Research interests: |
| Based on organisational and life span psychology theories, my research focuses on the determinants of successful ageing and development in the workplace. I am particularly interested in the factors that help people in different work roles and work environments maintain or increase their well-being, occupational future time perspective, motivation, creativity, and performance with increasing age. The goal of my research is to gain a better understanding of how peoples’ individual resources and constraints (e.g., self-regulatory strategies, generativity, or health) interact with the demands and resources provided by their work environment (e.g., complexity, autonomy, or organisational support) in promoting or impeding successful ageing at work. |
| To examine successful ageing in the work context, I have conducted empirical studies with employees in large and medium-sized organisations (profit- and non-profit), with people in leadership and managerial roles, and with small and family business owners. Recently, I have begun to investigate the impact of life phase-specific opportunities and challenges faced by mature employees such as eldercare responsibilities, informal mentoring roles, and the transition to retirement. My work is carried out in organisational and entrepreneurial settings using both cross-sectional and longitudinal survey designs as well as daily diary study designs. |
Research questions: |
| (1) Occupational future time perspective (O-FTP): Is O-FTP a distinct and useful construct in organisational settings? Which individual and work-related factors help employees maintain a high O-FTP with increasing age? What are the positive and negative consequences of a high O-FTP for employees and organisations? |
| (2) Generativity: How is the "concern in establishing and guiding the next generation" (Erikson, 1950) related to different work outcomes? Does generativity increase with age? Which behaviours at work are generative? |
| (3) Leadership: What impact do leader age, follower age, and age-related factors have on leadership processes and outcomes? Do older and younger leaders differ in their motivation to lead? Which individual and organisational characteristics help leaders maintain leadership success with increasing age? |
| (4) Entrepreneurship: Which age-related factors contribute to important entrepreneurial outcomes such as the founding of new ventures or venture growth? Is there a universal decline in entrepreneurial activity with increasing age? What does successful ageing exactly mean in the small and family business context? |
| (5) Innovation and proactivity: How do older and younger employees differ with regard to the creation and implementation of new and useful ideas at work? Which positive roles can older employees take over in the innovation process? How does proactive behaviour such as personal initiative change across the life span? |
| (6) Eldercare and the work experience: How can middle-aged and older employees successfully combine their work demands and eldercare responsibilities? Which strategies could employees use to recover from stressful experiences in both domains? What can organisations do to support their employees with eldercare responsibilities? |
| (7) Active self-management strategies: What can older employees and business owners do to age successfully in the work context? In which situations are selection-optimisation-compensation, emotion regulation and stress recovery strategies useful for older employees and business owners? |
| (8) Daily diary/experience sampling studies: How and under which circumstances do daily events and emotions influence older employees' work behaviours? Which individual and organisational characteristics enable younger and older employees to deal successfully with daily hassles/constraints and uplifts? |