Job Crafting and Successful Aging at Work in Older Workers: A Cross-Lagged Panel Analysis

doi:10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230625

Abstract

Abstract:

With the aging of the population, the labor force is aging as well with the increasing proportion of older workers. However, most Chinese older workers may possess inadequate psychological and physical resources to adapt to the current work, which means that it is difficult to achieve successful aging at work. Therefore, how to help older workers to achieve successful aging at work is an urgent problem to be solved. Although researchers noted that job crafting is an important factor in achieving successful aging at work from a theoretical perspective, few studies have investigated the association between job crafting and successful aging at work. Moreover, the direction of causality between job crafting and successful aging at work has yet to been examined. Thus, to solve above problems, this study explored the likely causal direction between job crafting and successful aging at work.

This study adopted two-wave data with an interval of six months and used the Dutch job crafting scale (JCS) and the Work-Life Extending Strategies Inventory (W-LESI) as measurements. Specially, the score of prevention-focused job crafting was calculated as the sum of the dimension of decreasing hindering job demands, and the score of promotion-focused job crafting was calculated as the sum of the other three job crafting dimensions. A total of 476 workers over the age of 40 in China participated at T1. For T2, 145 questionnaires were collected and 140 questionnaires were valid. The average age of these valid participants is 47.5. There was no statistically significant difference in age, gender, job crafting and successful aging at work between valid and invalid questionnaires. The reliability of the measurements met the psychometric standard. We analyzed a cross-lagged panel model with Mplus 7.0.

Our analysis showed that T1 job crafting was a significant positive predictor of T2 successful aging at work (β = .16, p <.05). However, T1 successful aging at work did not predict T2 job crafting (β = .11, p >.05). It showed that more job crafting predicted a higher level of successful aging at work among workers over the age of 40, rather than in the reversed direction. Thus, job crafting is most likely to be the cause of successful aging at work. Furthermore, the results showed that promotion-focused job crafting can be a better way to achieve successful aging at work(β = .15, p < .05), while prevention-focused job crafting may not be useful to keep good work outcomes(β = .12, p >.05).

In summary, this study is an important step towards a better understanding of the relationship between job crafting and successful aging at work. For the first time, empirical research is used to test the relation between job crafting and successful aging at work and provides evidence for the direction of causation. According to the results, older workers could adopt effective behavioral and emotional strategies to improve their work well-being and job performance.

Key words: successful aging at work, job crafting, older workers, cross-lagged analysis

摘要： 关于工作重塑对年长员工工作中成功老龄化影响的探讨目前处于理论层面,还没有研究对此进行实证检验。本文采用交叉滞后研究设计探讨工作重塑对工作中成功老龄化的影响。本文以中国年长员工为被试进行了为期六个月的追踪调查,结果发现：总体来看,年长员工T1的工作重塑能显著正向预测T2的工作中成功老龄化;具体而言,年长员工T1的促进性工作重塑显著正向预测T2的工作中成功老龄化;年长员工T1的预防性工作重塑对T2的工作中成功老龄化的预测作用无统计学意义。促进性工作重塑是工作中成功老龄化的关键原因。

关键词: 工作重塑, 工作中成功老龄化, 年长员工, 交叉滞后设计

Chang Yurong, Wang Yiguang, Wang Zhongjun, Yang Yinyin. Job Crafting and Successful Aging at Work in Older Workers: A Cross-Lagged Panel Analysis[J]. Journal of Psychological Science, 2023, 46(6): 1470-1477.

常育榕, 汪义广, 王忠军, 杨茵茵. 年长员工工作重塑与工作中成功老龄化：一项交叉滞后研究 ^*[J]. 心理科学, 2023, 46(6): 1470-1477.

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