Job Complexity and the Aging Workforce: Causal Effects on Learning Performance and Change Self-Efficacy

Abstract As technological change accelerates, designing work that supports older workers’ learning is a critical organizational challenge. Drawing on cognitive aging and work design literature, we investigate whether job complexity acts as a hindrance or as a catalyst for learning. We examine both objective learning performance and change self-efficacy as two key facets of successful learning and adaptation, and whether age moderates the effect of job complexity on learning. We conducted a randomized experimental study including both younger and older workers (N = 312) in which we investigated the causal effect of moderately complex work, compared to low-complexity work, on learning. Results showed that medium job complexity predicted superior objective learning performance (e.g., higher success rates, shorter completion times) and increased change self-efficacy. Contrary to age-differentiated predictions, the benefits of moderate complexity were consistent across older and younger workers. Together, the findings provide causal evidence that manageable job complexity can build both immediate mastery and confidence for future change, challenging deficit-based assumptions about older workers’ capacity to learn.