Exploring the role of uncertainty regulation strategies to demystify the link between person–environment misfit and late-career outcomes

Abstract

Abstract Amidst global workforce aging and uncertain times, retirement systems advocate for the extension of working lives to alleviate labor shortages; simultaneously, older workers may want to or need to work longer. Uncertainty in one’s work ability resulting from person–environment (P–E) misfit may lead to working lives being cut short prematurely unless the uncertainty can be effectively regulated. By extending the uncertainty regulation model to the late-career development context, our study aimed to uncover in what way utilizing uncertainty regulation—opening and closing strategies—may shape late-career outcomes: retirement, bridge employment, and senior entrepreneurship intentions; and to understand how and through which mechanisms late-career outcomes were related to P–E misfit. We tested our preregistered hypotheses using three-wave data from 902 older workers. Results of structural equation modeling showed that P–E misfit predicted uncertainty in work ability, which in turn, predicted the use of opening strategies, but not closing strategies. Opening strategies were negatively linked to retirement intentions and positively linked to bridge employment and senior entrepreneurship intentions. Closing strategies were negatively linked to bridge employment and senior entrepreneurship intentions. Our findings further demonstrated that opening strategies mediated the relationship between uncertainty in work ability resulting from P–E misfit and late-career outcomes. Together, these findings highlight that opening strategies benefit late-career development as they defer retirement, and encourage bridge employment and senior entrepreneurship, thereby extending working lives; while closing strategies hinder bridge employment and senior entrepreneurship, thereby impeding these routes to extend working lives.