Age and Career Resilience Through the Lens of Life Course Theory: Examining Individual Mechanisms and Macro‐Level Context Across 28 Countries
ABSTRACT Career resilience is critical to the world's aging workforce, aiding older workers in adapting to the ever‐evolving nature of work. While ageist stereotypes often depict older workers as less resilient when faced with workplace changes, existing research studies offer conflicting evidence on whether older age hinders or improves career resilience. In response to this conflicting evidence, the present study employs multi‐level data from 6772 employees in 28 countries to examine the age‐career resilience relationships and underlying mechanisms, hence advancing our understanding of career resilience across the life course. By integrating macro‐contextual factors such as the unemployment rate and the culture of education with individual‐level mechanisms such as positive career meaning and career optimism, we provide a comprehensive model explaining how career resilience varies across age groups. Grounded in life course theory, our findings resolve prior inconsistencies in resilience research, contribute to bridging the micro‐macro gap in HRM literature, and challenge existing age‐based stereotypes.
Authors
- Douglas T. Hall
- Silvia Bagdadli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7281-4239)
- Martina Gianecchini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9148-114X)
- Janine Bosak (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5701-6538)
- Jos Akkermans (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2870-6921)
- Siriwut Buranapin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1292-9135)
- Mami Taniguchi
- Eleni Apospori (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7297-5056)
- Pamela Suzanne (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6270-8096)
- Eric J. Michel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4306-7489)
- Wolfgang Mayrhofer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3323-7461)
- Richard Cotton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8584-8873)
- Adam Smale (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2051-9849)
- Sergio Madero (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3996-7609)
- Marijke Verbruggen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7375-7771)
- Jon P. Briscoe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7044-0034)
- Anders Dysvik (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0099-5883)
- Petra Eggenhofer‐Rehart (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2207-7768)
- Jongseok Cha
- Katharina Chudzikowski
- Bernadeta Goštautaitė (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3858-0787)
- Denise M. Jepsen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7106-8972)
- Jelena Zikic (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3026-2533)
- Florian Schramm
- Bryndís D. Steindórsdóttir (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7104-9165)
- Nicky Dries (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1556-0479)
- Maike Andresen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9073-4849)
- Émilie Lapointe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8333-3756)
- Leire Gartzia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8837-3888)
- K. Övgü Çakmak‐Otluoğlu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8489-9345)
- Najung Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4320-089X)
- Silvia Dello Russo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4807-647X)
- Leda Panayotopoulou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1076-0188)
- Mila Borislavova Lazarova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7865-4790)
- Martin Gubler
- Richa Saxena (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6634-2041)
- Evgenia I. Lysova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2135-9130)
- Sonia Ferenčíková (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0256-3950)
- Biljana Bogićević-Milikić (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3084-8021)
- Sushanta Kumar Mishra (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0253-1908)
- Tânia Casado
- Emma Parry (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4815-9996)
- Ingo Stolz
- Jean‐Luc Cerdin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3726-753X)
- Henrique Duarte (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0566-8793)
- Robert Kaše (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1020-2285)
- Svetlana N. Khapova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6842-6644)
- Astrid Reichel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4188-360X)
- Michael Dickmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3775-663X)
- Daniel Krajcik
- Elo L. K. Reiss
Institutions
- Vienna University of Economics and Business (AT)
- Northern Illinois University (US)
- Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (PT)
- Kookmin University (KR)
- Boston University (US)
- École Supérieure des Sciences Économiques et Commerciales (FR)
- Universidad de Deusto (ES)
- University of Padua (IT)
- Waseda University (JP)
- University of Ljubljana (SI)
- Universität Hamburg (DE)
- Bank of Slovenia (SI)
- Institute of Management Technology (IN)
- Vilnius University (LT)
- Universidade de São Paulo (BR)
- Simon Fraser University (CA)
- BI Norwegian Business School (NO)
- University of Salzburg (AT)
- York University (CA)
- University of St.Gallen (CH)
- University of Victoria (CA)
- Hansung University (KR)
- ISM University of Management and Economics (LT)
- Dublin Business School (IE)
- University of San Andrés (AR)
- University of Belgrade (RS)
- VID Specialized University (NO)
- CY Cergy Paris Université (FR)
- Business and Hotel Management School (CH)
- Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IN)
- Chiang Mai University (TH)
- University of Bath (GB)
- Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NO)
- Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli (IT)
- Bratislava University of Economics and Business (SK)
- Istanbul University (TR)
- Bocconi University (IT)
- Athens University of Economics and Business (GR)
- University of Vaasa (FI)
- Cranfield University (GB)
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL)
- University of Bamberg (DE)
- Tecnológico de Monterrey (MX)
- Macquarie University (AU)
- KU Leuven (BE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Human Resource Management Journal
- Published
- 2025-04-08
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12596
- Citations
- 3
- Primary Topic
- Retirement, Disability, and Employment
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 16.78
Funders
- Lietuvos Mokslo Taryba