https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6016-6008
Abstract
Technological advancements continue to result in fundamental changes to the work itself and the workplace. Although these changes can create challenges for older workers, older workers can draw from individual and contextual resources to maintain and enhance their wellbeing, motivation, and capacities, and thus achieving successful aging at work. These articles in this special issue characterize the different psychological mechanisms underlying workers’ responses to technological changes in the workplace, such as automation, digitization, and use of information and communications technologies. Integrating the findings from these articles, along with the existing theoretical models of successful aging at work, we propose a socio-ecological approach to guide future research on older workers’ adaptation to technological changes.
Over the past few decades, two major trends have affected the workforce, the workplace, and the work itself. The first trend is aging of the workforce on a global scale (Truxillo et al., 2015). The combination of declined fertility rate, longer life expectancies, and the overwhelming demands on social security and retirement benefit systems has resulted in workers in developed countries staying longer in their jobs (Crimmins & Zhang, 2019). In the meantime, employers are also more open to hiring workers beyond the normal retirement ages for their unique knowledge and experiences (Tunney & Mulders, 2022). A second trend is that the advancements in technologies, such as automation, digitization, artificial intelligence, and developments in information and communications technologies (ICT), have fundamentally changed the workplace landscape, work design and processes, and the competencies that workers need in order to perform their jobs (Parker & Grote, 2022). In this context, it is not only critical to prolong aging employees’ participation in the labor market, but also to enrich their skillsets and improve their motivation to facilitate their successful aging in and adaptation to their new work contexts (Kooij, 2015; Zacher et al., 2018).
Empirical research and theoretical development have focused on how employees’ age may play a role in their adaptation to technological advancements in the workplace. Some have highlighted the vulnerability of older workers due to skill obsolescence (e.g., Alcover et al., 2021). Others have shown the resilience and coping advantages associated with older workers when faced with uncertainties associated with change (e.g., Haslin et al., 2021). Still others have demonstrated age-related differences in workers’ technology adaptation in the workplace (e.g., Meyer, 2011; Morris & Venkatesh, 2000). The six articles in this special issue address the intersection of aging and technology use in the workplace. In this guest editorial, we will summarize the articles and focus particularly on how they fit with the current theoretical perspectives on successful aging at work (Kooij, 2015). We will then present a socio-ecological model that integrates these research findings and expands on the existing framework on successful aging (e.g., Kooij, 2015; Kooij et al., 2020). Theoretical and practical implications and future research directions generated from this model will be discussed.
Empirical Articles in This Special Issue
Kooij’s (2015) framework on successful aging at work serves as a road map to consider the diverse range of research findings. Kooij developed her framework by considering successful aging as the fit between the aging workers and their environment. Specifically, by engaging in a variety of proactive job- and career-oriented behaviors (e.g., crafting: Kooij et al., 2015; Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001; feedback-seeking: Ashford & Black, 1996), aging workers can select their work goals, optimize the strategies through which they use to achieve the goals, and compensate for any real or perceived age-related deficits or declines (Baltes & Baltes, 1990). Successful aging, which refers to the “maintenance of workers’ health, motivation, and working capacity or work ability now and in the future” (Kooij, 2015, p. 309), is achieved through employees’ active engagement in the workplace.
In this special issue, we can define successful aging more narrowly in terms of outcomes of aging workers’ adaptations to the technological advancements at work. Consistent with Kooij (2015), positive attitudes toward work-related technological changes and effective coping such as lower stress and positive mood in response to technology-induced stressors can be viewed as indicators of successful aging. Also consistent with the framework is the six articles’ collective emphasis on person–environment interaction and fit (Kooij, 2015). In this case, successful aging in the context of work-related technological advancements requires the consideration of both individual factors (e.g., age) and contextual characteristics (e.g., supervisor support).
Successful aging as employee wellbeing
Two articles in this special issue focus on older workers’ wellbeing as the primary outcome. Van Fossen, Baker, et al. (2023) fits with Kooij’s (2015) successful aging at work framework in that they focused on workers’ positive mood and stress reactions as the outcomes of workers’ engagement with technology. In their daily diary study with mid-life adult workers (aged 50–64 years), they conceptualize employees’ daily smartphone use for work as a stressor that may have negative effects on wellbeing, and workers’ schedule autonomy is considered a contextual resource that may buffer the negative effects of smartphone use. Contrary to their expectation, schedule autonomy did not buffer the negative effects of smartphone use on mid-life workers’ daily mood and stress. Instead, daily smartphone use had more negative effects on employee wellbeing when workers reported higher schedule autonomy versus lower. Van Fossen, Baker, et al. suggest that higher schedule autonomy may be related to greater availability and responsiveness expectations, such that workers feel more obligated to make themselves available for longer periods of time and to be more responsive because of the flexibility that they enjoy. These availability and responsiveness expectations may in turn exacerbate the negative effects of smartphone use for work on employee wellbeing.
Venz and Wöhrmann (2023) examine the effects of availability expectation and responsiveness expectation associated with ICT use on employee wellbeing. Similar to Van Fossen, Baker, et al. (2023), they also focus on employee wellbeing, such as psychological detachment, as an indicator of successful aging at work. In addition to wellbeing, Venz and Wöhrmann also include an effective work behavior of ICT responsiveness as an outcome. They argue that successful aging, as reflected by better psychological detachment during nonwork hours and greater responsiveness during work hours, depends on workers’ appropriate appraisal and reaction to workplace norms related to availability and responsiveness expectations. Older workers are less likely to internalize these work expectations to create undue pressure, and thus are better able to appropriately react to the expectations. Venz and Wöhrmann show that availability expectation was related to lower detachment, but this tendency was buffered for older workers, and for those who were less likely to internalize the workplace telepressure. They also show that responsiveness expectation was more positively related to older workers’ responsiveness during work hours because they were less likely to be overwhelmed by the urge to respond constantly. Taken together, Venz and Wöhrmann support that older workers were able to achieve successful aging because they appropriately appraised and responded to workplace signals regarding ICT use expectations.
Successful aging as positive employee motivation
Two articles focused on worker motivation, which are reflective of successful aging at work (Kooij, 2015), as the primary outcome. Fasbender et al. (2023) examine the psychological mechanisms underlying workers’ technology acceptance, or their motivation to use the new technology, using a time-lagged survey. Their dual-pathway model identifies two age-related psychological processes that explain how employees’ age is linked to their intention to use the new technology. The motivational pathway focuses on future time perspective (Zacher & Frese, 2009), such that older workers may perceive fewer future opportunities and less remaining time, thereby viewing the new technology as less useful and being less accepting of the technology. The capability pathway focuses on self-perceived cognitive constraints (Salthouse, 2012; Verhaeghen, 2014), such that older workers may view themselves as having slower processing speed and poorer organization abilities to integrate new information, thereby considering the new technology more difficult to learn and use and being less accepting of the technology. Similar to Kooij’s (2015) framework, Fasbender et al. identify a contextual characteristic of digital leadership that would interact with employee age to jointly predict workers’ technology acceptance attitude through the two psychological mechanisms. Results supported that older workers fit better with an environment of more supportive digital leadership. This fit, in turn, supported successful aging by attenuating the likelihood that older workers would perceive a limited future time perspective and have lower acceptance attitude toward new technology.
Xie et al. (2023) focus on workers’ motivation to remain in their organization as an outcome, which also reflects successful aging at work (Kooij, 2015). Xie et al. examine how motivation to remain may be predicted by the interaction between the work context (i.e., the availability of digital training at work) and personal characteristics (i.e., one’s perception of the training usefulness and one’s personal growth need strength). Similar to Fasbender et al. (2023), Xie et al. identify two psychological mechanisms that are based on motivation and capability, respectively. Using time-lagged survey data, Xie et al. show that older workers who perceived the available digital training to be useful were more likely to report higher autonomy need satisfaction (reflecting higher motivation) and competence need satisfaction (reflecting higher capability), thereby having a stronger intention to remain with the organization. The joint effect of available digital training and perceived usefulness of the training was further strengthened for older workers with a stronger growth need. Xie et al.’s study further supports the importance of considering the fit between the person and the situation in predicting outcomes related to successful aging.
Successful aging as employee capabilities
The final two articles focus on employee capabilities to adapt to new technologies as indicators of successful aging at work. Hampel and Kunze (2023) examine the interaction between personal and situational characteristics to predict employee digital fluency, defined as workers’ capabilities to effectively use technology to achieve desired outcomes (Briggs & Makice, 2012). They argue that older workers who embodied negative age-related stereotypes may require a more supportive environment for them to develop their capabilities. In this case, having supervisors who support their developmental needs will likely facilitate these workers’ digital fluency. Their survey results show that older workers who held negative age-related stereotypes reported lower digital fluency. However, this tendency was mitigated if their supervisors were supportive of their developmental needs. These results support how contextual resources may facilitate workers’ successful aging process, particularly for those with a disadvantaged position.
Finally, Van Fossen, Schuster, et al. (2023) examine worker adaptation to an emerging technology of autonomous vehicles (AV). They focus on workers in the trucking industry, where drivers may face displacement threats by AV, and conducted focus groups with truck drivers, supervisors, and upper-level managers from different trucking companies to understand the impact of AV technology (Richardson et al., 2017). Two major themes emerged from the data. The first theme was uncertainty. Because of the emerging nature of AV technology, participants were uncertain about what the technology would be like, its deployment timeline and adoption rate, and its potential impact on their jobs and careers. The second theme was adaptability. All participants emphasized the importance of adaptability at multiple levels—their industry, their organizations, and themselves—in response to the AV technology adoption. Interestingly, while supervisors and managers expressed reservations about older drivers’ adaptability, older drivers themselves were efficacious about their ability to adapt to the new technology, because they had successfully adjusted to multiple technology-related changes throughout their career.
A Socio-ecological Approach to Successful Aging at Work in the Context of Technological Advancements
Multiple theoretical frameworks have been advanced to characterize the individual-based processes underlying successful aging for workers (e.g., Kooij, 2015; Kooij et al., 2020; Zacher, 2015). Informed by the articles in this special issue, we propose a socio-ecological approach to focus specifically on workers’ successful aging in the context of technological changes in the workplace: a socio-ecological approach to successful aging at work in the context of technological advancements (SEASAW-Tech). This approach builds on the existing work, which has tended to focus primarily on individual workers and their interactions with their immediate work environments (e.g., work unit, organization: Kooij et al., 2020). By integrating a socio-ecological framework with the existing process-based model of successful aging at work (e.g., Kooij et al., 2020), SEASAW-Tech highlights the importance to consider the nested nature of the different contexts, and how individuals may engage with different levels of the environment simultaneously and reciprocally to acquire resources in the process of adapting to age- and technology-related changes in the workplace (Sarandopoulos & Bordia, 2022). We highlight five levels in our model (Bronfenbrenner, 1979), and discuss the unique challenges and facilitators at each level that may affect the successful aging processes pertaining to technological advancements (see Figure 1). We also discuss the research and practical implications of this model.
A socio-ecological approach to successful aging at work in the context of technological advancements (SEASAW-Tech model).
Microsystem: aging workers
At the core of the SEASAW-Tech model is the microsystem of individuals (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). Existing theoretical frameworks on successful aging (e.g., Kooij et al., 2020) have done an excellent job of articulating a variety of individual-based characteristics, processes, and behaviors that can facilitate successful aging. The articles in this special issue conceptualize and operationalize some of these specific individual differences (e.g., age-based stereotypes: Hampel & Kunze, 2023) and psychological mechanisms (e.g., motivational and ability-based processes: Fasbender et al., 2023; Xie et al. 2023) to promote individual-level successful aging outcomes in the context of technological advancements.
However, to further capitalize on the self-regulation perspectives, these individual-oriented successful aging models can incorporate a feedback loop (e.g., Carver & Scheier, 1998; Neal et al., 2017), such that successful aging outcomes may reciprocally relate to individual factors and psychological mechanisms contributing to successful aging. For example, in Van Fossen, Schuster, et al.’s (2023) qualitative study, truck drivers’ successful adaptation experiences to prior technological changes built their efficacy to facilitate their adaptation to the emerging technology of AV. In this case, outcomes of successful aging at work (i.e., successful prior adaptation) serve as feedback to influence antecedents (i.e., efficacy) of future successful aging processes. Future research can further investigate the dynamic nature of individual-based regulation processes that will facilitate successful aging.
Mesosystems: work units, organizations, and industries
Aging workers hold different jobs, and are situated in different work units, organizations, and industries. The same technological changes may differentially impact aging workers and their successful aging experiences depending on their jobs, norms, and expectations in their work units, their unit supervisors’ leadership styles, organizational policies and practices, and industry norms. The articles in this special issue focus on several of these different meso-level characteristics, such as work unit expectations (Venz & Wöhrmann, 2023), supervisory support (Hampel & Kunze, 2023), and organizational training policy (Xie et al., 2023), and their impact on successful aging. Industry norms were also discussed by participants in Van Fossen, Schuster, et al.’s (2023) qualitative study. These meso-level characteristics may facilitate or inhibit workers’ successful adaptation to technological changes.
However, the extent empirical and conceptual work has not focused on understanding how the different levels of mesosystems—work units, organizations, and industries—may interact to affect successful aging at the micro-level. Higher level mesosystems (e.g., organizations) may set norms to constrain the operation of lower level mesosystems (e.g., work units), thereby affecting the microsystem of individuals. For example, organizational policies may inform the development of work unit norms for ICT use during nonwork hours, which in turn may affect aging workers’ ICT use and their wellbeing (Belkin et al., 2020; Kao et al., 2020). Similarly, industry-level norms for new technology adoption can inform an organization’s decision to incorporate the new technology into its operation (Yu & Tao, 2009), thereby affecting individual workers’ adaptation to the new technology in the workplace. Future research should further examine the interplay between these systems at different levels to understand how the broader contexts may affect successful aging outcomes.
At the same time, lower level system phenomena may also emerge to affect higher level systems. For example, part of successful aging may involve workers engaging in corrective job crafting and advocacies to change negative age-related stereotypes at work (Kooij et al., 2015; Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001). This may result in organizational changes to adopt policies that emphasize employee flexibility and training (Moen et al., 2017). Similarly, older workers are likely to have unique knowledge and expertise (Tunney & Mulders, 2022), which may promote their voice behaviors (Sibunruang & Kawai, 2023), enhance their perceived credibility, and facilitate their supervisors’ voice endorsement (Lam et al., 2019; Li et al., 2019). Finally, unit supervisors may develop informal supportive practices to facilitate older workers’ successful aging, which may help persuade top managers to adopt these practices more formally to ensure adequate human resources quality and quantity (Berg & Piszczek, 2022). Thus, future research should further examine how the processes and outcomes at the lower level systems emerge to affect the broader contexts.
Finally, it should be noted that existing successful aging models have tended to focus on systems related to the work context (e.g., Kooij et al., 2020). However, it is also important to consider the mesosystems that are not directly connected to the workplace and their effects on successful aging at work. For example, it may be relevant to consider family characteristics and how they may interact with other mesosystems (e.g., organizational characteristics) to affect individual workers’ successful aging experience (e.g., Canales et al., 2021; Sheng et al., 2022). Such incorporation may facilitate our understanding of the smooth transition between work and retirement for aging workers (Beehr et al., 2000; Wang et al., 2008).
Macrosystem: the sociocultural, political, and economic environment
A society’s sociocultural, political, and economic characteristics can influence the functioning of the meso- and micro-level systems. National retirement and benefits policies, cultural values concerning aging, and other employment laws and policies can guide lower level systems to facilitate or hinder successful aging at the individual level (Kooij et al., 2020; Marcus & Fritzsche, 2016). In the context of technological advancements in the workplace, national characteristics can have additional effects on the direction of technological development, the deployment process and timeline, and the physical and socio-economic infrastructure necessary to implement the new technology. For example, the wide adoption of ICT by organizations and workers is facilitated by the users having access to the devices (e.g., cellphones, laptops), and by the available physical (e.g., cells and towers to transmit signals) and socio-economic (e.g., security and privacy protection laws about personal information) infrastructure (Khodashenas et al., 2016; Sun et al., 2021). Similarly, Van Fossen, Schuster, et al. (2023) discuss the importance of national policy to guide the deployment of the emerging technology of AV, particularly with regard to the tort law and commercial automobile insurance.
The evolving nature of technological advancements and their applications in the workplace presents a fertile ground for understanding how existing macrosystem characteristics may guide the industry, organization, and individual adoption of the new technologies for work. At the same time, these new technologies create new challenges and opportunities that may ultimately change the existing sociocultural, political, and economic systems. It will be important for future research to better integrate sociological theories with individual-level frameworks (Kooij et al., 2020) in order to understand the implications of technological advancements for successful aging.
Conclusion
This special issue presents a collection of articles that address the area of aging workers and their technology use in the workplace. The articles examine a variety of personal and situational characteristics, as well as their effects on workers’ successful aging outcomes in the context of adaptation to the new technology. Together, these articles also inform the development of a socio-ecological approach to characterize the context in which successful aging processes and outcomes, particularly those related to new technology adaptations, may occur. We encourage researchers to consider the broader environments beyond the workplace when developing conceptual and empirical work to understand how the workers achieve successful aging within a context of constantly changing technology in the workplace.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation grant 2041215: Preparing the Future Workforce for the Era of Automated VEhicles (WEAVE). Any opinions or findings expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
