as transcendental time perspective (Zimbardo & Boyd, 1999). Individuals with a longer future time perspective experience a given time interval as psychologically shorter than people with a shorter future time perspective. Therefore, individuals with a short future time perspective, more present-orientated, focus on immediate pleasure take more risk and plan in shorter time frames (Waller, Conte, Gibson & Carpenter, 2001). Contrasting individuals with a future orientation are goal-orientated, make long-term plans and are more aware of future consequences (Ashkanasy, Gupa, Mayfield & Roberts, 2004; Waller et al., 2001). Before discussing the influence of future time perspective in more detail, the next part will discuss the concept of work motivation.
3.3 Work motivation
Motivation is a central concept in the field of psychology, but also valued in organizations as motivated employees have higher persistence, enthusiasm and drive and, therefore, are expected to deliver more than less motivated employees (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Noticeable, is the fact that motivation is an abstract concept, because motivation cannot be observed directly. Three aspects of action are influenced by motivation: direction, effort and persistence (Locke & Latham, 2004). The direction refers to what a person is trying to do (choice). Effort refers to how hard a person is trying (intensity). Finally, persistence refers to how long a person continues trying (duration). Work motivation is defined as “a set of energetic forces that originate both within as well as beyond an individual’s being, to initiate work-related behaviour and to determine its form, direction, intensity and duration (Pinder, 1998, p. 11).
Similar Westwood (1992, p. 288) defines motivation as “an internal state, giving rise to a desire or pressure to act”. Both definitions show a push and pull factor, because of the psychological process resulting from the interaction between the individual (push) and the environment (pull) (Latham & Pinder, 2005).
Porter and Lawler (1968) proposed a model of intrinsic and extrinsic work motivation. In this model intrinsic motivation refers to doing an activity because satisfaction is derived from the activity itself. In contrast, extrinsic motivation does not arise from the activity itself, but from the extrinsic consequences to which the activity leads. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations combined are proposed to influence total job satisfaction. This is based on the assumption that both concepts are additive (Gagné & Deci, 2005). However, testing this assumption leads to different results, namely both positive and negative interactive effects rather than additive (Deci, 1971). To explain this interaction effect, Deci and Ryan (1985) proposed the Cognitive evaluation theory.
Cognitive evaluation theory assumes that intrinsically motivated behaviour allows a person to feel competent and self-determining (Deci & Ryan, 1985). Two processes of extrinsic rewards can influence intrinsic motivation. First, a change in perceived locus of causality from internal to external may undermine intrinsic motivation. Second, a change in one’s feeling of competence and self-determination can lead to a feeling of more responsibility for a successful performance. Both processes refer to a feeling of competence and autonomy that can enhance intrinsic motivation (Gagné & Deci, 2005).
However, with the new insights of the cognitive evaluation theory, there were several problems (Gagné & Deci, 2005), for example the strategies to enhance intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are not always realistic and the assumptions are difficult to incorporate in prominent behavioural and expectancy-valence approaches. In addition, the cognitive
evaluation theory seems to imply management should focus on intrinsic while minimizing extrinsic factors. A new theory in the form of the Self-determination theory tries to solve this problem by providing a broader scope, but incorporated the cognitive-evaluation theory.
Central to the Self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985; Ryan & Deci, 2000) is the distinction between autonomous and controlled motivation (Gagné & Deci, 2005). Autonomous motivation refers to acting with a sense of volition and having the experience of choice and controlled motivation refers to acting with a sense of pressure. Both concepts are intentional and contrasting with amotivation, which implies lack of intention and motivation. When behaviour is motivated by external regulation, the motivation can be seen as controlled. External regulation can be seen as a pay check or health benefits, but it might also be to prevent a negative consequence. Another type of extrinsic motivation results when behavioural regulation is internalized and, therefore, the external contingency is not required to be present, for example being motivated to work even when the boss is not present. Therefore, internalization influences motivation, reaching to more autonomous motivation.
The process of internalization is categorized in three categories: introjection, identification and integration (Gagné & Deci, 2005). Introjection means a regulation is taken, but not yet accepted as he or she’s own, therefore this type is more described as a controlled type of extrinsic motivation. Identification refers to feeling greater freedom, because behaviour is similar to personal goals and identities. When the external regulation is identified, people are autonomous extrinsic motivated. Finally, when people have integrated the extrinsic regulation, they feel the behaviour as who they are, in other words self-determined. Gagné and Deci (2005) emphasis on the fact that this model is not a stage theory, but describes the extent to which regulations are integrated. Besides the process of integration, the self-determination theory focuses on psychological needs. Underlying
intrinsic motivation are the needs for competence and autonomy. In addition, the need for relatedness refers to the need of being connected to others and to be effective in the social world. All three needs are necessary for intrinsic motivation and also integration of regulations. The following part focuses on the intention of employees to continue to work.
3.4 Intention to continue to work
To retain employees, employees need to be willing to stay. The intention of employees is a primary antecedent to actual behaviour explained by the theory of planned behaviour (Fishbein & Azjen, 1975). This means the employee’s intention to continue to work will probably predict if employees continue their work or will leave the company.
Previous research on employees’ intention to continue to work focused on employees that are close to the retirement age. Shacklok (2008) identified several factors that influence older worker’s decision to retire or intentions to continue to work: health, finance, attachment to work, importance of working to the individual, perception of personal autonomy at work, interpersonal relationship at work, flexible work arrangements, interests outside of work and management and organizational factors. Shacklock and Brunetto (2011) categorized the factors and financial situation on a micro-personal level, because it reflects the ability of the person to carry on their work or retire regardless of the job itself. Those personal factors influence the factors on an organizational level, which can be seen as work role identification, societal norms, valued work outcomes, importance of work goals and work centrality. Also, those variables are related to psychosocial outcomes, objective outcomes of working and subjective expectation about future working situation. Psychosocial outcomes refer to motivation, job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Objective outcomes refer to future work hours and training intentions. Subjective expectations includes the factors of Shacklock (2008) reflecting the importance of working, flexible work arrangements, interest
outside of work and management and organizational factors. Those factors of subjective expectations eventually influence the intention of older workers to continue working.
Templer, Armstrong-Stassen and Cattaneo (2010) categorize three motives to continue to work: financial necessity, work fulfilment and generativity. Financial necessity is similar to financial factor on the micro-personal level of Shacklock and Brunetto (2011), so the financial need or the lack of financial resources to retire (Templer, et al., 2010). Work fulfilment is similar to the psychosocial work outcomes of Shacklock and Brunetto (2011), for example enjoyment of work. However, Templer et al. (2010) adds the sense of achievement to this motive. Finally, generativity is related to having opportunities to share one’s knowledge and experience with younger generations.
Demographic variables, such as age, gender and marital status, predict the financial motivate and work-related variables predicted the work fulfilment and generativity motives (Templer et al., 2010). The current study takes into account work motivation as a motive to continue working. Besides, not only continue paid working is included, but also the intention to continue working for the same organization. Therefore, this variable is relevant to all the employees as the intention to continue to work for the same organization, gives more insight for the organization if employees are willing to remain. The following part will explain the relations of the different variables of age, future time perspective, work motivation and the intention to continue working in further detail.
3.5 Hypotheses
3.5.1 Age in relation to psychological needs
Psychological need satisfaction differs for different age groups and cultures (Broeck, Vansteenkiste, Soenens & Lens, 2010; Morris, Venkatesh & Ackerman, 2005). Previous
studies have shown different directions in which age influences the satisfaction of psychological needs. On the one hand, age is negatively related to need satisfaction (Vansteenkiste, Neyrinck, Niemiec, Soenens & Broeck (2007). On the other hand, a positive relation is found (Sheldon & Niemiec, 2006; Broeck, Vansteenkiste, Witte & Lens, 2008). However, these studies combined the three needs in one concept of need satisfaction. The current study takes a closer look in the relation of age and the three needs separately.
The need for autonomy refers to acting with a sense of choice (Gagné & Deci, 2005). Earlier studies in the 80’s argue the need for autonomy is only important in early stages of one’s career (Rabinowitz & Hall, 1981), which is highly correlated with age (Morris, Venkatesh & Ackerman, 2005). In addition, older employees indicate significantly lower need for autonomy than younger workers (Cook & Wall, 1980; Evans, Kiggundu & House, 1979; Hackman & Oldham, 1976). In contrast, a more recent study by Segers, Inceoglu, Vloeberghs, Bartram, and Henderickx (2008) shows the satisfaction of the need for autonomy increases with age. This might be explained by the fact that when employees start working in a specific job, they will start a learning process and gain more responsibilities as they work longer in a specific job. Therefore, older employees rely more on the satisfaction of the need for autonomy, as they have to maintain their level of autonomy they gained through the years. Besides, their job provides possibilities to satisfy those needs for autonomy. The hypothesis to test this assumption is as follows:
H1a: Age is positively related to the satisfaction of the need for autonomy.
The need for competence refers to control of outcomes and experience (Gagné & Deci, 2005). Similar to the need for autonomy, the need for competence will also grow if employee work longer in a specific job as they have already acquired the specific competencies needed for the job. Besides, the level of competences will probably develop while working. However, one of
the effects of aging is decline in cognitive capacity (Ng & Feldman, 2013), when this change occurs employees learning capabilities will slow. A compensation for this decline in fluid intelligence, older employees have increased crystalized knowledge (Kanfer & Ackerman, 2004). The already required competences are part of the crystalized knowledge. Therefore, older employees will also have more need for competence than younger employees. Similar to the need for autonomy, the job provides the possibilities to satisfy those needs for competence, hypothesized as:
H1b: Age is positively related to the satisfaction of the need for competence.
Finally, the need for relatedness refers to interacting and connecting with others (Gagné & Deci, 2005). A study by Morris, Venkatesh and Ackerman (2005) suggest the need for affiliation increases with age and also the importance of a friendly environment, such as co-workers and supervisors, increase with age. In contrast, the socio-emotional selectivity theory suggests older employees prefer social partners who are familiar with them (Ng & Feldman, 2013). In work context their relations might be more superficial (Kooij et al., 2011). Younger employees might be more interested in learning new colleagues and expanding their network. Wrzus, Hanel, Wagner and Neyer (2013) found network size of younger employees increased until 30, but declined after this age. Moreover, older adults have high emotional intensity with family and long-term friends, but lower levels with new friends. Therefore, the satisfaction of the need for relatedness will be higher for younger employees, hypothesized as:
H1c: Age is negatively related to the satisfaction of the need for relatedness.
3.5.2. Mediation psychological needs satisfaction
Based on the within-person changes related to age (Ng & Feldman, 2013), older employees are more intrinsically motivated than younger employees (Inceoglu and Bartram, 2012). First,
older employees seek positive socio-emotional experience and, therefore, are less likely to continue their job if it did not satisfy them. Second, older employees search for minimizing loss and therefore will have more desire in job security and enjoyment. Third, because of a decline in cognitive capacity, external regulations, for example bonuses, will have less effect as older employees cannot handle time pressure and working simultaneous task less than younger employees.
Inceoglu & Bartram (2012) propose a small, non-linear relation between age and work motivation that suggests older workers would also be more extrinsically motivated. Extrinsic motivation depends on integration of extrinsic regulation and takes four types: external regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation and integrated regulation. On the one side, both external regulation and introjected regulation are seen as controlled extrinsic motivation. Younger employees might be more motivated by these motivators as they are new in the job and are still in a learning process and, therefore, not fully committed yet to a job as they are searching for growth opportunities. On the other side, both identified and integrated regulation are seen as autonomous extrinsic motivation, because of feeling more similarity to personal goals and integration of behaviour. If employees start working in an organization, they have less opportunity for identifying and integration.
However, according to the self-determination theory, three basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness are necessary for integrating extrinsic regulation and intrinsic motivation. This is supported by various researches (Gagné, 2003; Standage, Duda & Ntoumanis, 2006; Ryan & Deci, 2007; Cox & Williams, 2008; Zhang, Solmon, Kosmo, Carson & Gu, 2011). Both Deci and Ryan (2000) and Koestner and Losier (2002) argue the satisfaction of the need for autonomy is most important for internalizing external regulation and therefore more autonomous motivation. The satisfaction of the need for
relatedness influence only introjected and identified regulation. One the one hand, when autonomy and relatedness are in harmony, this will promote identified regulation and, on the other hand, when in conflict, it will promote introjected regulation (Koestner & Losier, 2002). In addition to motivation, a study of Lynch, Plant and Ryan (2005) suggest need satisfaction is positively related with worker’s intrinsic job satisfaction, whereas extrinsic job satisfaction was positively influenced by the need for autonomy and competence but negatively related to the need for relatedness. This shows the focus on external rewards may conflict the focus on relationship with co-workers. Still, Deci and Ryan (2000) suggested that external pressures and controls predict the process of internalization even in the presence of the satisfaction of the need for relatedness, implying that introjected regulation can be the result of the need for relatedness in absence of the need for autonomy. In addition, the need for relatedness is less salient for intrinsic motivation, because people can also be intrinsically motivated in solitary activities (Koestner & Losier, 2002; Deci & Ryan, 2000). Nevertheless, the need for autonomy and competence are important in activities to provide the individual optimal challenges and the exercise of their skills.
Thus, fostering the satisfaction of autonomy, competence and relatedness is associated with greater identified regulation whereas for intrinsic regulation only the satisfaction of autonomy and competence is required (Markland & Tobin, 2010). Whereas Deci and Ryan (2000) argue only the need for autonomy occupies a unique position in which the satisfaction is essential from behaviour to be less amotivated or controlled and, in turn, more self-determined. To test this assumption, the following hypotheses are proposed:
H2: Autonomy need satisfaction mediates the relation of age and (a) intrinsic motivation (b),
H3: Competence need satisfaction mediates the relation of age and (a) intrinsic motivation
(b), extrinsic autonomous motivation and (c) extrinsic controlled motivation.
H4: Relatedness need satisfaction mediates the relation of age and (a) intrinsic motivation
(b), extrinsic autonomous motivation and (c) extrinsic controlled motivation.
3.5.3. Moderation future time perspective
Several studies examined the influence of future time perspective on motivation. Peetsma and Van der Veen (2011) found student’s time perspective have a positive effect on learning and social relations. Moreover, future-orientation leads to a more valuable and meaningful perception of learning (Bilde, Vansteenkiste & Lens, 2011). They also found a positive relation between future time perspective and identified regulation and introjected regulation, because of the anticipation of future consequences on future goals. Moreover, future time perspective results in less distraction and more effective in planning time.
The influences of future time perspective result from differences in instrumental and utility values. An incentive value of a reward or goal decreases as a function of the length of its temporal delay (Rachlin, 1995). However, this decrease is less steep for individuals with a longer time perspective, because those individuals experience a given time interval as psychologically shorter (Lens et al., 2012). In addition, individuals with a longer future time perspective can more easily anticipate the implication of their present activities for the more distant future and elaborate longer behavioural plans or projects (Lens et al., 2012). This results in a higher utility value of present actions or goals (Eccles & Wigfield, 2002; Lens, Paixão, & Herrera, 2009), whereas utility value refers to the degree of perceived usefulness of the present task to achieve present and future goals. A task can lead to positive value if the task is necessary or helps achieving future goals, even when those goals are extrinsic (Ryan &
Deci, 2000). However, individuals with a short future time perspective would not consider such delayed consequences of present actions, they do not consider future consequences (Lens et al., 2012). Therefore, in general, individuals with a longer future time perspective will be more motivated, because they can more easily anticipate the future consequences of present behaviour and the value of delayed goals will be higher and, in turn, can anticipate for opportunities in their job to satisfy their needs.
Moreover, in the case of needs, Vansteenkiste, Timmermans, Lens, Soenens and Van den Broeck (2008) argue the three psychological needs are satisfied by intrinsic motivation and frustrated by extrinsic motivation. As employees with more future-oriented time perspective are expected to be more aware of future consequence and have long-term orientation (Stolarski, Bitner & Zimbardo, 2011), they are not focusing on immediate satisfaction of the needs or the job, but see opportunities or means to satisfy their needs and goals in the future. Previous research showed a positive relation between future time perspective and intrinsic motivation (Lens et al., 2012). Therefore, it is assumed future time perspective will also influence the relation of age and the need for autonomy, competence and relatedness as those needs are necessary for intrinsic motivation (Gagné & Deci, 2005). However, a future time perspective might reduce the attractiveness of developing emotionally satisfying interaction with co-workers for older employees (Kooij et al., 2011). Therefore, the moderating role of future time perspective might be different for the need for relatedness, as younger employees probably stay longer in the organization and older employees reach the retirement age. So, the hypothesis is as follows:
H5: Future time perspective moderates the relation of age and need for autonomy,
competence and relatedness. Specifically, future orientation enhances the positive relation of
age and the need for autonomy and competence and enhances the negative relation of age
3.5.4. Mediation psychological needs satisfaction and work motivation
If employees get closer to the retirement age, there are often offers of early retirement and other attractive exit routes in times of downsizing and reorganization (Kooij et al., 2008). This influences older employees in their intention to leave. Eventually, older employees stop working, because of the decrease in competence and abilities (Ng & Feldman, 2013), whereas work might become too hard for older employees. Moreover, poor health will also increase the intention to leave (Kooij et al., 2008). Besides, age norms and stereotypes can influence management decisions, resulting in limited opportunities for promotion, training, and development. However, Higgs, Mein, Ferrie, Hyde, and Nazroo (2003) argues another explanation that is not based on decreases in ability and competence, but based on the leisure time for hobbies and relaxation. Thus, calendar age, physical health, social perception, and life span age mainly affect the termination of the motivation to continue to work (Kooij et al, 2008). However, this does not explain the process in which motivation leads to continue working in the organization.
Gagné and Deci (2005) found a relation between autonomous motivation and organizational commitment. Employees that have identified or integrate extrinsic regulation or are intrinsically motivated are more organizational committed. The satisfaction of autonomy, competence and relatedness is associated with more autonomous motivation. The more autonomous motivated, the more likely the employee enjoy their work and are willing to stay. However, a more controlled motivated employee has less intention to continue to work at the same organization, as they do not enjoy their job itself instead they focus on the external regulation that can be similar in other jobs. Those employees only continue working if they are for example financial dependent of their job or have no better alternative. To test this assumption, the following hypotheses are proposed:
H6: Autonomy need satisfaction and (a) intrinsic motivation or (b) extrinsic autonomous
motivation or (c) extrinsic controlled motivation mediate the relation of age and the intention
to continue to work.
H7: Competence need satisfaction and (a) intrinsic motivation or (b) extrinsic autonomous
motivation or (c) extrinsic controlled motivation mediate the relation of age and the intention
to continue to work.
H8: Relatedness need satisfaction and (a) intrinsic motivation or (b) extrinsic autonomous
motivation or (c) extrinsic controlled motivation mediate the relation of age and the intention
to continue to work.
3.6 Research model
Variables and relations hypothesized are shown in Figure 1.
4. Methods
This section starts by outlining the characteristics of the sample. Next, the variables included in the questionnaire are discussed. See the appendix for an overview of scales and items (in Dutch).
4.1 Sample
The sample consisted of Dutch employees working for Start People. A non-probability sampling is used, because employees are selected by region. Before approaching the employees, region-manager were asked for their permission. One manager did not improved and was excluded from the sample. Via the HR department a list of e-mail addresses is retrieved. A survey is designed to examine the conceptual model proposed in the theoretical
background. This survey is send to the employees via a link attached to an email. In total, the email is sent three times.
A number of 364 employees received the email with link. Finally, 129 employees started filling out the questionnaire and 111 respondents fully completed the questionnaire. So, the response rate is 30,5 percent. The respondents were mostly female (73.9 percent). Most respondents have a HBO certificate (55.0 percent). In addition, the average job tenure was 4,41 years and slightly longer organization tenure of 6,45 years. The majority of respondents (63.9 percent) have a 36 to 40 hours work per week schedule. The respondents were between 17 and 61 years old, with an average of 33.32 years (SD = 9.843). In table 1, the distribution of age is shown. The bar chart shows a positive skewness of 0.473, which results in a longer tail to the higher values. Besides, except for the peak at 36 years, the distribution is flatter compared with a normal distribution, resulting in a negative kurtosis of 0.453.
4.2 Measurement of variables
All items in the questionnaire are derived from English studies. Since, employees of Start People are Dutch, the questionnaire was also in Dutch. Two of the scales, work motivation and psychological need satisfaction, are retrieved in Dutch from an earlier study of Gagné, Table 1. Age distribution in bar chart
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 51 53 55 61
Forest, Vansteenkiste, Crevier-Braud, Van den Broeck, et al. (2014) and Van den Broeck et al. (2010). The scales of future time perspective and intention to continue to work are translated into Dutch. In order to assure the content remains similar, the items are back translated into English by a third person. Leading to the following operationalization of the variables:
Age. Based on the concept of calendar or chronological age (Kooij et al., 2008).
Respondents fill in their age as a ratio variable in an open question.
Time perspective. To measure time perspective the scale based on the Stanford Time
perspective Inventory of Zimbardo and Boyd (1999). Except, only a shorter version of the scale is used of Orkibi (2014). The original scale is English and, therefore, translated to Dutch. The items cover five components, namely, past negative, past positive, present hedonistic, present fatalistic, and future time perspective. However, the survey includes only the last three components. Respondents were asked to answer according a five point Likert-scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).
Present Hedonistic (N = 4 items) refers to risk-taking and pleasure orientation, which
is highly impulsive and result in little concern of consequences. An example of an item specific to present hedonistic is ‘Risico’s voorkomen dat het level saai wordt’. The Cronbach’s alpha was 0.544, but can be improved to 0.720 by deleting one of the items. Because of this sufficient improvement to a reliable concept the first item is excluded.
Present Fatalistic (N = 4 items) refers to a view in which the future is predestined and
uninfluenced by individual action. An example of an item specific to present fatalistic is ‘Het heeft geen zin om je zorgen te maken over de toekomst, omdat je er zelf niets aan kunt veranderen’. The Cronbach’s alpha is 0.727.
Future time perspective (N = 4 items) refers to orientation focused on future, in which
behavior is dominated by striving for future goals and reward. An example of an item specific to future time perspective is ‘Wanneer ik iets wil bereiken, bepaal ik doelen en specifieke middelen om deze doelen te bereiken’. The Cronbach’s alpha is 0.655 and cannot be improved; because this value is still acceptable the analysis is continued with the same scale.
Psychological needs. To measure the satisfaction of three psychological needs of
autonomy, competence and relatedness a scale is used developed by Broeck et al. (2010). Respondents were asked to answer according a five point Likert-scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).
Need for autonomy (6 items) represents individuals desire to feel volitional and to
experience a sense of choice and psychological freedom when performing a task (Deci & Ryan, 2000). An example of an item specific to the need for autonomy is ‘Ik voel mij vrij mijn werk uit te voeren op de manier die mij het beste lijkt’. The second, third and sixth item needed to be recoded; the Cronbach’s alpha is 0.810.
Need for competence (6 items) refers to the desire to feel effective in interacting with
the environment (Deci & Ryan, 2000) or the feeling of effectiveness as a result of mastering a task (Broeck et al., 2010). One of the items is ‘Ik ben zeer ervaren in mijn taken op het werk’. The first and third item needed to be recoded; the Cronbach’s alpha is 0.786.
Need for relatedness (6 items) refers to the desire of feeling connected to others, for
example as a member of a group or to love and care and receive love and care of others (Broeck et al., 2010). An example for the need of relatedness is ‘Sommige mensen op mijn werk zijn goede vrienden van mij’. The first, third and fifth item needed to be recoded; the Cronbach’s alpha is 0.854.
Work motivation. The scale of Gagné et al. (2014) is used to measure the four types of
motivation. Respondents were asked to answer according a seven point Likert-scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). The Cronbach’s alpha is 0.926.
Extrinsic controlled motivation (9 items) consists of external and introjected
regulation. External regulation refers to doing an activity to obtain rewards or avoid punishments administered by others. An example of an item specific to external regulation is ‘Ik span mij in voor mijn werk om de goedkeuring van anderen (bijvoorbeeld leidinggevende, collega’s, familie, klanten) te krijgen’. When the regulation is more internalized, the regulation becomes introjected referring to internal pressuring forces, such as ego-involvement, shame and guilt. An example of an item specific to introjected regulation is ‘Ik span mij in voor mijn werk, omdat ik me anders slecht zou voelen over mezelf’. The Cronbach’s alpha is 0.741.
Extrinsic autonomous motivation (3 items) consists of identified and integrated
regulation. However, Gagné et al. (2014) excluded integrated regulation due to three limitations. First, integrated regulation can hardly be statistically separated from identified and intrinsic motivation (Mallett, Kawabata, Newcombe, Otero-Forero, & Jackson, 2007; Tremblay, Blanchard, Taylor, Pelletier & Villeneuve, 2009). Second, there is no evidence that integration results in additional variance in outcomes after including identified or intrinsic motivation. Third, items that measure integrated motivation are questionable in their face value, as they often resemble items that measure passion towards and activity (Gagné et al., 2014). Therefore, autonomous extrinsic motivation only consists of identified regulation. Identified regulation refers to doing an activity because one identifies with its value or meaning and accepts it as one’s own. However, the activity does not result in satisfaction, but represents internal value. An example of an item is ‘Ik span mij in voor mijn werk, omdat ik
het persoonlijk belangrijk vind om moeite te doen voor mijn werk’. The Cronbach’s alpha is 0.820.
Intrinsic autonomous motivation (3 items) refers to doing an activity, because it is
interesting and enjoyable in itself. An example of an item is ‘Ik zet mij in voor mijn werk, omdat ik me amuseer op het werk’.
Intention to continue to work. To measure the intention of employees to continue
working in the organization a scale is used developed by Armstrong-Stassen and Ursel (2009). The scale consist of three items, one example is ‘Als ik vrij kon kiezen, zou ik willen blijven werken voor deze organisatie’. The Cronbach’s alpha is 0.855. In addition, respondents were asked to explain their answer, to examine if there might be other reasons besides work motivation. Moreover, respondents were asked to give an indication of years in which they expect to continue working in the same organization.
Control variables. The questionnaire includes various control variables. Eventually,
based on correlation with the main variables and control variables, two control variables are included, specifically education and working hours per week.
5. Results
All variables were checked for errors by examining frequencies. Only cases with no missing data in any variable were included in the analysis. Missing values were excluded listwise. In addition, before analysing the items were computed in scales. Means, standard deviations and correlations of the variables are shown in table 1.
Table 2
Correlation matrix
M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
1. Age 33.32 9.84
2. Future time perspective 3.97 .46 .097
3. Need for autonomy 3.58 .64 .219* .179
4. Need for competence 4.03 .48 .351** .245** .473**
5. Need for relatedness 3.77 .68 .218* -.025 .452** .461**
6. Intrinsic autonomous motivation 4.01 .78 .152 .254** .659** .359** .204* 7. Extrinsic autonomous motivation 4.23 .67 .191* .259** .439** .250** .108 .636* 8. Extrinsic controlled motivation 3.21 .58 -.257** .048 .063 -.029 -.093 .131 .239*
9. Time indication ICW 5.32 6.55 .192* .051 -.146 .135 -.089 .276** .199* .057
10. Intention to continue to work 3.16 .98 .303** .122 .498** .238* .109 .580** .344** .021 .451**
11. Present hedonistic perspective
3.53 .64 -.231* .132 -.088 .014 -.012 -.096 -.082 .065 -.066 -.204*
12. Present fatalistic perspective 2.05 .65 .069 -.084 -.138 -.218* -.118 -.028 -.064 .133 .038 .063 .077
13. Education 2.56 .69 -.151 .106 -.011 .093 .065 -.197* -.084 .034 -.045 .-263** .312** -211*
14. Working hours 33.81 6.85 -.170 -.005 .260** .110 .252** .139 .053 -.040 .053 .166 .069 -.185 .112
A hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to examine the direct relation of age to the need for autonomy (1a), competence (1b) and relatedness (1c). The three psychological needs were included in the first step and the control variables, education and working hours per week, were included in the next step. The regression analysis showed age was significantly correlated with the need for autonomy (𝛽 = .277, t(109) = 2.943, p = .004), need for competence (𝛽 = .388, t(109) = 4.434, p = .000) and need for relatedness (𝛽 = .284, t(109)= 3.028, p = .003). All relations indicated a positive relation, which mean the older an
employee the more the need for autonomy, competence and relatedness are satisfied. However, working hours per week was also significant, but negatively related to age in the analysis for the need for autonomy (𝛽 = -.228, p = .018), need for competence (𝛽 = -.194, p = .029) and need for relatedness (𝛽 = -.255, p = .018). Still, the positive relation of age and psychological needs satisfaction was greater than work hours per week. Besides, the results supported a significant relation, therefore hypotheses 1a and 1b. However, age was proposed to negatively correlate to the need for relatedness, therefore hypothesis 1c is rejected.
In order to test hypothesis 2, 3 and 4, the Process macro written by Andrew F. Hayes for SPSS model 4 was used, to test the mediating effect of the need for autonomy (2), competence (3) and relatedness (4) in the relation of age and intrinsic motivation (a), extrinsic autonomous motivation (b) and extrinsic controlled motivation (c). The results are shown in table 3. In addition, appendix 2 shows the specific model with variables executed in SPSS. The first part of the mediation includes the direct relation of age to need satisfaction. As mentioned before, all three needs are positively related to age. In addition, only a significant relation was found from the need for autonomy to intrinsic motivation (b = .866, p = .000) and extrinsic autonomous motivation (b = .475, p = .000). The need for competence and relatedness are not significant related to any motivation type. Besides, no significant relation
was found for extrinsic controlled motivation, however age was significantly related to extrinsic controlled motivation (𝛽 = -.257, p = .007). As shown in table 2, the mediation effect for the need for autonomy in the relation of age and intrinsic motivation, extrinsic autonomous motivation and extrinsic controlled motivation were significant, because in those cases the range does not include zero. However, there was no significant direct relation of the need for relatedness to extrinsic controlled motivation. Therefore, only hypotheses 2a and 2b are supported and hypotheses 2c, 3 and 4 are rejected.
In order to test the moderating effect of hypothesis 5, process model 1 was used. The moderation effect proposed future time perspectives influences the relation of age and psychological need satisfaction, specifically enhances the relations of age and psychological needs. The variables used in the model were future time perspective as moderator (M), age as independent variable (X) and need satisfaction as outcome variable (Y). In addition, the Table 3
Mediation need satisfaction in the relation of age and work motivation (process model 4)
b Lower bound Upper bound
(2a) Need for autonomy .0153 .0071 .0279
(2b) Need for autonomy .0084 .0022 .0187
(2c) Need for autonomy .0029 .0002 .0081
(3a) Need for competence .0040 -.0006 .0107
(3b) Need for competence .0023 -.0038 .0105
(3c) Need for competence .0013 -.0037 .0088
(4a) Need for relatedness -.0033 -.0088 .0001
(4b) Need for relatedness -.0027 -.0099 .0010
(4c) Need for relatedness -.0017 -.0060 .0009
control variables, education and working hours, were included as covariates. No significant effect was found for the need for autonomy, competence or relatedness. Therefore, hypothesis 5 is rejected.
At last, process model 6 was used to test hypothesis 6, 7 and 8. These hypotheses include the double mediation of both psychological needs and work motivation in the relation of age the intention to continue to work scale. The models used in process are exhibited in Appendix 3 and the results are shown in table 4. The table shows a significant mediation effect was found for either the need for autonomy or the need for competence combined with intrinsic motivation. Besides, only the need satisfaction in combination with intrinsic motivation was significant, not separately. Therefore, only hypotheses 6a and 7a are supported and the other hypotheses (6b, 6c, 7b, 7b and 8) are rejected.
Table 4
Double mediation effect: need satisfaction and work motivation (process model 6)
b Lower bound Upper bound
(6a) Need for autonomy and intrinsic motivation .0084 .0029 .0179
(6b) Need for autonomy and extrinsic autonomous motivation .0001 -.0004 .0015 (6c) Need for autonomy and extrinsic controlled motivation .0001 -.0003 .0014
(7a) Need for competence and intrinsic motivation .0079 .0034 .0160
(7b) Need for competence and extrinsic autonomous motivation .0001 -.0009 .0016 (7c) Need for competence and extrinsic controlled motivation .0000 -.0004 .0013
(8a) Need for relatedness and intrinsic motivation .0024 -.0010 .0076 (8b) Need for relatedness and extrinsic autonomous motivation .0001 -.0001 .0013 (8c) Need for relatedness and extrinsic controlled motivation .0000 -.0008 .0002
In addition, another outcome variable was used. Respondents were asked to give a time indication in which they expected to continue working in the same organization. When using the indication instead of the scale as Y, the mediation effect of the need for autonomy or competence and intrinsic motivation was still significantly positive (b = .045, [.0172, .1105]). Again, this effect also occurred for the need for competence in combination with intrinsic motivation (b = .024, [.0080, .0682]).
Furthermore, additional analyses were executed for the moderation of time perspective; because two other time perspectives were taken into account besides future time perspective, specifically present fatalistic and present hedonistic time perspective. In case of present fatalistic time perspective, none of the interaction effects are significant. In case of present hedonistic time perspective, results indicated a significant effect for age and the need for relatedness (b = -.020; p = 0.031). Taking a closer look at the bootstrap, a low level of present hedonistic time perspective (b = 0.028; p = 0.000) and an average level of present hedonistic time perspective (b = 0.015; p = 0.022) had a very small significant moderation effect.
Finally, a post hoc test was executed to compare means of young and older respondents via an independent T-test. To execute the t-test, age was recoded into two separate groups, specifically young and old. Ng and Feldman (2013) suggests employees older than 40 can be characterized as older employees. Therefore, group 1 consists of employees until 39 years (N = 86) and group 2 consists of employees above 40 (N = 25).
At first, the means of need satisfaction are compared. All three needs were significantly higher for older employees than younger employees. Specifically, the need for autonomy significantly differentiated for 0.292 (t(49.36) = 2.323, p = .024), the need for competence for 0.340 (t(42.41) = 3.390, p = .002) and the need for relatedness for 0.307
(t(109) = 2.030, p = .045). Second, the scores for work motivation were compared, whereas only intrinsic and extrinsic autonomous motivation were significantly different (t(62.68) = 2.271, p = .027; t(57.33) = 2.684, p = .009), whereas older employees (M = 4.25, SD = .52; M = 2.29, SD = .48) scored higher than younger employees (M = 3.94, SD = .83; M = 4.16, SD = .71). In contrast, the difference for extrinsic controlled motivation was not significant. Third, the outcome variable as both the intention to work scale and indication was compared. Older employees (M = 3.720, SD = .72) indicated a significant higher indication to continue to work than younger employees (M = 3.000, SD = .99, t(58.51) = 2.137, p = .037). Likewise, they indicated to work longer for the same organization with a difference of 2.536 years (t(53.89) = 4.045, p = .000). Fourth, the results for time perspective were compared. Both the differences for future time perspective and present fatalistic time perspective were not significant. In contrast, for present hedonistic time perspective, older employees (M = 3.173, SD = .78) scored significantly lower for present hedonistic time perspective than younger
employees (M = 3.632, SD = .57, t(109) = 2.862 ; p = .007). Finally, the control variables were checked for significant differences, whereas older employees scored significant lower for both education (M = 2.24, SD = .723) and working hours (M = 31.36, SD = 6.134) than younger employees (M = 2.65, SD = .665; M = 34.55, SD = 6.90; t(36.59) = 2.574; p = .015; t(43.263) = 2.276 ; p = .028). In the next section, the results will be further discussed.
6. Discussion
The results showed a significant relation of age and the intention to continue to work, but is this relation influenced by future time perspective, need satisfaction and work motivation?
First, age is expected to influence three psychological needs, specifically autonomy, competence and relatedness. The results showed age was positively, but weakly related to all three needs. This means the older an employee, the more their needs of autonomy,
competence and relatedness are satisfied. Comparing the means shows similar results, whereas the means for older employees were significantly higher than younger employees. This support previous studies that concluded a positive relation between age and need satisfaction (Sheldon & Niemiec, 2006; Broeck, Vansteenkiste, Witte & Lens, 2008). Specifically, this supports the positive relation of age to the need for autonomy and competence, which can be explained by the fact that older employees have built a career and grew in a job with more responsibility and advanced skill level, therefore older employees have higher need satisfaction. In contrast, the need for relatedness was expected to have a negative relation, as the socio-selectivity theory suggests older employees prefer social partners who are familiar (Ng & Feldman, 2013). However, age was highly correlated with both job tenure and organization tenure and possibly colleagues at work are good friends and part of older employees’ inner circle. Besides, the focus of older employees on positive socio-emotional experiences (Ng & Feldman, 2013) lead to more socio-emotional control strategies. Salient is also the effect of work hours per week, the correlation table showed a positive relation between work hours and the need for autonomy and relations. This indicates work hours can lead to more responsibility and connectedness, which might be explained by the fact that working more hours lead to more visibility of the value you are worth and lead to more opportunities and relationships with co-workers. This might suggest a different perspective on the influence of age to psychological need satisfaction. Older employees have lower needs and, therefore, the satisfaction level is achieved more often. However, this is in contrast to the more advanced jobs that lead to higher needs satisfaction. An explanation for a decrease in expectation for need satisfaction can be the changes in big five traits, previous research showed that older people are higher in conscientiousness and agreeableness and lower in extraversion, neuroticism and openness to new experience (Wortman, Lucas & Donnellan, 2012; Caspi, Roberts & Shiner, 2005; Kanfer & Ackerman, 2004).
