Enabling older employees' well-being through HR attributions: the moderating role of management context

Abstract

Fusing the extant literature on successful aging at work (SAW) and HR attributions, we examined the confluence of employee-oriented internal HR attributions and unit-level employee management context on burnout for employees across the age spectrum. Time-lagged, multi-level survey data were collected from a sample of 1762 blue-collar employees from 178 work units at the manufacturing plants of a large firm operating in the Turkish energy industry, which is characterized as a high-risk safety environment. A cross-level moderated mediation model was tested using multi-level structural equation modeling (MSEM). Results supported study hypotheses such that the negative association between age and burnout was mediated by employee-oriented positive HR attributions, and this indirect association was moderated by unit-level perceptions of the employee management context. Development-oriented contexts that emphasized personal development/growth-indicated by the degree of emphasis on innovation strategy, safety training, and active unit safety leadership-weakened the negative indirect (i.e., buffering) effect of age on burnout via less positive HR attributions. Conversely, a maintenance-oriented context that emphasized maintaining the status quo-indicated by passive unit safety leadership-strengthened said effect through more positive HR attributions. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings for fostering employee well-being across the age spectrum are discussed.