A New Perspective to Measuring Employee Growth: Developing a Successful Aging at Work Scale

Abstract

The aging of the world’s population has become a grand societal challenge, which requires an urgent response from researchers, professionals, and the wider society. One way to respond to this challenge is by supporting individuals in sustaining longer and healthier working lives, that is, age successfully. Although the advantages of promoting and enabling successful aging at work have been widely acknowledged, no single instrument for measuring this construct has been published so far. We develop and test in three consecutive samples a two-dimensional successful aging at work scale. This novel instrument is rooted conceptually in the most recent theoretical developments and is applicable to a variety of work settings and groups of workers. It can be used by both employees and employers for the purposes of individual and organizational development. We also propose directions for future research.