Who benefits from more tasks? Older versus younger workers

Purpose – Although a substantial body of research has examined the effects of job characteristics on job attitudes, there is a paucity of work on individual difference moderators of these relationships. Based in selective optimization with compensation theory and socio-emotional selectivity theory, the purpose of this paper is to show that age moderated the relationship between task variety and two key job attitudes, job satisfaction and engagement. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected through self-report questionnaires (n=152), using a time-lagged design with two waves (two to three weeks between T 1 and T 2). Findings – The authors found that task variety had a stronger relationship with job satisfaction and work engagement for younger workers compared to older workers. Research limitations/implications – Although there was good age variance in the sample, it had fewer late-career workers and more workers who are in their early and mid-career. Practical implications – To have workers of all...