Age-Inclusive HR Practices as Resource Passageways: Explaining Retirement Intentions Through Employability and Job Insecurity

Abstract

To decide about retirement, employees assess and react to their work environment, including age-inclusive HR practices. Age-inclusive HR practices ensure equal access to key HR functions for all employees—regardless of age, for example, training and development for all age groups, unlike age-specific HR practices, which target older workers exclusively, for example, development opportunities for older workers. In this study, we uncover why age-inclusive HR practices are effective in retaining older employees. Using a conservation of resources theory approach, we explain that age-inclusive HR practices can enhance older employees' employability (i.e., perceived ability to realize job opportunities within and between employers) and reduce their job insecurity (i.e., perceived risk of a decline in job quality, including working conditions, career prospects, and salary). Employability, conversely, weakens employees' retirement intentions, while job insecurity strengthens these intentions. We use a three-wave design with 758 older employees and path analysis, controlling for age-specific HR practices, to demonstrate the unique effect of age-inclusive HR practices on employees' retirement intentions. Findings showed that age-inclusive HR practices (beyond age-specific HR practices) were indirectly linked to employees' retirement intentions via job insecurity but not employability, emphasizing their importance for resource loss prevention as a means for older employees' retention.