The design and implementation of age-related HR practices across firms in institutional contexts: evidence from Thailand
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JABS-04-2020-0169 |
| Published date | 19 May 2021 |
| Date | 19 May 2021 |
| Pages | 1-24 |
| Subject Matter | Strategy,International business |
| Author | Chaturong Napathorn |
The design and implementation of
age-related HR practices across firms
in institutional contexts: evidence
from Thailand
Chaturong Napathorn
Abstract
Purpose –This paper aims to examine the design and implementation of age-related human resource
(HR) practices across organizations located in the institutional contexts of the under-researched
emergingmarket economy of Thailand.
Design/methodology/approach –A cross-case analysis of five organizations is conducted across
industries. The empirical evidence in this paper draws on semistructuredinterviews and focus groups
with older workers of each organization, semistructured interviews with top managers and/or HR
managers of each organization,field visits to each organization located in Bangkokand other provinces
in Thailandand a review of archival documents and Web-based resources.
Findings –This paper proposes that firms design and implement various age-related HR practices,
including the extensionof the retirement age, financial planning facilitation,the bundling of maintenance
and the bundling of utilization, to ensure that older workers in their firms maintain their current level of
functioningto cope with the problem of skill shortage in the Thai labor market,have sufficient savings after
retirement to respond to the ‘‘productivist informal security’’welfare state regime and return to previous
levelsof functioningafter facing losses in their careers.
Research limitations/implications –Due to the fact that thisresearch is based on case studies of age-
relatedHR practices in five firms across industriesin Thailand, the findings maynot be generalizable to all
other firms acrosscountries. Rather, the aim of this paper is to enrich the discussion regardingthe design
and implementation of age-related HR practices in organizations. Another limitation of this research is
that it does not include firms locatedin several industries, such as the financial services industry and the
education industry. Future research may explore age-related HR practices in organizations located in
these industries.Moreover, quantitative studies usinglarge samples of firms across industries might also
be useful for fostering an in-depth understanding of the design and implementation of age-related HR
practicesin organizations.
Practical implications –This paper provides practical implications for top managers and/or HR
managers of firms in Thailand and other emerging market economies. That said, these top managers
and/or HR managerscan implement age-related HR practicesto respond to the problem of skill shortage
in the labor market, ensure that older workers have sufficient savings after retirement and help older
workers return to previous levels of functioning after facing deterioration in health conditions and/or
lossesin their careers.
Social implications –This paper providespolicy implications for the government and/or relevantpublic
agencies of Thailand and other emerging market economies that still face a severe skill shortage
problem. Older workerswho possess tacit knowledge and valuable experienceand are still healthy can
be considered excellent alternates for firms to help alleviate the skill shortage problem in the labor
market. However, firms should implement age-related HR practices to retain this group of employees
overtime.
Originality/value –This paper contributes to the literature on comparative institutionalism and human
resource management,specifically regarding age-related HR practices,in the following ways. First, this
paper examines how firmsdesign and implement age-related HR practices to respondto the country’s
Chaturong Napathorn is
based at the Faculty of
Commerce and
Accountancy, Thammasat
Business School,
Thammasat University,
Bangkok, Thailand.
Received 30 April 2020
Revised 2 September 2020
15 December 2020
Accepted 18 February 2021
This research was financially
supported by Thailand
Research Fund and
Thammasat University
(MRG6180146).
DOI 10.1108/JABS-04-2020-0169 VOL. 16 NO. 1 2022, pp. 1-24, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1558-7894 jJOURNAL OF ASIA BUSINESS STUDIES jPAGE 1
macro-levelinstitutions. Additionally, in this paper,the author triangulates the findingsfrom older workers
with those from employersto ensure that actual HR practices perceived by olderworkers are in line with
HR practices perceived by top managersand/or HR managers. Moreover, the literature on age-related
HR practiceshas likely overlooked emerging market economies,including the under-researched country
of Thailand, because most studies in this area have focused on developed economies. Therefore, the
findings in this paper provide an in-depthanalysis of the design and implementation of age-related HR
practices across firms locatedin the emerging market economy of Thailand to respond to the national
institutionalcontext.
Keywords Older workers, Institutional context, Skill shortage, Cross-case analysis,
Age-related HR practices, Welfare state regime
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Increasingly, scholars are likely to believe that the implementation of age-related human
resource (HR) practices is important in fostering older workers’ employability and
motivation, thereby unlocking the fullest potential of these employees and retaining them
within organizations over time (Boehm et al.,2018;Loretto and White, 2006;Naegele and
Walker, 2011;Walker, 2005). Age-related HR practices here refer to HR practices for
managing older workers in organizations. That said, because older workers possess
characteristics that make them different from young employees in organizations, it is
possible that organizations should design and implement age-related HR practices that are
specifically intended to motivateand retain this group of employees.
Actually, older workers have become much more important in the current situation of
several developed and emerging market economies because the proportion of older
workers has increased acrossthese countries, while the birth rate has decreased. Thus, it is
crucial that organizations in these countries understand how to manage older workers to
lead to desirable work outcomes (Ng and Feldman, 2008;Truxillo and Fraccaroli, 2013).
However, prior studies on age-related HR practices have typicallybeen conducted through
surveys of top managers or HR managers regarding HR strategies and practices that
should be appropriate for older workers in organizations (e.g. Paul and Townsend, 1993)or
regarding the HR strategies and practices that play a crucial role in retaining older workers
in organizations over time (Remery et al., 2003). These prior studies have not paid sufficient
attention to how age-related HR practicesare designed and implemented to respond to the
institutional contexts, includinglabor markets and welfare state regimes, of each country. In
other words, previous research tends to ignore the role of macro-level institutions in the
design and implementation of age-related HR practices in organizations (Schroder et al.,
2009;Schroder et al.,2014;Boehm et al.,2013). It is possible that these macro-level
institutions, especially labor market and welfare state regimes, may lead to different types
and designs of age-related HR practices across national contexts (Napathorn, 2018a;Batt
et al.,2009
).
Moreover, few empirical studies have examined age-related HR practices that are
considered particularly beneficial for older workers in emerging market economies.
Emerging market economies are different from developed economies in several aspects
(Rienda et al., 2018), including the standard of living. The standard of living in developed
economies is definitely higher than that in emerging-market economies (Surbhi, 2015) and
this will, of course, influence the age-related HR practices considered beneficial for older
workers in emerging market economies, where the majority of aging people do not have
sufficient savings to support themselves after retirement. This issue is especially important
in countries that are becomingaging societies, such as Thailand (Apinunmahakul, 2016). In
fact, there is no specific retirement age for employees across firms in Thailand
(Paitoonpong, 2018). However, most firms specify the retirement age of their employees at
60 years, while the retirement age at some firms is 55years. Nevertheless, Thailand is
transitioning from an aging society to an aged society at a faster rate compared to other
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