Research interests:
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| 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:
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| (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) Strengths and virtues: How are
generativity (the concern in establishing and guiding the next
generation), wisdom (expertise in the fundamental pragmatics of life)
and legacy concerns related to individual and organisational outcomes?
Do they increase with age? Which work behaviours are generative and
wise? |
| (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? |