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In recent years, both scientists and practitioners have become interested in the affectivemotivational concept of work engagement and research on work engagement has strongly accumulated. Engaged people invest physical, affective, and cognitive resources in their work tasks and activities (Sonnentag, Dormann, & Demerouti, 2010) and high levels of work engagement involve positive consequences both for the individual and the organization (Rich, Lepine, & Crawford, 2010). The objective of this dissertation is twofold. The first and second empirical studies help to advance knowledge on antecedents of work engagement and to extend theoretical models in which work engagement is embedded. The third study aims at expanding present knowledge of the role of specific work events as proximal antecedents of distinct affective states and as distal antecedents of job attitudes and affective consequences such as work engagement by developing a taxonomy of work events. This dissertation suggests ideas for future research and provides practical implications regarding work design and human resource practices that are based on the empirical findings reported. Study 1 investigates the cognitive-motivational concept of focus on opportunities (i.e. the number of goals, plans, and possibilities employees believe themselves to have in their future) as a predictor of work engagement and a personal resource that buffers for low levels in employee’s job control. By using a cross-sectional survey study based on a sample of bluecollar workers (N = 174), and a daily diary study based on a sample of administrative employees (N = 64), this study revealed that job control was less strongly related to work engagement when people’s focus on opportunities was reported to be high. Employees with a high focus on opportunities compensated for low job control. This finding refines theoretical models of antecedents of work engagement by supporting the role of focus on opportunities as a motivational resource. The goal of Study 2 was to examine self-efficacy regarding a person‘s work role as a personal resource that helps employees to effectively regulate affective states in a way to show high levels of work engagement. The study was conducted based on a sample of 111 full-time employees who completed daily online questionnaires on affective experiences and work engagement twice a day over ten working days. Results of multilevel linear regression analysis showed that self-efficacy acted as a moderator on the relationship between daily negative affect and daily work engagement. Self-efficacy enabled people to show high levels of work engagement on days when they experience negative affective states. Moreover, the relationship between self-efficacy and work engagement was mediated by an increase of positive affect during the day. Through the mechanism of up-regulating positive affect, people high in self-efficacy succeed in maintaining daily work engagement. These results extend existing theoretical frameworks of work engagement by indicating that self-efficacy is an important personal resource that enables people to effectively regulate affective states and show high levels of work engagement. Study 3 addresses the development of a comprehensive taxonomy of daily work events that provides a frame of reference for future studies to more systematically test propositions of Affective events theory (AET) (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996). AET provides a theoretical framework that emphasizes the role of work events as proximal antecedents of affect but does not formulate specific propositions about which kind of work events elicit distinct affective states. Based on 559 positive and 383 negative work events mentioned in three daily diary studies by an overall of 218 employees, the qualitative concept mapping methodology was used to establish the taxonomy on work events. Explorative statistical analyses resulted in four positive and seven negative work events clusters. The study provides evidence for the validity of the taxonomy by testing the relationships of the events clusters with distinct positive and negative activating and deactivating affective states.
Against the backdrop of aging populations, labor shortages, and a longer healthy life expectancy, there has recently been considerable discussion of the great potential that post-retirement activities hold for individuals, organizations, and society alike. This dissertation consists of three empirical papers investigating the life reality of active retirees in Germany. In addition, framework conditions and motivational structures that need to be considered in creating jobs for this group of workers are examined. The first paper identifies the prerequisites for productivity after retirement age and describes the changed nature of modern-day retirement. Current levels of post-retirement work are quantified by reference to German Microcensus data. The data show that adults continue to engage in paid employment beyond the applicable retirement age, with self-employment and unpaid work in family businesses making up the greatest share of post-retirement activities. Qualitative data collected from 146 active retirees (mean age = 67 years, standard deviation = 4) showed that the changes entailed in retirement include more flexible structures in everyday life. Content analysis revealed that reasons for taking up post-retirement activities were the desire to help, pass on knowledge, or remain active; personal development and contact with others; and a desire for appreciation and recognition. In addition, flexible working hours and the freedom to make decisions are evidently important aspects that need to be taken into account in creating employment activities for silver workers. The second paper extends the findings of the first paper by investigating the differences that respondents experienced between their former career job and their post-retirement activities, drawing on an additional quantitative sample of active retirees (N = 618, mean age = 69 years, standard deviation = 4). Factor analysis revealed differences in four areas: First, differences were identified in person-related variables, such as work ability. Second, differences were perceived in the scope of the job itself with regard to workers’ tasks, skills, or job function. Third, the perceived freedom of time allocation and flexibility in job practice distinguished between the silver job and the former career job. Fourth, differences were noted in perceived responsibility and in the significance of the activity. The third paper further examined how relevant personal motivational goals (achievement, appreciation, autonomy, contact, and generativity) as well as corresponding occupational characteristics of the silver job were related to life and work satisfaction in the quantitative sample (N = 661, mean age = 69 years, standard deviation = 4). Hierarchical regression analyses showed that the motivational goals of achievement, appreciation, autonomy, contact, and generativity significantly predicted life satisfaction, whereas only generativity predicted work satisfaction. With respect to the occupational characteristics, none of the situational predictors influenced life satisfaction, but opportunities to fulfill one’s achievement goals, to pass on knowledge, and to experience appreciation and autonomy predicted work satisfaction. The results suggest that post-retirement workers seem to differentiate between perceived life satisfaction and work satisfaction as two independent constructs. In conclusion, key motives for taking up post-retirement activities were generativity (the wish to help and pass on knowledge), but also personal development, appreciation, autonomy, and contact. The findings indicate that organizations should introduce flexible working hours, and offer silver workers advisory and freelance work. Providing freedom to make decisions and ensuring due appreciation of the contribution made by silver workers will lead to a fruitful interplay of silver workers and organizations. Future research should build on these findings by applying longitudinal designs and drawing on samples of retirees with more diverse educational and financial backgrounds. The papers of this dissertation echo the call for a new, more positive way of looking at the capacities of active retirees.