Login (DCU Staff Only)
Login (DCU Staff Only)

DORAS | DCU Research Repository

Explore open access research and scholarly works from DCU

Advanced Search

Age and career resilience from the perspective of life course theory: A multi-level study across 28 countries

Bosak, Janine et al. orcid logoORCID: 0000-0001-5701-6538 (2025) Age and career resilience from the perspective of life course theory: A multi-level study across 28 countries. Human Resource Management Journal, 35 (4). pp. 879-893. ISSN 1748-8583

Abstract
Career resilience is critical to the world's aging workforce, aiding older workers in adapting to the ever-evolving nature of work. While ageist stereotypes often depict older workers as less resilient when faced with workplace changes, existing research studies offer conflicting evidence on whether older age hinders or improves career resilience. In response to this conflicting evidence, the present study employs multi-level data from 6772 employees in 28 countries to examine the age-career resilience relationships and underlying mechanisms, hence advancing our understanding of career resilience across the life course. By integrating macro-contextual factors such as the unemployment rate and the culture of education with individual-level mechanisms such as positive career meaning and career optimism, we provide a comprehensive model explaining how career resilience varies across age groups. Grounded in life course theory, our findings resolve prior inconsistencies in resilience research, contribute to bridging the micro-macro gap in HRM literature, and challenge existing age-based stereotypes.
Metadata
Item Type:Article (Published)
Refereed:Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords:Age, life course theory, career resilience, positive career meaning, career optimism, country-level context
Subjects:Business > Employee motivation
Business > Personnel management
Business > Employee attitudes
Business > Workplace stress
DCU Faculties and Centres:DCU Faculties and Schools > DCU Business School
Publisher:Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Official URL:https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1...
Copyright Information:Authors
ID Code:31763
Deposited On:04 Nov 2025 12:04 by Gordon Kennedy . Last Modified 04 Nov 2025 12:04
Documents

Full text available as:

[thumbnail of Gostautaite et al_2025_HRMJ_Age and Career Resilience across countries.pdf]
Preview
PDF - Requires a PDF viewer such as GSview, Xpdf or Adobe Acrobat Reader
Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0
711kB
Metrics

Altmetric Badge

Dimensions Badge

Downloads

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

Archive Staff Only: edit this record