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Job seekers’ search intensity and wage flexibility: does age matter?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 October 2013

AN DE COEN ,
ANNELEEN FORRIER ,
NELE DE CUYPER  and
LUC SELS
AN DE COEN*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Economics and Business, KU Leuven, Belgium.
ANNELEEN FORRIER
Affiliation:
Faculty of Economics and Business, KU Leuven, Belgium.
NELE DE CUYPER
Affiliation:
Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium.
LUC SELS
Affiliation:
Faculty of Economics and Business, KU Leuven, Belgium.
*
Address for correspondence: An De Coen, Faculty of Economics and Business, KU Leuven, Naamsestraat 69, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. E-mail: an.decoen@kuleuven.be
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Abstract

Although studies on job search implicitly presume that relationships between antecedents and indicators of job search are similar for job seekers from different ages, few studies have tested this assumption even though lifespan theories state that individual motives and behaviour significantly change as people age. From this theoretical perspective, we examine how age moderates the relationships between re-employment efficacy, employment commitment and financial hardship, on the one hand, and job search intensity and wage flexibility, on the other hand. Path analysis on a sample of 240 Belgian job seekers who were at the start of an outplacement programme showed that re-employment efficacy relates positively to job search intensity and wage flexibility for older job seekers, while we find negative relationships for younger job seekers. For employment commitment and financial hardship, we do not find any interaction effects with age. Employment commitment relates positively to search intensity, whereas financial hardship relates negatively to wage flexibility, irrespective of age. We discuss implications for theory, practice and future research.

Keywords

job search intensitywage flexibilityagere-employment efficacyemployment commitmentfinancial hardship
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 35 , Issue 2 , February 2015 , pp. 346 - 366
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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