Intergroup predictors of older workers' attitudes towards work and early exit

This study investigated the role of intergroup processes in older workers' attitudes towards work and early exit from the workplace. Specifically, the relationships between four intergroup variables (cognitive and affective identification with older workers as a group, permeability of retirees' group boundaries, and permeability of younger workers' group boundaries) derived from Social Identity Theory (Tajfel Turner, 1979) and four older workers' attitudes (early exit intention, affective organizational commitment, psychological disengagement, and competition with younger workers) were examined using a sample of 152 45- to 59-year-old Belgian workers. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that intergroup predictors accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in each of the four older workers' attitudes after some personal and organizational variables had been held constant. Most notably, cognitive identification with older workers as a group was found to be positively related to early exit intention, whereas permeability of younger workers' group boundaries had a positive relationship to affective organizational commitment, and a negative relationship to psychological disengagement and to competition with younger workers. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.