Discussion 1: Understanding Job Attitudes and Their Measurement (1 page paper without title and reference page.)

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Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health

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The role of age in the relationship between work social characteristics and job attitudes

Luca Fazi, Sara Zaniboni, Yolanda Estreder, Donald Truxillo & Franco Fraccaroli

To cite this article: Luca Fazi, Sara Zaniboni, Yolanda Estreder, Donald Truxillo & Franco Fraccaroli (2019) The role of age in the relationship between work social characteristics and job attitudes, Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health, 34:2, 77-95, DOI: 10.1080/15555240.2019.1597632

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/15555240.2019.1597632

Published online: 02 May 2019.

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The role of age in the relationship between work social characteristics and job attitudes

Luca Fazia, Sara Zanibonia, Yolanda Estrederb, Donald Truxilloc, and Franco Fraccarolid

aDepartment of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy; bResearch Institute of Personnel Psychology, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain; cDepartment of Psychology, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, USA; dDepartment of Psychology, University of Trento, Trento, Italy

ABSTRACT Despite the amount of research on the link between work social characteristics and job attitudes, there is a lack of work on moderators of this relationship. In the present study, we examine the role of age as a moderating effect of this rela- tionship using life-span development theory. The aim of this paper is to study the moderator effect of age in the relation- ship between two work social characteristics (interaction out- side the organization and interdependence) and job attitudes (i.e., general job satisfaction and work engagement). Participants were 258 workers from private organizations. Data were collected at two time points (2 to 4 weeks between T1 and T2). Results showed that the relationship between inter- dependence and work engagement was stronger for older workers than for younger workers. In addition, the relationship between interaction outside the organization and general job satisfaction was stronger for younger than for older workers. Because increased engagement and satisfaction in an age- diverse workforce is important, organizations may benefit by challenging older workers with interdependent tasks, and younger workers with interaction with stakeholders outside the organization.

ARTICLE HISTORY Received 16 January 2018 Accepted 18 March 2019

KEYWORDS Interaction outside the organization; interdepend- ence; age; job satisfaction; work engagement

The aging of the population, and aging workforce in particular, are wide- spread phenomena in Western society (Eurofound, 2014, European Commission, 2012), requiring more attention from practitioners and researchers (Rudolph, 2016; Truxillo et al., 2012; Zaniboni, Truxillo, & Fraccaroli, 2013; Zaniboni, Truxillo, Fraccaroli, McCune, & Bertolino, 2014). In studying the aging workforce, researchers have pointed out the necessity of increasing the fit between workers and their jobs to have them engaged and satisfied through their entire work life spans (Rudolph, 2016;

CONTACT Luca Fazi [email protected] Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Viale Europa 109, 47521 Cesena (FC), Bologna, Italy. Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/wjwb. � 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

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Truxillo et al., 2012; Zaniboni et al., 2013, 2014). Therefore, designing the job in a way that adapts work characteristics to a worker’s age has been considered a key consideration for improving work outcomes such as job attitudes (Truxillo et al., 2012; Zaniboni et al., 2013, 2014). Previous studies have used the lens of a life-span perspective to show the

effects of specific work characteristics on job attitudes (Zaniboni et al., 2013, 2014, 2016). For example, Zaniboni et al. (2014) investigated the moderating effect of age in the relationship between work characteristic (i.e., task variety) and job attitudes (i.e., satisfaction and engagement). This research showed that higher levels of task variety led to higher levels of engagement and satisfaction for younger workers but not for older workers. Furthermore, Zaniboni et al. (2013) showed that higher levels of skill var- iety led to lower levels of burnout especially for older workers; put differ- ently, higher levels of task variety led to lower levels of burnout and turnover intentions for younger workers. These results emphasize the importance of considering age in understanding how job design can improve job attitudes. In the job design literature, social work characteristics, such as inter-

dependence and interaction outside the organization, play a role in relation to job attitudes (Humphrey et al. 2007; Morgeson & Humphrey, 2006). For example, Humphrey et al. (2007) have shown that social work characteris- tics (i.e., interdependence, interaction outside the organization, social sup- port, and feedback from others) explain 17% of the variance in job satisfaction and 40% of the variance in organizational commitment. Moreover, it is known that general social and relational preferences can change during a person’s life (Carstensen, Isaacowitz, & Charles, 1999), which could also have a differential impact on older and younger workers’ social preferences at work. For example, according to the socioemotional selectivity theory (Carstensen et al., 1999), older people prefer to use and share their knowledge and experience focusing on well-known social inter- actions, whereas younger people prefer to gain new knowledge and experi- ence, choosing social interactions that are more challenging for them. Accordingly, older workers might prefer well-known work social interac- tions, such as interactions with coworkers (i.e., interdependence). On the other hand, younger workers might prefer new and unknown social inter- actions, such as interactions with stakeholders outside the organization (i.e., interaction outside the organization). However, there is a lack of research on the link between work social

characteristics, such as interdependence (i.e., when one’s work depends on others’ work, and vice versa) and interaction outside the organization (i.e., workers’ interaction with external stakeholders), and job attitudes considering a life-span perspective. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to

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investigate how age interacts with work social characteristics, such as interaction outside the organization and interdependence, to affect job attitudes, such as work engagement and job satisfaction. We base our hypotheses on two life-span theories, selective optimization with com- pensation theory (Baltes & Baltes, 1990) and socioemotional selectivity theory (Carstensen et al., 1999).

Life-span development theories

Life-span development theories focus on successful adaptation to aging on the part of individuals throughout all aspects of their lives. Two theories have dominated this literature. First, selective optimization with compensa- tion theory (SOC; Baltes & Baltes, 1990) is a life-span development theory that identifies three adaptive strategies to cope with the loss of resources caused by aging. Selection involves making decision about what objectives to pursue. This strategy is used when there is a decline of resources as people age, such that they may choose goals that successfully match their present resources to environmental demands. Next, people use optimization to allocate their effort and resources to achieve their selected goals. Finally, to keep an acceptable level of performance, people use compensation strat- egies (e.g., social support) to compensate for the gap between performance and expectation. SOC theory has been used to explain the link between age and work characteristics (e.g., Zacher & Frese, 2009, 2011; Zacher, Heusner, Schmitz, Zwierzanska & Frese, 2010; Zaniboni et al., 2013). For example, Zaniboni et al. (2013) proposed that older workers might have better outcomes (e.g., burnout, turnover) when their work is characterized by low task variety. Specifically, the authors argued that performing fewer tasks may help older workers to optimize their resources (Zaniboni et al., 2013), which is important for older workers who need to compensate for possible declines (Baltes & Baltes, 1990). SOC strategies can also be useful in hypothesizing differences between younger and older workers regarding the social work characteristics. For example, giving interdependent tasks to older workers may provide them with more possibilities to optimize and compensate for resource losses, using their established social connections inside the organization. As another example, working together with col- leagues and getting help in performing certain tasks, or using their accu- mulated knowledge to provide support to other workers, can give more opportunities to an older worker to compensate potential declines. Second, socioemotional selectivity theory (SES; Carstensen et al., 1999) is

a life-span theory that identifies changes in the selection and pursuit of social goals based on the perception of time at different ages. According to this theory, there are two categories of social objectives: emotional-regulation

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goals and knowledge-acquisition goals. Emotional-regulation goals are those that usually entail emotional rewarding aspects, such as engaging in consolidated social exchanges that are emotionally gratifying from a per- sonal point of view (Carstensen et al., 1999). On the other hand, know- ledge-acquisition goals are those that entail challenges and uncertainty, such as engaging in unknown social interactions that may lead to the acquisition of new knowledge and experience (Carstensen et al., 1999). Younger and older people prefer to select and pursue emotional-regulation goals or knowledge-acquisition goals based on their perception of the time. Older people perceive their future as limited and are more focused in pre- sent-oriented time perspective, such as being involved in relationships emotionally rewarding that are already consolidated. On the other hand, younger people perceive their future as open and are more focused in future-oriented time perspective, such as being involved in the acquisition of new relationships, enlarging their knowledge and networking (Carstensen et al., 1999). Previous research on aging in the workplace used this theory to explain the interaction between age and work characteristics on job attitudes (Truxillo et al., 2012; Zaniboni et al., 2013, 2014). For example, Zaniboni et al. (2014) suggested that younger workers are more interested in task variety because of their future-oriented perspective, and the possibility that performing more tasks would increase their knowledge and to advance their career. On the other hand, older workers prefer to focus on applying their already accumulated skills and experience, because they have less interest in future-oriented goals, such as a career. In this sense, older workers might prefer engaging in well-known social interac- tions, as well as interactions which entail the use of their accumu- lated experience. In the present study, we expected that different social goals can be

achieved by the two work social characteristics analyzed (i.e., interaction outside the organization and interdependence). For example, more inter- dependence might be more appealing for older workers, to the extent that interdependence makes the job more relational, fulfilling the emotion orientation of older workers through present well-known social contacts (Carstensen et al., 1999). On the other hand, more interaction outside the organizations may be more appealing for younger workers, to the extent that they enlarge their external network and fulfill knowledge orientation of younger workers through the increase of future opportunities.

Job attitudes: work engagement and general job satisfaction

Work engagement and general job satisfaction have been found to be highly correlated in many research studies (Christian, Garza & Slaughter, 2011;

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Zaniboni et al., 2014). However, theoretical differences between the two constructs have been highlighted (Christian et al., 2011). First, work engagement is defined “as a positive, work-related state of fulfilment char- acterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption” (Schaufeli, Salanova, Gonz�alez-Rom�a, & Bakker, 2002, p. 74), whereas general job satisfaction is defined as “the degree to which the employee is satisfied and happy with the job” (Hackman & Oldham, 1975, p. 162). Moreover, work engagement represents a description of individual’s experiences resulting from work (Christian et al., 2011), whereas general job satisfaction is an evaluative description of job conditions or characteristics (Christian et al., 2011). In this sense, engagement is more internal and leads to more internal activa- tion, whereas satisfaction is referred to evaluation of external facts and is more similar to satiation (Christian et al., 2011). Some researchers have pointed out a number of antecedents of job attitudes (i.e., work engage- ment and general job satisfaction), such as work conditions, relations with others, dispositional characteristics and characteristics of work (Bakker, Demerouti & Sanz-Vergel, 2014; Christian et al., 2011; Ghazzawi, 2008; Mauno, Kinnunen, & Ruokolainen, 2007), and changing levels of these fac- tors actually lead to different level of workers’ engagement and satisfaction. In line with its more internal nature, work engagement has been found to be a link to internal positive activations such as positive emotions (Bakker & Demerouti, 2008). In fact, Bakker and Demerouti (2008) highlighted a significant correlation between engaged workers and their experience of positive emotions. Moreover, consistent with the external focus of general job satisfaction, some literature has pointed out the link between job satis- faction and career orientation (Hoath, Schneider, & Starr, 1998). For example, Hoath et al. (1998) found significant relations between job satis- faction and different career orientation, such as careerist, artisan, social activist, and self-investor. Moreover, work engagement has been found to be positively related to job performance (Taris & Schaufeli, 2015) also through job satisfaction (Ferreira & Rodrigues, 2018). In particular, Ferreira and Rodrigues (2018) have shown that job satisfaction positively mediates the relationship between work engagement (i.e., vigor and dedica- tion) and job performance. Due to the importance of satisfaction and engagement, the present study examines the combined role of social job characteristics and age on these two job attitudes.

Work social characteristics, job attitudes, and age

Based on Morgeson and Humphrey’s (2006) work characteristics model, social characteristics of work reflect the fact that work is performed within a broader social and interpersonal environment. Among the social

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characteristics, interaction outside the organization and interdependence have received less attention. Interaction outside the organization and interdependence have been considered relevant work social characteristics for decades (Kiggundu, 1981; Morgeson & Humphrey, 2006; Sims, Szilagyi, & Keller, 1976). However, research on these social characteristics compared to other social characteristics (e.g., social support at work) is still scarce and sometimes has shown inconsistent results. For example, Humphrey, Nahrgang and Morgeson (2007) showed that interactions outside the organization, such as interactions with stakeholders beyond organization boundaries, was positively related to job satisfaction. On the other hand, interactions outside the organization, such as interactions with customers, has been found to be positively related to burnout (Maslach & Jackson, 1981). Moreover, it has been shown that inter- dependence was positively related to job attitudes and to job performance (Courtright, Thurgood, Stewart, & Pierotti, 2015; Humphrey, Nahrgang and Morgeson 2007). Despite the demonstrated importance of these work social characteristics (i.e., interaction outside the organization and inter- dependence), empirical research is needed, especially considering a life- span perspective. Indeed, up to the present today, research is missing on these characteristics taking into account the age of the workers (e.g., Truxillo et al., 2012). Moreover, the more interactive and interconnected nature of work inside and outside the organization makes interdepend- ence and interaction outside the organization core social aspects to study (Burke & Ng, 2006; Van Der Vegt, Emans, & Van De Vliert, 2000). Interaction outside the organization is defined as “the extent to which

the job requires employees to interact and communicate with individuals’ external to the organization” (Morgeson & Humphrey, 2006, p. 1324). This social characteristic of work has been previously linked with job per- formance (Grant et al., 2007). Specifically, Grant et al. (2007) highlighted that short interactions with beneficiaries of a fundraising association (i.e., a particular form of interaction outside the organization that involve interaction with beneficiaries of voluntary donations) improves workers’ job performance. However, it has been pointed out that more research is needed on the relationship between interaction outside the organization and job attitudes, in particular taking into account individual differences such as age (Truxillo et al., 2012). According to SES theory, more inter- action outside the organization could be positive for younger workers because of their future-oriented perspective and their higher need to seek knowledge and opportunities from social interactions. Put differently, this positive effect is not expected for older workers, who are focused on relationships that are more emotionally rewarding, such as would be found with more established, stable, and long-term relationships

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(Carstensen et al., 1999). Furthermore, consistent with SOC theory (Baltes & Baltes, 1990), increasing the number of interaction outside the organization may be more demanding for older workers, since this can lead to fewer possibilities to optimize and compensate for their resource losses.

Hypothesis 1. Age moderates the relationship between interaction outside the organization and work engagement (H1a) and general job satisfaction (H1b), such that interaction outside the organization is more positively related to work engagement and general job satisfaction for younger workers than for older workers.

Interdependence can be defined as “the degree to which the job depends on others and others depend on it to complete the work” (Kiggundu, 1981 in Morgeson & Humphrey, 2006, p. 1324). Interdependence is a piv- otal characteristic of work in teams (Van Der Vegt, Emans, & Van De Vliert, 1998; West, 2002) and generally leads to higher interconnections between coworkers in completing their tasks (Morgeson & Humphrey, 2006). Interdependence has been found to be positively related to import- ant job attitudes, such as organizational commitment, job involvement, satisfaction, and work motivation (Humphrey et al., 2007; Van Der Vegt, Emans, & Van De Vliert, 2000). The meta-analysis conducted by Humphrey et al. (2007) found a significant positive correlation between interdependence and job satisfaction (r ¼ .33) and organizational commit- ment (r ¼ .39). Van Der Vegt et al. (2000) showed that task interdepend- ence was positively related to team satisfaction and team commitment. However, a previous study has pointed out negative relations between interdependence and workers’ feelings, such as sense of responsibility (Van Der Vegt et al., 1998). Considering these findings and the relevance of workers’ age for work characteristics (Truxillo et al., 2012; Zaniboni et al., 2013, 2014), it is important to provide empirical evidence about the moderating effect of age on the relationship between interdependence and job attitudes. According to SES theory (Carstensen et al., 1999), more interdependence may fulfill the emotion orientation of older workers, increasing relational interaction with coworkers. Moreover, according to SOC theory (Baltes & Baltes, 1990), increasing the number of inter- dependent tasks might be more appealing for older workers, to the extent that more interdependence allows workers to better select, optimize, and compensate for their resources, engaging in well-known tasks and inter- action inside the organization.

Hypothesis 2. Age moderates the relationship between interdependence and work engagement (H2a) and general job satisfaction (H2b), such that more interdependence is more positively related to work engagement and general job satisfaction for older workers than for younger workers.

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Method

Participants and procedures

The participants were 258 workers. A convenience sampling procedure has been used in the study. In particular, the researchers contacted different organizations that they have links with, and based on the company avail- ability to participate to the study, the workers have been consequently con- tacted. The data collection was conducted at different organizations of northeast Italy. Participants voluntarily participated to the survey, and the respondents’ anonymity was protected with respect to their employer. Moreover, respondents were advised that there were no right or wrong answers, and they were asked to answer questions as honestly as possible. The sample was 53.1% male (n ¼ 137), and the average age was 37.83 (SD ¼ 11.16; range: 18–66 years). Regarding the types of jobs held by partic- ipants, 20.2% (n ¼ 52) were laborers, 10.5% (n ¼ 27) were service workers, 59.3% (n ¼ 153) were office/clerical workers, and 10% (n ¼ 26) were man- agers. The average organizational tenure was 10.32 years (SD ¼ 9.61, range 0–47 years). The average work experience was 16.36 years (SD ¼ 11.34; range 0–51 years). The data were collected at two time points to reduce common method variance (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Lee, & Podsakoff, 2003). The time lag between T1 and T2 was 2 to 3 weeks. At T1, participants pro- vided demographic and work social characteristics information (i.e., inter- action outside the organization, interdependence and demographic information). At T2 they completed a questionnaire that assessed their job attitudes (i.e., job satisfaction and work engagement).

Measures

Interaction outside the organization We used the four-item scale from the Work Design Questionnaire (WDQ; Morgeson & Humphrey, 2006) to assess the degree to which a job requires employees to interact and communicate with individuals’ external to the organization. A sample item is “The job involves interaction with people who are not members of my organization”. The scale is on a five-point Likert-type ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Coefficient a in the present study was .89.

Interdependence We used the six-item scale from the WDQ (Morgeson & Humphrey, 2006) to assess the extent to which job depends on others and others depend on it to complete the work. Sample items are, “The job requires me to accom- plish my job before others complete their job” or “My job cannot be done

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unless others do their work”. The scale is on a five-point Likert type ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Coefficient a in the present study was .82.

General job satisfaction Three items based on Hackman and Oldham’s (1975) general job satisfac- tion scale were used to assess the job satisfaction of the respondents. A sample item is, “I am generally satisfied with the kind of work I do in this job”. The scale is scored on a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Coefficient a in the present study was .94.

Work engagement We used the validated Italian version (Balducci, Fraccaroli, & Schaufeli, 2010) of the nine-item measure designed by Schaufeli, Bakker, and Salanova (2006). The scale assesses a positive work-related state of fulfill- ment characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption. A sample item is, “I am enthusiastic about my job.” The scale is scored on a 7-point scale ranging from 0 (never) to 6 (always). Coefficient a in the present study was .94.

Control variables Organizational tenure and job type were used as control variables. Previous studies have found that organizational tenure significantly moderates the relationship between age and job attitudes (Ng & Feldman, 2010b), and that age significantly moderates the relationship between organizational tenure and job performance (Ng & Feldman, 2010a). Therefore, due to the potential confounding effect of age and tenure, we included organizational tenure as a control variable in our analyses. Furthermore, we controlled for the effect of job type, as previous studies have done, for the issues associated with job design (Morgeson & Humphrey, 2006; Zaniboni et al., 2014), and because a previous study found work social characteristics, such as interdependence, were affected by job type (Pearce & Gregersen, 1991). In the present study, there were four different types of job, specifically, laborer, service worker, office/clerical worker, and manager.

Data analysis

To test our hypotheses, we performed a moderated hierarchical regres- sion, using the Process macro 2.15 by Hayes (2013). Because the age has been used as a moderator variable in this study, we followed the

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procedure for moderation analysis with interval variable. Specifically, we considered the mean (i.e., 37.83) as middle-age workers, one Standard Deviation (i.e., 11.16) below the mean as younger workers (i.e., 26,67), and one Standard Deviation above the mean as older workers (i.e., 48.98). Moreover, because of the high correlation between general job satisfaction and work engagement, we tested the discriminant validity by performing a confirmatory factor analysis with Lisrel 8.80 (Humphrey, Nahrgang & Morgeson 2007). The weighted least square estimation was used, and the polychoric correlations matrix and the asymptotic cova- riances matrix were included as input for the analysis. Because the v2

goodness-of-fit statistic is sensitive to the sample size, we considered the test absolute and relative goodness-of-fit indices, as recommended by Bentler (1990). The absolute goodness-of-fit indices considered were: the ratio v2/df (degrees of freedom), the root square error of approximation (RMSEA), and the Adjusted Goodness-of-Fit Index (AGFI). The relative goodness-of-fit indices considered were: the Non-Normed Fit Index (NNFI) and the Comparative Fit Index (CFI).

Results

Table 1 reports Means, Standard Deviations, and correlations between the study variables. Interaction outside the organization was significantly posi- tively correlated with general job satisfaction (r ¼ .15, p < .05) and work engagement (r ¼ .18, p < .01). Interdependence was significantly positively correlated with general job satisfaction (r ¼ .13, p < .05) and work engage- ment (r ¼ .14, p < .05). On the other hand, age was not significantly cor- related with work characteristics and job attitudes. The control variable of manager/nonmanager was significantly and positively correlated with work

Table 1. Means, Standard Deviations, and intercorrelations among study variables. M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1. Age 37.83 11.16 – 2. Interaction outside the org 3.14 1.03 �.04 (.89) 3. Interdependence 3.18 .77 �.01 .09 (.82) 4. General job satisfaction 5.12 1.33 .03 .15� .13� (.94) 5. Work engagement 4.22 1.11 .12 .18�� .14� .72�� (.94) 6. Laborer .20 .40 �.04 �.11 .07 .05 �.07 � 7. Service worker .10 .31 �.20�� .07 �.16�� �.07 .02 �.17�� – 8. Manager .10 .30 �.23�� .18�� .08 .19�� .18�� �.17�� �.11 – 9. Organizational tenure 10.32 9.61 .74�� �.09 �.09 �03 .03 �.05 �.09 .14� – Note. Laborer ¼ 1 and not laborer ¼ 0, service worker ¼ 1 and not service worker ¼ 0, manager ¼ 1 and not manager ¼ 0.

N ¼ 256. Interaction outside the organization and interdependence were on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1–5). Job satisfac- tion (1–7) and work engagement (0–6) were on 7-point Likert-type scales. Cronbach’s a in parentheses on the diagonal.

�p < .05. ��p < .01.

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engagement (r ¼ .58, p < .05) and general job satisfaction (r ¼ .93, p < .01). Because of the high correlations between general job satisfaction and work engagement (r ¼ .72, p < .01), we used Harman’s test considering a single-factor model and a two-factor model (i.e., general job satisfaction and work engagement). The Harman’s test between the single factor, v2(54) ¼ 201.85, p ¼ .00; RMSEA ¼ .10, NNFI ¼ .99, CFI ¼ .99, AGFI ¼ .99, and the two factors, v2(53) ¼ 163.40, p ¼ .00; RMSEA ¼ .09; NNFI ¼ .99; CFI ¼ 1; AGFI ¼ .99, suggests that the two-factor model is the model with the best fit for our data. The v2 difference test between the model with one factor and the model with two factors was significant, Dv2(1) ¼ 38.45, p < .001. Furthermore, to confirm that our factors can be considered different factors, we ran a discriminant validity analysis. The confidence interval (± 2 SE) around the correlation estimated between general job sat- isfaction and work engagement (u ¼ .88) did not include 1 (.86 � u � .90). Thus, the two measures are related but appear to be conceptually distinguishable. Hypothesis 1. We expected that age would moderate the relationship

between interaction outside the organization and work engagement (H1a) and general job satisfaction (H1b), such that interaction outside the organ- ization was more positively related to work engagement and general job satisfaction for younger than for older workers. The moderated regression concerning interaction outside the organization and work engagement and general job satisfaction is reported in Table 2. The interaction term for work engagement (t ¼ �1.87, p > .05) was not significant. Thus, Hypothesis 1a was not supported. Differently, the addition of the interaction term for general job satisfaction significantly increased the R2, F(1, 234) ¼ 8.16, p < .01, DR2 ¼ .03. The R2 for the final equation was significant, F(7, 234) ¼ 3.48, p < .01. Results showed that age significantly moderated the relationship between the predictor and the outcome t ¼ �2.86, p < .01. As shown in Figure 1, there is a stronger relationship between interaction out- side the organization and general job satisfaction for younger workers than for older workers. Thus, Hypothesis 1b was supported. Hypothesis 2. We expected that age would moderate the relationship

between interdependence and work engagement (H2a) and general job sat- isfaction (H2b), such that interdependence was more positively related to work engagement and general job satisfaction for older than for younger workers. The results for the moderated regression for interdependence and work engagement and general job satisfaction are reported in Table 3. The addition of the interaction term for work engagement significantly increased the R2, F(1, 235) ¼ 8.42, p < .01, DR2 ¼ .03. The R2 for the final equation was significant, F(7, 235) ¼ 3.92, p < .01. Results showed that age significantly moderated the relationship between the predictor and the

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Figure 1. Workers’ age and interaction outside the organization interact to affect general job satisfaction. Note. Younger workers: 1 Standard Deviation below the Mean (M – 1, SD ¼ 26.67); Older workers: 1 Standard Deviation above the Mean (M þ 1 SD ¼ 48.98).

Table 2. Summary of moderated regression analysis for interaction outside the organization. Work engagement General job satisfaction

Variable Coefficient SE Coefficient SE

Laborer �.07 .18 .31 .22 Service worker .13 .23 �.31 .28 Manager .58� .25 .93�� .29 Organizational tenure �.01 .01 �.00 .01 Interaction outside

the organization .15� .07 .12 .08

Age .02 .01 .00 .01 Interaction Outside

the Organization � Age

�.01 .01 �.02�� .01

R2 ¼ .09�� R2 ¼ .09�� Conditional indirect effect of interaction outside the organization (X) on work engagement (Y) at values of

Age (M)

Age Effect Boot SE Boot 95% CI

Younger worker .30 .09 .11 .49 Middle age worker .15 .07 .01 .29 Older worker .01 .11 �.22 .23 Conditional indirect effect of interaction outside the organization (X) on general job satisfaction (Y) at values of

Age (M)

Age Effect Boot SE Boot 95% CI

Younger worker .39 .12 .16 .62 Middle age worker .12 .08 �.05 .28 Older worker �.15 .14 �.42 .11 Note. CI ¼ confidence interval. R2 refers to the final model. The office/clerical worker variable was not entered in the regression (categorical variable with k levels was transformed into k � 1 variables each with two levels).

�p < .05. ��p < .01.

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outcome t ¼ 2.90, p < .01. As shown in Figure 2, there is stronger relation- ship between interdependence and work engagement for older workers than for younger workers. Thus, Hypothesis 2a was supported. In contrast, the interaction term for general job satisfaction (t ¼ 1.85, p > .05) was not significant. Thus, Hypothesis 2b was not supported.

Discussion

The aim of this research was to study the role of age in the link between two key work social characteristics, interaction outside the organization and interdependence, and the job attitudes of work engagement and gen- eral job satisfaction. We used two life-span theories, SES theory (Carstensen et al., 1999) and SOC theory (Baltes & Baltes, 1990) to ground our hypotheses. As hypothesized, younger workers benefitted from more interaction outside the organization, whereas older workers benefitted from more interdependence. Our results show that interaction outside the organ- ization was more positively related to general job satisfaction for younger than older workers (H1b). On the other hand, interdependence was more positively related to work engagement for older than younger workers (H2a). According to life-span theories, younger workers are more interested

Table 3. Summary of moderated regression analysis for interdependence. Work engagement General job satisfaction

Variable Coefficient SE Coefficient SE

Laborer �.17 .18 .21 .22 Service worker .16 .24 �.25 .29 Manager .47 .25 .79�� .29 Organizational tenure �.00 .01 �.00 .01 Interdependence .13 .09 .09 .11 Age .01 .01 .00 .01 Interdependence

� Age .02�� .09 .02 .01

R2 ¼ .10�� R2 ¼ .07� Conditional indirect effect of interdependence (X) on work engagement (Y) at values of Age (M)

Age Effect Boot SE Boot 95% CI

Younger worker �.13 .14 �.41 .15 Middle age worker .13 .09 �.05 .32 Older worker .39 .11 .17 .62

Conditional indirect effect of interdependence (X) on general job satisfaction (Y) at values of Age (M)

Age Effect Boot SE Boot 95% CI

Younger worker �.11 .17 �.44 .23 Middle age worker .09 .11 �.12 .32 Older worker .29 .14 .02 .57

Note. CI ¼ confidence interval. R2 refers to the final model. The office/clerical worker variable was not entered in the regression (categorical variable with k levels was transformed into k � 1 variables each with two levels).

�p < .05. ��p < .01.

JOURNAL OF WORKPLACE BEHAVIORAL HEALTH 89

in challenging work social interactions, such as interaction outside the organization, because their future-oriented perspective. For example, inter- actions with external stakeholders (e.g., suppliers) might provide younger workers with useful knowledge, experience, and contacts about external organizations, products, and clients, to further their future careers. In con- trast, older workers benefit more from well-known tasks and emotionally rewarding interactions, which are components of interdependence (Courtright et al., 2015; Morgeson & Humphrey, 2006). Moreover, social interactions with coworkers and engaging well-known tasks might provide older workers of more compensation opportunities and chances for opti- mizing their resources. For example, completing interdependent tasks might allow older workers to have daily interactions with coworkers, in which older workers can use their accumulated experience, which is emo- tionally rewarding for them (Carstensen et al., 1999). Moreover, we also found that work engagement and job satisfaction were positively correlated with job role (i.e., manager), as already showed by previous research (Zaniboni et al., 2014). However, our results do not confirm H1a (i.e., age moderates the rela-

tionship between interaction outside the organization and work engage- ment) and H2b (i.e., age moderates the relationship between interdependence and general job satisfaction). Younger workers might not perceive more engagement when there are higher level of interaction out- side the organization because of the more internal nature of work engage- ment (Christian et al., 2011). Specifically, as suggested by Christian et al. (2011), engagement captures a stronger internal/personal commitment with the work compared to job satisfaction, which is more related to an external evaluation of the job itself. Moreover, as suggested by the life-span theories,

Figure 2. Workers’ age and interdependence interact to affect work engagement. Note. Younger workers: 1 Standard Deviation below the Mean (M – 1 SD ¼ 26.67); Older workers: 1 standard Deviation above the Mean (M þ 1 SD ¼ 48.98).

90 L. FAZI ET AL.

interaction outside the organization is more appealing for younger workers because it allows them to gain knowledge and experience, improving their career opportunities, that is, a kind of external reward. Therefore, it is pos- sible that interaction outside the organization is more related to an external outcome such as job satisfaction than to an internal outcome such as work engagement. Furthermore, more interdependence does not lead to more satisfaction for older workers. This pattern might be due to the more exter- nal nature of satisfaction, that is, an overall evaluation of the work itself (e.g., Christian et al., 2011). Therefore, it is possible that older workers may respond to more interdependence with higher levels of work engagement (i.e., internal outcomes) than of job satisfaction (i.e., external outcomes). To summarize, similar to previous studies’ results (Zaniboni et al., 2013,

2014), we found that younger and older workers respond differently to work characteristics. For example, Zaniboni et al. (2013) have shown that older workers benefit from higher levels of skill variety, whereas younger workers benefit from higher levels of task variety. Accordingly, we found that older and younger workers react differently to interaction outside the organization and interdependence. Specifically, interdependence is more rewarding for older workers, because of their emotional needs (Carstensen et al., 1999). In contrast, younger workers could fulfill their knowledge acquisition and advancement orientation (Carstensen et al., 1999) by dealing with more inter- actions outside the organization. Furthermore, the opportunity to build a wider professional network offered by interaction outside the organization might be more appealing for younger workers, who are now facing more pre- carious employments with resulting job insecurity (De Cuyper et al., 2008). Previous research suggested that having a wider social network (e.g., having more opportunities to interact with people outside the organization) might decrease the perception of job insecurity (De Witte, Pienaar & De Cuyper, 2016; Griffeth, Steel, Allen & Bryan, 2005). Some practical implications emerge from these findings. The job design

approach highlights the relevance of optimizing workers’ resources through the fit between the person and the work characteristics. However, in general, the work design literature considers “the average worker” (e.g., Morgeson & Humphrey, 2006). We suggest that it is also important to understand the role of individual differences such as a person’s age. In this sense, we suggest that providing older workers with more interdependent tasks and younger work- ers with more interaction outside the organization. For example, organiza- tions might assign tasks to older workers which require joint effort or collaboration between coworkers to be completed. On the other hand, tasks which involve interactions with clients, suppliers or stakeholders outside the organizations, might be assigned to younger workers who need to build their work networks. Embracing this design of work social characteristics might

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lead to more satisfaction for younger workers and more engagement for older workers. In this sense, it might also be important to allow people the flexibil- ity to craft their work so as to address their needs, such as those associated with age (Bakker, Demerouti, & Wang, 2016; Kooij, Tims, & Kanfer, 2015). Furthermore, the positive organizational effects of job attitudes such as work engagement and general job satisfaction are well known. Keeping workers engaged and satisfied at work is a key point for organizations to achieve bet- ter results. Therefore, organizations might design social characteristics of work to accommodate workers across their lifespan, giving more inter- dependent tasks to older workers, and providing more interaction outside the organization to younger workers. The present study also has some potential limitations. First, our hypoth-

esis received only partial support, which may be related to a low statistical power because of low sample size. Moreover, theoretical and practical dif- ferences between the job attitudes considered (i.e., work engagement and general job satisfaction) may explain the patterns found. Further investiga- tions on differences within job attitudes and on their link to work charac- teristics and age are needed. Second, we used a convenience sample, and the heterogeneity in terms of job type and organizational tenure was quite high. However, we included organizational tenure and job type (Bouville, Dello Russo, & Truxillo, 2017) as control variables in the analysis. Third, we tested only two work social characteristics (i.e., interaction outside the organization and interdependence). Future studies should analyze other work social characteristics. For example, feedback from others is another work social characteristic that has received less attention from research, in particular considering the age-related effect. However, it has been pointed out to be an important aspect for improving performance at work (e.g., Gifford, 2016). Therefore, it might be interesting to analyze the differential effect of feedback from others for older and younger workers, as suggested also by Truxillo et al. (2012). Finally, we considered chronological age as other studies have previously done (Zaniboni et al., 2013, 2014). Other fac- tors besides chronological age should be considered in future research, such as subjective age (e.g., Kunze, Raes, & Bruch, 2015). In conclusion, this study is an important contribution to bridge the gap in

the literature about the role of age on job design. Specifically, we found that workers’ age moderates the relation between two work social characteristics, interaction outside the organization and interdependence, and two key job attitudes, work engagement and general job satisfaction. Our findings suggest that older workers benefit from more interdependence, whereas younger workers benefit from more interaction outside the organization. We encour- age future research to further focus on the moderating effect of age on the relation between other work characteristics and job attitudes.

92 L. FAZI ET AL.

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