Staffing practices and employee performance: the role of age
| Pages | 93-112 |
| Date | 01 April 2019 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EBHRM-01-2018-0007 |
| Published date | 01 April 2019 |
| Author | Nikolaos Pahos,Eleanna Galanaki |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM |
Staffing practices and employee
performance: the role of age
Nikolaos Pahos and Eleanna Galanaki
Department of Marketing and Communication,
Athens University of Economics and Business, Athens, Greece
Abstract
Purpose –Staffing is a tool that employers use to decrease information asymmetry when hiring employees.
However, how staffing effectiveness evolves according to employee demographic characteristicshas not been
thoroughly elucidated to date. The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a model linking staffing
practices, age and employee performance.
Design/methodology/approach –Usinga stratified sampleof 1,254 employees,the authors hypothesize: the
maineffects of staffing practiceson employeeperformance,the main effects of age on employeeperformanceand
the moderating effects of ageon the relationship between staffing practices and employee performance.
Findings –The results show significant positive effects of staffing and age on employee performance and a
negative moderating effect of age on the abovementioned relationship.
Practical implications –The organizations are urged to invest in recruitment and selection practices and
implement focused practices that appeal to an aging workforce.
Originality/value –The paper is the first to explore the topic of aging workforce and the efficiency of
staffing practices on employee performance in the context of the Greek labor force. The authors discuss the
results, theoretical contributions, practical implications and future research directions in light of the challenge
of managing an aging workforce.
Keywords Aging, Information asymmetry, Human resource management (general),
Recruitment and retention, Work performance and productivity, Employee selection
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The composition of the global workforce has been changing over the last century (Galanaki
and Papalexandris, 2017), and age plays a crucial role in this change. Given that never
before in human history has such a large portion of our planet’s population been elderly,
population aging is a significant feature of global demography. In a competitive
environment that changes constantly and requires creativity, innovation and adaptability,
mature employees’performance, experience and potential for further learning (Paloniemi,
2006) will become valuable assets, especially for companies in developed countries. It is clear
that this shift in demographics will require new ways of thinking by employers, who will
need to update their management practices regarding an aging workforce.
However, awareness on this issue by the management community seems to lag behind in
comparison to issues such as generations in the workforce or talent management. Indicative of
this are the ratios of internet search results (5,800,000 for “generations workforce,”8,240,000 for
“talent management,”as opposed to 800,000 for “ageing workforce management”–March 27,
2018). In Greece, in particular, the HRM professional press (“HR Professional”and
“HR Newsletter”) has offered around 80 articles and reviews on the millenial generation’s
entrance in the workplace, compared to around 15 articles on the aging workforce.
Further, according to the latest CRANET research network (www.cranet.org) data from Greece,
Evidence-based HRM: a Global
Forum for Empirical Scholarship
Vol. 7 No. 1, 2019
pp. 93-112
© Emerald PublishingLimited
2049-3983
DOI 10.1108/EBHRM-01-2018-0007
Received 25 January 2018
Revised 7 May 2018
Accepted 8 May 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2049-3983.htm
The study was financed by: a scholarship for doctoral studies funded by the General Secretariat for
Research and Technology (GSRT) and the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (HFRI)
and a research funding grant from the Athens University of Economics and Business for junior
academics. The authors would like to thank Professor Ioannis Nikolaou for his insightful comments as
critical reader of the manuscript.
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Staffing
practices and
employee
performance
only 4.4 percent of the participating organizations provide action programs for older employees,
as opposed to 26.5 percent of organizations that provide action programs for younger
employees (these ratios are 13.6 percent and 31 percent accordingly at the international data set
with 6,801 organizations from 35 countries around the world: 2015 –own calculations).
Human resource management (HRM) is crucial for increasing organizational performance
(Takeuchi et al., 2007; Huselid, 1995)and HRM functions (training anddevelopment, employee
participation, appraisal, rewards, status and security, staffing) have been linked to
organizational performance outcomes in several ways (Datta et al., 2005), as have employee
skills, motivation, commitment, work quality, performance and opportunities to contribute
(Lepak et al., 2006; Liao et al., 2009).
From all HRM functions, we focus exclusively on employee staffing. Staffing is probably
the single most important HRM practice because “if you have an inadequate personnel, all
the trainings, incentives and communications in the world will not complete their makeover”
(Becker et al., 2001, p. 99). In this paper, we will attempt to improve our understanding of
the influence that staffing processes have on employee performance. We will also provide
organizations with practical directions for formulating hiring practices that will enhance the
performance of the aging workforce.
Literature review
Aging
What appearsto be common among the different approaches regardingthe mature workforce
is the difficultyof age groupings, given thelack of a universally acceptedcriterion concerning
the definition of the “old employee”(Sterns and Miklos, 1995). A generally accepted cut-off
point between young and older employees is not set, given thatwhat is considered old varies
widely across different countries, cultures, industries and industrial sectors (Taylor, 2006); in
certain cases, the definition is not as linked to chronological age as it once was.
Zepelin et al. (1987) observed that those between ages 18 and 35 were considered young,
those between 35 and 60 were considered middle-aged and those between 65 and 80 were
considered old. In more recent studies, the age of the mature/late career/aging employees
varies from 40 to 45 years (McGregor and Gray, 2001; Warr, 1994) to 50 years and over
(Ekerdt et al., 1996), whereas the age of 45 years is often used to compare older employees to
younger or middle-aged workers (Stroh and Greller, 1995). According to OECD (2006), older
employees are in the second half of their working life, have not yet reached retirement age
and are still employable.
Employee performance
Employee performance is one of the most important variables in the study of HRM and
organizationalbehavior. Performanceis a multidimensional constructthat is difficult to define
with a universally acceptable definition (Austin and Villanova, 1992; Campbell et al., 1993).
According to McConnell (2003), employee or job performance is the achievement and
contributionof an individual in practicaland quantifiable terms.Viswesvaran and Ones (2000)
provided an alternative definition of employee performance stating that it includes “scalable
actions, behaviorand outcomes that employees engage in or bring about that are linked with
and contribute to organizational goals.”
Although employees perform their actions according to the requirements of the job
(Borman and Motowidlo, 1997), their performance can be observed and measured in terms
of skills and abilities with less emphasis on organizational outcomes (Campbell et al., 1993).
Sarmiento et al. (2007) argued that employee performance is often the result of at least two
aspects: the abilities and skills (natural or acquired) that an employee possesses, and his/her
motivation to use them to perform a job better. Therefore, employee performance can be
viewed under the lens of the abilities-motivation-opportunities (AMO) theory. According to
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