Older employees work motivation/expectations and their career progression patterns

With the exception of the recent Wilson & Parry (2013) career progression study on older, managerial level employees aged 50 and above specifically in the UK’s financial sector, older employees work motivation/expectations and their career progression patterns have not been studied simultaneously. Moreover, motivation to work is driven by a range of both positive and negative factors. However, the more specific concept of career motivation (London, 1983) differs from work motivation in including a variety of career-related behaviours associated with an individual’s personality, needs and interests. Researchers have noted that career perceptions often lead to perceived presence of motivating job characteristics and the importance to individuals of work and career (see for example Loretto & White, 2006; Noe, Noe & Bachhuber, 1990). However, what remains open for further investigation is the connection between London’s (1990) career motivation theory; general motivation as well as the idea of career progression i.e. what older employees expect from their work. We aim to address this gap in the proposed research by asking the following questions aimed at managerial and non-managerial older employees (both male and female):

1) What are the work-related motivation factors/issues across different categories of older workers (i.e. workers approaching retirement, workers working post-retirement in their current role as well as workers taking up a new career post- retirement)?
2) What are their key motivational drivers for career progression?
3) To what extent do older employees’ perceptions of these motivational drivers change from their earlier career stages?
4) Is there is a mismatch between older employees’ individual expectations versus organizational reality?