How does ego-depletion affect the reemployment intention of county public sector retirees? The mediating effect of psychological ownership and the moderating effect of social trust

In recent years, with the increasingly severe situation of population aging in China, it had become one of the important ways to implement the active aging strategy and promote the reemployment of the retired young healthy elderly people. At present, there were quite a number of young public sector workers in China who were still able to work at the county level and were forced to quit their jobs due to retirement. To promote the reemployment of these precious labor resources was of great significance to alleviate the problem of labor shortage in China. In this paper, ego-depletion was divided into three dimensions: cognitive depletion, emotional depletion and behavioral depletion. The influence of various dimensions of ego-depletion on reemployment intention was systematically analyzed. The effect of psychological ownership and social trust in the relationship between ego-depletion and reemployment intention was analyzed. The results showed that: (1) All dimensions of ego-depletion had a negative effect on the reemployment intention of younger public sector retirees. The effects of each dimension were as follows: cognitive depletion > behavioral depletion > emotional depletion; (2) Cognitive depletion and emotional depletion had significant negative effects on psychological ownership; Behavior depletion had no significant effect on psychological ownership. (3) Psychological ownership played a mediating effect in the inhibition of reemployment intention by cognitive depletion and emotional depletion; There was no effect on the effect of behavioral depletion on reemployment intention; (4) Social trust positively moderated the relationship between ego-depletion and psychological ownership; In addition, social trust positively moderated the effects of cognitive depletion and behavioral depletion on reemployment intention, but had no moderating effect on the relationship between emotional depletion and reemployment intention.

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Publication Details

Journal
Frontiers in Psychology
Published
2025-10-15
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1657287
Primary Topic
Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

How does ego-depletion affect the reemployment intention of county public sector retirees? The mediating effect of psychological ownership and the moderating effect of social trust

Lin Meng, Xueqi Zhang, Fengjuan Yan
Frontiers in Psychology
Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
article

How does ego-depletion affect the reemployment intention of county public sector retirees? The mediating effect of psychological ownership and the moderating effect of social trust

Lin Meng, Xueqi Zhang, Fengjuan Yan
article en

Abstract

In recent years, with the increasingly severe situation of population aging in China, it had become one of the important ways to implement the active aging strategy and promote the reemployment of the retired young healthy elderly people. At present, there were quite a number of young public sector workers in China who were still able to work at the county level and were forced to quit their jobs due to retirement. To promote the reemployment of these precious labor resources was of great significance to alleviate the problem of labor shortage in China. In this paper, ego-depletion was divided into three dimensions: cognitive depletion, emotional depletion and behavioral depletion. The influence of various dimensions of ego-depletion on reemployment intention was systematically analyzed. The effect of psychological ownership and social trust in the relationship between ego-depletion and reemployment intention was analyzed. The results showed that: (1) All dimensions of ego-depletion had a negative effect on the reemployment intention of younger public sector retirees. The effects of each dimension were as follows: cognitive depletion > behavioral depletion > emotional depletion; (2) Cognitive depletion and emotional depletion had significant negative effects on psychological ownership; Behavior depletion had no significant effect on psychological ownership. (3) Psychological ownership played a mediating effect in the inhibition of reemployment intention by cognitive depletion and emotional depletion; There was no effect on the effect of behavioral depletion on reemployment intention; (4) Social trust positively moderated the relationship between ego-depletion and psychological ownership; In addition, social trust positively moderated the effects of cognitive depletion and behavioral depletion on reemployment intention, but had no moderating effect on the relationship between emotional depletion and reemployment intention.

Frontiers in PsychologyVol. 16
Shandong Normal University (CN), Shandong Management University (CN)
Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province
Openalex Percentile: Top 67%
Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
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