Journal of Vocational Behavior 55,221-235 (1999) Micle ID jvbe.1998.1679, available online at http://ww.idealibrary.com on I 0 E CP *

Career-Related Variables and Planned Retirenient Age: An Extension of Beehr's Model

Gary A. Adams

University of Wisconsin Oshkosh

The relationships among three career-related variables, career commitment, career growth opportunity, and occupational goal attainment, and planned retirement age were examined separately and relative to personal and work-related predictors of retirement using a sample of 172 working adults age 45 years and older. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that career commitment and occupational goal attainment accounted for a significant portion of variance in planned retirement age after the influence of the personal and work-related variables was held constant. A two-way interaction between career commitment and occupational goal attainment was not supported, nor was a two-way interaction between career commitment and career growth opportunity. Further, age did not moderate the relationships between either job satisfaction or career commit- ment and planned retirement age. s 1999 Academic RCSS

While the number of older people in the population has been increasing over the past 20 years (Fullerton, 1991), the number of these older people choosidg to leave the workforce through retirement has also been increasing (Sum & Fogg, 1990). Further, both of these trends are expected to continue (Fullerton, 1991; Quim, Burkhauser, & Myers, 1990). Over the years, researchers have conducted a considerable amount of research to identify factors that influence the retirement decision-making process. Much of this research has come from the areas of economics and gerontology, where research has identified a number of financial and personal characteristics that impact retirement decision-making (see reviews by Feldman, 1994; Talaga & Beehr, 1989). In a review and synthesis of this research, Beehr (1986) organized these variables into a model of the retirement process that included personal factors, work-related factors, and environmental factors. Further, he suggested that additional research be conducted to identify the important work-related and environmental variables that would make an incremental contribution to our understanding of retirement decision-making beyond that offered by personal factors (Beehr, 1986; Talaga & Beehr, 1989).

Since the time of that review, several studies of retirement decision-making have found that work-related variables such as job satisfaction (Hanisch & Hulin,

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GARY A. ADAMS

1991 ; Taylor & Shore, 1995) and organizational commitment (Taylor & Shore, 1995) are related to the decision to retire. Some of this research suggests that retirement can be seen as a form of voluntary organizational withdrawal enacted by workers seeking to "avoid dissatisfying work situations" (Hanisch & Hulin, 1990, p. 60) and that it is similar to turnover (Hanisch & Hulin, 1990, 1991).

Although retirement can be seen as a type of organizational withdrawal it is at the same time something more than a decision to leave one's current employer. It may involve complete workforce exit or may involve some continued level of work activity (Hansson, DeKoekkoek, Neece, & Patterson, 1997). One definition which accounts for these various types of retirement is provided by Feldman (1994), who states that retirement represents a withdrawal "from an organiza- tional position or career path of considerable duration . . . taken with the intention of reduced psychological commitment to work thereafter" (p. 287). As such, retirement represents a withdrawal from a career as well as a particular work situation.

Models of career development typically include a career disengagement stage that culminates in career withdrawal and retirement (e.g., Levinson, 1986; Super, 1957); however, this late career stage is often not studied (Reilly & Orsak, 1991). In addition, few studies of retirement have incorporated career-related variables into their designs. This is unfortunate given the obvious relevance of these variables and their potential for furthering our understanding of the retirement decision-making process. The purpose of the present study is to extend Beehr's (1986) model by examining the impact of three career-related variables on the decision to retire and to demonstrate their ability to add to our understanding of retirement decision-making beyond that afforded by personal and work-related variables.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

A considerable amount of research has examined the relationship between personal characteristics and the decision to retire. Reviews of this literature suggest that two of the most consistent findings in the literature are that those who are in poor health and those who have greater financial resources are more likely to retire and to retire early (Beehr, 1986; Talaga & Beehr, 1989; Ruhm, 1989). Gender and marital status have also demonstrated consistent relationships with retirement decisions (Beehr, 1986; Talaga & Beehr, 1989; Feldman, 1994). For instance, Talaga and Beehr (1995) found that women were less likely to retire than men. For marital status, Gustman and Steinmeier (1984) reported that those who are unmarried are more likely to be retired.

In addition to these, another personal variable that has shown a consistent relationship with retirement decisions is attitudes toward retirement. Research on this variable suggests that those with more positive attitudes toward retirement are more likely to retire (Daniels & Daniels, 1991; Feldman, 1994; Palmore, George, & Fillenbaum, 1982). Attitudes toward retirement is considered a personal characteristic rather than a work- or career-related variable in this study

CAREER-RELATED VARIABLES AND RETIREMENT 223

because the target of the attitude is neither a person's current workplace nor their career. Because of the consistent relationships that have been found for each of these personal characteristics, they were statistically controlled in the present study.

Age is another personal characteristic that has demonstrated a strong relation- ship with retirement decisions (Taylor & Shore, 1995). It has also been linked to affective reactions to work such as job satisfaction. Research on this topic suggests that job satisfaction tends to vary with age. For instance, Morrow and McElroy (1987) found that older workers reported higher levels of job satisfac- tion than younger workers. However, Ekerdt and DeViney (1993) found that workers come to view their jobs as less satisfying as they approached their planned retirement age. Similarly, affective reactions to one's career may also vary with age. Thus, the question arises whether age might interact with affective reactions to work and career in the prediction of planned retirement age. To investigate this question, the two-way interactions between age and job satisfac- tion and age and career commitment were examined to determine if age influ- enced the relationship between these attitudes and planned retirement age.

WORK-RELATED VARIABLES

Although few studies of retirement have examined the relationship between work-related variables and retirement decisions, the evidence to date would seem to suggest that work-related variables do influence retirement decisions (Taylor & Shore, 1995). However, research regarding specific variables has been some- what mixed. For instance, some studies have noted that job satisfaction did not demonstrate a significant relationship with retirement decisions (Schmitt & McCune, 1981), while other studies reported similar variables (e.g., satisfaction with work) did demonstrate a relationship to retirement decisions (Hanisch & Hulin, 1991). In a more recent study, Taylor and Shore (1995) reported that while job satisfaction and organizational commitment both had significant bivariate relationships with planned retirement age, only organizational commitment dis- played a significant relationship after the effects of age and other personal characteristics were partialed out. Still, some models of retirement suggest that negative affective reactions to the work environment may lead workers to withdraw from that environment through retirement (Hanisch & Hulin, 1990, 1991). Based on this rationale, the albeit mixed pattern of results reported in the literature, and because job satisfaction is more directly linked to a person's job rather than career, job satisfaction was included in the present study as a control variable.

CAREER-RELATED VARIABLES

Career Commitment

In their model of career change, Rhodes and Doering (1983) suggested that workers' affective reactions to their careers influence their desire to remain in or

224 GARY A. ADAMS

withdraw from those careers. One such affective reaction is career commitment. Career commitment has been described as "one's attitude toward one's vocation, including profession" (Blau, 1985, p. 259) and it includes elements of career identity and resilience (Blau, 1989). A growing body of empirical research within the vocational-related literature supports the notion that career commitment is reliably related to one's intentions to leave one's career (Aryee, Chay, & Chew, 1994; Blau, 1989). Because retirement involves a withdrawal from one's career, this same effect was expected for retirement. Some evidence for this assertion comes from a study by Erdner and Guy (1990), who found in a sample of female school teachers that those participants who more strongly identified with their careers as teachers reported lower attitudes toward retirement and higher ex- pected retirement ages. Therefore, the first hypothesis was that career commit- ment would be positively related to planned retirement age after controlling for personal and work-related variables.

Career Growth Opportunity.

Within the literature on employee turnover it has been suggested that individ- uals will remain in jobs that provide them with a means to achieve their career goals even if they are dissatisfied with those jobs (Mobley, Griffeth, Hand, & Meglino, 1979). In one study that examined this issue, Bedeian, Kemery, and Pizzolatto (1991) found that perceived career growth opportunities had a nega- tive relationship with turnover intentions, but that this relationship was moder- ated by career commitment. That is, employees who reported greater commit- ment to their careers and higher opportunities for career growth in their current jobs also reported lower intention to turnover than other workers. Generally, this same set of relationships was expected for retirement. More specifically, the second hypothesis was that career commitment would moderate the relationship between career growth opportunities and planned retirement age such that those workers who reported higher levels of career commitment and higher career growth opportunity would also report higher planned retirement ages than others and that this relationship would be obtained after controlling for personal and work-related variables.

Occupational Goal Attainment

In his review of the retirement literature, Beehr (1986) suggested that occu- pational goal attainment may be related to workers' decisions to retire. However, noting a lack of research, he did not specify the direction of the relationship but offered two possible alternatives, namely, that occupational goal attainment may demonstrate a positive relationship to retirement decisions because having at- tained one's occupational goals may remove much of the "achievement-related reason" for continuing to work. He also suggested that there might be a negative relationship between occupational goal attainment and retirement decisions be- cause failure to achieve one's goals may lead one to "give up and retire" (Beehr, 1986, p. 49). As yet, there have been no empirical studies that favor one of these

CAREER-RELATED VARIABLES AND RETIREMENT 225

explanations over the other. Some guidance regarding these two alternatives comes from the career commitment literature, where researchers have suggested that the degree to which an individual persists in hislher attempts to achieve his or her occupational goals will depend on the person's level of career commitment (Colarelli & Bishop, 1990). Based on this logic, the third hypothesis was that career commitment would interact with occupational goal attainment such that those workers who report lower occupational goal attainment but also report higher career commitment would be more likely to persist in achieving those goals. Therefore, they would report higher planned retirement ages than other workers and that this relationship would be obtained after controlling for per- sonal and work-related variables.

METHOD

Sample

As part of a larger study (Adams, 1995), 1200 questionnaires were randomly distributed through intercampus mail to the nonfaculty employees of two medium-sized, state-sponsored universities in the midwestern United States. Of these, 428 (36%) were returned. Both organizations had similar pension plans and neither had a mandatory retirement age nor offered early retirement incen- tives in the recent past. From this larger sample, a subsample of all participants 45 years of age and older was drawn based on a two-part rationale. First, age 45 generally constitutes the beginning of the maintenance stage of one's career (Morrow & McElroy, 1987). Second, retirement may be less salient at younger ages, making retirement plans less accurate. The subsample consisted of 192 (60 men and 132 women) adults worlung in clerical positions (41%), technical/ professional positions (31%), managerial/supervisory positions (16%), and other positions (12%). The participants ranged in age from 45 to 67 (mean = 51.69, SD = 4.90) and 143 (75%) identified themselves as married or living as married.

Measures

All participants voluntarily completed a questionnaire. The accompanying cover letter indicated that the purpose of the questionnaire was to examine people's attitudes toward their jobs and the companies where they worked. Unless otherwise indicated, all items were rated on a seven-point rating scale ranging from 1 (disagree strongly) to 7 (agree strongly) and were scored such that a higher score indicated higher standing on the measure.

Career-related variables. Career commitment was measured using five items from the career commitment measure developed by Blau (1985). A sample item from this scale is "If I had all the money I needed I would still work in this career field." Career growth opportunity was measured using two items adapted from Bedeian, Kemery, and Pizzolatto's (1991) expected utility of present job measure and two additional items developed for this study. The two items from Bedeian et al. were "My present job is relevant to the growth and development of my

226 GARY A. ADAMS

career" and "I feel my present job will help me reach my career goals." The remaining two items were "I can achieve my career goals in this organization" and "Working for this organization will help my career." Occupational goal attainment was measured using three items. They were "I have reached the career goals I set for myself," "Thinking back over my career, I can say that I have achieved all that I had hoped for when I first entered the workforce," and "I have accomplished all that I have wanted to accomplish in my working life" (Talaga & Beehr, 1995).

Work-related variables. Job satisfaction was measured using three items from Hackman and Oldham's (1975) general satisfaction measure. Sample items from this measure are "Generally speaking, I am very satisfied with my job" and "I am generally satisfied with the kind of work I do on my job."

Personal characteristics. The personal characteristics included measures of health, financial resources, and attitude toward retirement and demographics, including age, gender, marital status, and occupation. The health measure used in this study was a four-item index of health satisfaction. The first item was "Overall, I am very satisfied with my health" (Krause, 1991). The second item was "My health is better than most people my age" (Hatch, 1992). The third item was "My health limits my work" (Ekerdt & DeViney, 1993). The final item was "Generally speaking, my health is very good." Financial resources were mea- sured in two ways, current income and satisfaction with expected retirement income. Income was measured by a single item that asked participants "What is your annual income from your present job?"e response scale for this item ranged from 1 ($0 to $10,000) to 10 ($90,000 or more). Satisfaction with expected retirement income was measured with five items, three of which were adapted from Keith (1993). A sample item from this scale is "I am satisfied with what my family income will be when I retire." The remaining two items were "I can financially afford to retire" and "One reason I continue to work is because I can't afford to retire." Attitude toward retirement was measured with four items adapted from Anson, Antonovsky, Sagy, and Adler's (1989) Gains and Losses in Retirement measure. Sample items from this scale are "If I were to retire, I would be bored" and "If I were to retire, I would be more isolated from people."

Criterion. The criterion measure in this study, planned retirement age, was measured by a question that asked, "At what age do you expect to retire?" Responses to this item ranged from 49 to 75, with a mean response of 61.52 (SO = 3.97).

Analyses

Means, standard deviations, intercorrelations, and, when appropriate, internal . consistency reliability estimates were computed for the measures. To test the three hypotheses, a hierarchical moderated multiple regression was computed. In this procedure, age and the other personal characteristics were entered on the first step, work-related variables were entered on the second step, and the career- related variables entered on the third step. Terms representing the hypothesized

CAREER-RELATED VAFUABLES AND RETIREMENT 227

interactions were entered on the final step (Cohen & Cohen, 1983). This order of entry allowed the relationships between the work-related variables and planned retirement age to be examined after statistically controlling for personal charac- teristics, and the relationships between the career-related variables and planned retirement age to be examined after statistically controlling for both personal characteristics and work-related variables. Entering the interaction terms on the final step allowed their relationships to planned retirement age to be examined after the direct effects of the variables comprising the interaction terms (i.e., age) were examined. All analyses were conducted using listwise deletion of missing data which resulted in a final sample size of 172 participants.

RESULTS

Means, standard deviations, intercorrelations, and coefficient alphas are pre- sented in Table 1. As can be seen, each of the measures containing multiple items had an acceptable level of internal consistency, with all of the coefficient alphas above .70. Table 2 presents the results of the regression analysis.

Career-Related Variables

As can be seen in Table 1, of the three career-related variables, only occupa- tional goal attainment had a significant correlation with planned retirement age, providing some support for the potential relevance of career-related variables to retirement decision-making. Further, the multiple regression analysis supports the notion that the career-related variables account for a significant portion of the variance in planned retirement age beyond that accounted for by the work-related and personal characteristics (see Table 2). As a set, the direct effects for the career-related predictors accounted for an additional 9% of the variance in planned retirement age beyond that accounted for by the work-related and personal characteristics (Step 3; AR2 = .09, p < .01). On this step, both career commitment and occupational goal attainment were significant predictors of planned retirement age. However, when the terms representing the two hypoth- esized two-way interactions and the two exploratory interactions were entered as a set, this set accounted for little additional variance in planned retirement age (Step 4; AR2 = .01, ns).

The first hypothesis was that career commitment would be positively related to planned retirement age. This hypothesis was supported (Step 3; P = .18, p < .05). Career commitment was also hypothesized to influence the relationship between career growth opportunity and planned retirement age such that those workers who report higher levels of career commitment and higher career growth opportunities would also report higher planned retirement ages than other work- ers. Contrary to this hypothesis, career commitment did not moderate the rela- tionship between career growth opportunities and planned retirement age (Step 4; p = .15, ns). The third hypothesis was that career commitment would interact with occupational goal attainment such that those workers who reported lower occupational goal attainment but also reported higher career commitment would

228 GARY A. ADAMS

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report higher planned retirement ages than other workers. This hypothesis was not supported (Step 4; P = .09, ns). Additionally, the two exploratory analyses investigating the potential age X job satisfaction and age X career commitment interactions were nonsignificant (Step 4; ps = .21 and .21, ns, respectively).

Work-Related Variable

Job satisfaction was included in the analysis primarily as a control variable so a specific hypothesis regarding it was not stated. Given the mixed results of past research, however, the analyses using job satisfaction warrants attention. It had a nonsignificant bivariate correlation (Table 1) and failed to account for variance in planned retirement age after personal variables were controlled (Table 2). This finding is consistent with a growing body of literature that suggests global measures of job satisfaction may not be predictive of retirement decisions (e.g., Taylor & Shore, 1995).

Personal Characteristics

Once again, although the personal characteristics were included primarily as control variables so specific hypotheses for them were not stated, it is noteworthy that when these variables were entered as a set in the first step of the regression, they accounted for 14% of the variance in planned retirement age. Age and retirement income satisfaction each had a significant relationship with planned retirement age (Table 2). Within this age-restricted sample, older workers re- ported later planned retirement ages. Also, those participants who reported higher retirement income satisfaction reported lower planned retirement ages. Annual income, gender, marital status, health, and attitudes toward retirement were not significant predictors of planned retirement age.

DISCUSSION

This study investigated the influence of three career-related variables on planned retirement age. The results suggest that career-related variables influence the retirement decision-making process and contribute to our understanding of this process relative to a broader theoretical framework that includes personal and work-related variables. They therefore lend additional empirical support for Beehr's (1986) model of retirement decision-making but also extend it to include career-related variables.

Among the career-related variables, the results suggest that career commitment and occupational goal attainment may play a central role in influencing planned retirement age. Both of these variables had a significant relationship to planned retirement age after personal and work-related variables were controlled. These findings support the idea that retirement be viewed as a form of career with- drawal. With regard to career commitment, the positive relationship it demon- strated with planned retirement age suggests that those who are more committed to their careers are likely to retire later than their less committed counterparts. With regard to occupational goal attainment, the negative relationship it dem-

CAREER-RELATED VARIABLES AND RETREMENT 23 1

onstrated with planned retirement age supports the idea that those who believe they have attained their occupational goals may be more likely to say they will retire early because they have accomplished all that they set out to accomplish in their careers.

Career commitment did not moderate the relationships between career growth opportunity and retirement intentions, nor did it moderate the relationship be- tween occupational goal attainment and retirement intentions. Career cornmit- ment has been shown to moderate the relationship between career growth opportunities and turnover (Bedeian, Kemery, & Pizzolatto, 1991). One reason that career commitment may not influence the relationship between career growth opportunities and retirement decisions is due to the fact that retirement usually comes later in one's work life than turnover. At later stages in the work life career growth opportunities may become less important than they had been at earlier stages (Super, 1957) or they may not be as readily available. Given these alternative explanations future research on this issue is needed. Such research could begin by examining the extent to which career growth opportu- nities are actually desired by older workers relative to the extent to which they are available to older workers.

The career-related variables were examined relative to a number of personal and work-related variables. The personal characteristics in this study accounted for the largest portion of variance in retirement intentions. Most notably, age and retirement income satisfaction demonstrated significant relationships to planned retirement age. This is not surprising given the strong support for the influence of these variables on retirement decisions provided by past research (Beehr, 1986; Talaga & Beehr, 1989). Age did not interact with job satisfaction or career commitment. Although annual income was not related to retirement decisions, the finding for retirement income satisfaction still supports the notion that finances influence retirement. Much research suggests that pension eligibility and amount influence retirement decisions (Feldman, 1994; Talaga & Beehr, 1989). The measure of retirement income satisfaction used in the present study required the participants to evaluate their expected retirement income. Certainly, one component of this income is the pension. The workers in this sample were covered by pension plans that use a formula to establish benefit levels that reflect both length of service and highest annual income averaged over several years, rather than relying on current annual income. Other personal variables (i.e., health, gender, and marital status) did not relate to planned retirement age.

The finding that some of the personal variables were not strongly related to retirement decisions is not surprising and in some cases may be due to how these variables were measured. Feldman (1994) has suggested that health might not be linked to retirement decisions unless the health condition was a major illness1 impairment that limited a person's ability to work. The health measure used in the present study reflected perceived satisfaction with one's health and was not sensitive to the distinction between minor and major illnesses.

The finding for gender may be the result of this variable's relationships with

23 2 GARY A. ADAMS

still other variables. For instance, some research suggests that the current group of older people in the workforce may hold traditional gender role attitudes (Talaga & Beehr, 1995) and that these gender role attitudes may influence retirement decisions rather than gender per se. The finding for marital status may also be the result of its relationship with other variables. In his review, Feldman (1994) points out that being married may be related to retirement decisions because of the availability of companionship from one's spouse. If this is accurate, it is the availability of companionship that influences retirement deci- sions rather than just marital status. Clearly, the relationships between gender and marital status, and retirement decisions are in need of additional research which focuses more directly on the mechanisms that link them to retirement decisions.

It is interesting to note that job satisfaction was not strongly related to retirement intentions. This finding is consistent with some past findings (e.g., Schrnitt & McCune, 1981) but not others (Hanisch & Hulin, 1991; Taylor & Shore, 1995). Given the discrepancies between the findings for work-related variables and retirement decisions across these studies, this would appear to be an important area for future research.

This study had three potential limitations. First, to limit the length of the questionnaire, abbreviated forms of some well established measures were used. This concern is at least partially alleviated by the fact that all measures displayed acceptable levels of internal consistency. Second, the cross-sectional and corre- lational nature of the data preclude making assertions regarding causality. This could be addressed by future research that employs longitudinal designs that focus on retirement as a process that occurs over time. Third, this study used planned retirement age as a surrogate for actual retirement decisions. Although past research has often used planned retirement age in this way (e.g., Taylor & Shore, 1995) and some research suggests that planned retirement age is reliably related to actual retirement decisions (Daniels & Daniels, 1991; Prothero & Beach, 1984), additional research using actual retirement decisions is still needed.

Overall, the results of this study have implications for both researchers and practitioners. For researchers the results provide an important link between two models of retirement decision-making. Finding that career-related variables influence retirement decisions relative to personal and work-related variables provides additional support for Beehr's (1986) model but also extends it by providing empirical support to the contention by Feldman (1994) that retirement be viewed as a form of career withdrawal. However, there is still a need to identify the underlying psychological mechanisms that link these predictors to retirement decisions. In his review, Feldman (1994) uses image theory to explain the link between individual differences and retirement decision-making. This theory suggests that the primary influences on retirement decisions are an individual's need to maintain a stable self image and to overcome approach- avoidance conflict surrounding retirement. Alternatively, Taylor and Cook (1995) suggest role theory may be used to relate predictors to retirement

CAREER-RELATED VARIABLES AND RETIREMENT 233

decision-making. This theory allows for multiple commitments to both social (i.e., family, leisure, etc.) and work (i.e. career, organization, etc.) roles and specifies role attachment as the mechanism that links these variables to retire- '

ment decisions. Future research could test the various propositions of these theories. This research could begin by mapping out the various roles that are critical to the self image of older adults. This could be followed by research to examine how the potential loss of some roles (i.e., work) and gain of others (i.e., retirement) influence retirement decision-making.

For practitioners and counselors, the results of this study can be used to better predict the retirement decisions of older workers. They may also be used when developing practical programs designed to influence those decisions. For in- stance, an organization wishing to retain older workers who might otherwise retire could implement career planning programs aimed at building career com- mitment and establishing new occupational goals. Careerlvocational counselors working with those older workers who have high levels of career commitment but may be facing retirement due to health or organizational downsizing could assist workers in finding new settings in which they can maintain their profes- sional identification and continue to pursue their occupational goals.

This study tested the proposition that retirement is a form of career withdrawal and that as such it is influenced by career-related variables. The results indicated that career-related variables accounted for significant variance in planned retire- ment age after personal and work-related variables were held constant. More specifically, career commitment had a positive relationship and occupational goal attainment had a negative relationship with planned retirement age. These find- ings support the idea that retirement is a form of career withdrawal and expand the number of variables that can be used in its prediction. This construct definition and predictor identification is useful for researchers, practitioners, and counselors. They are also important, albeit initial, steps in the development of a true theory of retirement decision-making.

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Received: January 12, 1998