by Kathleen F. Gallagher, MA

University of North Dakota

Donald Daughtry, Ph.D., Chair

Richard Ferraro, Ph.D.Marcia Gragert, Ph.D., R.N.

Michael Loewy, Ph.D.Kara Wettersten, Ph.D.

Introduction Literature Review Purpose of Study Methodology Results Discussion

Clinical Implications Limitations Future Directions

Feedback from the Panel, including questions

Work is an important element in the lives of American adults (Moen, 1996)

Leaving one’s employ can means losing an important identity (Atchley, 1982)

A large number of workers are facing the loss of this important identity over the next 20 years (Thorson, 1995)

How does the loss of this important identity affect the worker and the work environment?

Definitions: Retirement: an individual ceases to work

on a full-time basis

Preretirement: period of time in an employee’s life where voluntary retirement is seriously considered and/or is imminent; can last 6-12 months

Education: increased access to higher education Job Availability: linear career paths not always

clear; competition increased for fewer positions Layoffs & Downsizing: do more with less; “lean &

mean” Unwritten Psychological Contract: reciprocal

obligations no longer true Workplace Aggression: obstructionism, hostility,

overt aggression Family Composition: women as head of

household, divorce, dual career/ paycheck Technology: 5 year turnover of skills

Continuity Theory (Atchley, 1989) Inner & outer continuity to maintain congruence

Life-Course Perspective (Moen et. al, 1992) Developmental & Life Course pathways coincide

Life Transition Perspective (Theriault, 1994) Reorganization of Assumptive Belief

Life-Space, Life-Span Theory (Super, 1957) Pass through Stages within Roles within Arenas

Identification with Work Roles mitigate depending on strength of identification (Ashforth, 2001)

Perceived viability of work and work role; is the work relevant and important (Ekerdt, et. al. 1998)

Locus of Control over work and tasks (Sterns& Huyck, 2001)

Organizational Commitment to employer and vice versa (Cook, 1981)

Retirement is a Process not an Event

Identification with Work Roles (Ashforth, 2001) Perceived Viability of work and work role (Ekerdt,

et. al. 1998) Locus of Control over work and tasks (Sterns&

Huyck, 2001) Organizational Commitment to employer (Cook,

1981)

When to Retire: financial, health, bridge employment, psychological factors (Lin & Hseih, 2001)

Anticipating Retirement: remote (I’ll retire someday…” & realistic (“Work is too much anymore, I need to retire”) (Fretz et. al, 1989)

Coworker Attitudes; “younger” colleagues may pressure to see older workers to leave (Weckerle & Schultz, 1999)

Retirement-Oriented Behaviors; seeking less career-advancing assignments and the like (Richardson, 1993)

Women’s Experiences: heterogeneity, frequent change, & interruptions are more often found with women’s career paths; varied & contradictory results found in research

Cultural Differences: constructs for work & retirement vary; African Americans studied most & found AA women suffered double indignities

Socioeconomic Factors: Pull to retirement for European American middle class workers versus Push factors for working class or poor (poverty, low pay/low status/low tenure employment versus no benefits/ high risk jobs)

Sexual Orientation Considerations: few studies, need to hide SO from employers, current climate limits retirement benefits for partners

How do preretirees’ attitudes and behaviors at work change once the decision to retire is made?

Do preretirement processes determine if there is support or contradiction for existing career theories regarding retirement from full-time employment?

What issues, such as changes in the workplace, do Baby Boomers identify as relevant to their disengagement process?

Participants N=10 (F=5, M=5) Overall mean age =65.2 (sd = 4.49)

F =66.4 (sd = 5.77). M =64.0 (sd = 2.916)

All were heterosexual, European American All were planning to retire within 6-12 months of interview

8/10 were recruited from intercampus mailing 2/10 were recruited from watching local cable access

station

9/10 had some kind of college education, from a few classes through Ph.D. level

8/10 were married; 1 was divorced, 1 was widowed

Organizational Commitment Questionnaire 15-item self report (Porter & Steers, 1979) Internal consistency .82-.93 (Porter & Steers, 1973) Mean =5.193 (sd =.595), F = 5.2 (sd =.75), M =5.14 (sd

=.95)

Locus of Control 25-item self-report (Rotter, 1966) Split- half reliability around .70 (Anastasi, 1988) Mean =7.9 (sd =4.12), F =9.2 (sd =3.899), M =6.6 (sd

=4.336)

Demographics Questionnaire

Semi-structured, 45’-1 ْ interview Audiotaped Specific questions related to work changes,

engagement in work place, motivation to work versus to retire, post-retirement plans

Consensual Qualitative Research (Hill, et. al, 1997 & 2005) Explore phenomena as it occurs; reduces bias

because decisions about data must be made by team consensus & requires auditing process

All team members required to become familiar with CQR procedures, discuss biases, and keep note of subjective impressions

1 Primary Researcher, 2-3 team members, 1 Auditor

Discuss Consensus, biases

Training in CQR methodology

Interviews

Develop domains

Transcribe, code

Develop core ideas, code

Use frequency labels

Send to auditor

Review auditing revisions

Stability methods

Charting results, if possible

PARTICIPANTORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENTQUESTIONNAIRE

LOCUS OF CONTROL

1 3.8 7

2 3.4 14

3 6.1 3

4 6.0 4

5 4.7 16

6 5.5 9

7 5.7 7

8 5.3 6

9 6.3 7

10 4.9 6

Organization Commitment and Locus of Control Results

CATEGORY DOMAIN AGREE DISAGREE

Thinking about retirement and what it will entail

Think about retirement 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10 3, 5, 6

Lack of anticipation 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10 2, 7, 9

Think what retirement will be like

1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 5, 6, 10

Planning for time in retirement

1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 3, 5

Plan for health care in retirement

1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10 2, 4, 6, 8

Plan for income in retirement

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Continued employment Could remain at their job even if they could retire

1, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10 2, 4, 5, 7

Would like to keep working as long as possible

1, 2, 3, 5, 6 4, 7, 8, 9, 10

CATEGORY DOMAIN PARTICIPANTS

Conception of Work Intrinsic Principle: personal growth, integrity 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9

Extrinsic principles: achieving pragmatic goals such as money or survival

2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10

Dual Career Partners engaged in other pursuits: work, volunteer, etc. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10

No longer has a partner due to death or divorce 6, 7

Work Changes Structural changes: organization, downsizes, budget cuts, etc.

1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9

Supervisory and personnel changes: new managers, hostile work environments, etc.

3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Technology and instrument changes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10

Job-, descipline-, and teaching –specific changes unique to participant’s particular job or career

1, 3, 6, 8, 9

Motivation to Retire Workplace forces: specific changes in the workplace 1, 3, 5, 6, 8

Personal forces: health, family 4, 6, 7, 9, 10

Level of Involvement in the Workplace Once the Decision to Retire has been made

Work changesWorkload remained the same 1, 3, 4, 8, 10

CATEGORY DOMAIN PARTICIPANTS

Workload increased 2, 7, 9

Workload decreased 5, 6

Professional activitiesInvolvement in professional activities decreased 1, 5, 6, 8

Social interactionsSocial interactions decreased 1, 4, 5, 6

Type of role relation changed 2, 3, 8, 10

Barriers to Retirement Practical barriers: money, health, etc. 2, 4, 5

Emotional connections: to job, students, coworkers, etc. 3, 7, 8, 9

Post-retirement Plans Continued work plans: part-time, volunteer, adjunct basis 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Personal growth: include activities for personal growth 1, 2, 7, 8

Home-related activities: hobbies, gardening, fishing, etc. 1, 4, 5, 7, 9

Family plans: includes visiting far-away relatives 1, 5, 10

Participants attached varying levels of investment, meaning, & energy into transitioning from current work into what they perceived their lives would be like in retirement

Past work changes affected careers; the nature and extent of changes varied If one could exert persistent, effortful

behavior to overcome obstacle, outcome was positive

Negative supervisory & personnel problems affected some participants more deeply

Most were able to successfully deal with technology, organizational & job changes

Job satisfaction, connection to coworkers or lack of connection with coworkers (i.e. overall morale or high turnover) influenced retirement decisions

Coworker attitudes towards participants influenced the workplace; however, it was unclear whether this directly influenced decisions to retire

Some participants found a change in role, i.e. became the “elder statesman,” “guru,” or “guide”

No clear patterns were found in engagement with work duties, engagement with coworkers, or participation in professional organizations

Motivation to retire was psychological in nature for some participants; coworkers’ attitudes were not clear

Few barriers to retirement were faced; all participants had favorable conditions

Postretirement plans included some type of work, whether it be volunteer, part-time, or adjunct Their work would be different from the

formalized version of current full-time employment

Not a lot of diversity in our participants

Continuity Perspective: participants appeared to be applying past problem-solving strategies to formulate solutions to current situation and to continue to utilize their skills in new ventures; adaptation & persistence

Life Transition Perspective: theory focuses on reorganization of perceptions, beliefs, expectations & experiences during major life transition; this study addressed current conditions rather than past anxiety or satisfaction with past transitions

Life Course Perspective: since theory focuses on personal circumstances in historical context, research team was unable to organize a results chart with any clarity

Life-Space, Life-Span Perspective: did not address this stage except to mention transition into leisurite role; participants did not see themselves in this role but in continued work role

Most theories developed during time when retirement was a well-defined institution

Career theories do not address needs of older workers who face preretirement concerns & transitions out of their formalized version of full-time employment This is a drawback, given so many impending retirees

will be looking to recareer over the next decades

Most career theories do not address needs of those who are not white, middle-class, healthy, heterosexual males whose needs are met through retirement benefits

Sample size Homogeneity of sample Limited Heterogeneity of research team Time-based, time-limited phenomenon; no

follow-up interviews, interviews by primary researcher only

Stability checks Time issues for research team Benefits issues from primary employer Problem with initial site chosen; employer

changed benefits package for impending retirees, which forced 6 potential participants to change their plans and withdraw from the study

Larger N Varied populations: African-Americans, Latino/as,

Native Americans, First Generation citizens, etc. Address unique needs of GLB preretirees Higher rates of unemployment and early

retirement for those with disabilities due to health issues

Disengagement scale development Retool career theory to include 2nd Fulfillment

Longitudinal study to compare OCQ & LOC with career position & 2nd Fulfillment position

Before-and-after treatment, Control Group treatment (with and without crossover design)

Protocols for treatment to address transition, letting go of roles This will depend on what further research finds

Will need more than leisure interest inventories Career interest and skills inventories may be trite,

superfluous Training counselors and psychologists to deal with

preretirees Retooling career theories, with research to

address preretirees’ particular needs, especially those of diverse populations

Thank you