With the demographic and workforce ageing, ageism has been reflected in the work context. Ageism can be defined as stereotypes, prejudice and/or age-based discrimination. It is a form of devaluation and non-inclusion of workers, which materialises in a decent work deficit. It affects workers and organisations. The present literature review aims to provide a comprehensive and accurate picture of empirical research on worker-related ageism. We searched the word ageism in the title or abstract of articles indexed in the EBSCOhost and Web of Science. Fifty-eight peer-reviewed articles were retrieved (March 2020). Some of these articles report more than one empirical study. Thirty-two articles include quantitative design studies, 20 qualitative design, three mixed methods, two experimental and three instrument development and/or validation. The focus of the studies is mostly about negative ageism on older workers. The main findings present several facets of ageism and show different experiences, whether implicit or explicit. Ageism acts in a plurality of aspects, such as obstacles in the hiring process, employability and performance evaluation of older workers. We found research gaps such as determinants and interventions aiming at ageism prevention and proposed corresponding future research.

Cross-cultural research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) dealing with specific stakeholder groups is fairly rare in the existing literature. The aim of this research is to investigate the level of recognition of CSR in companies by employees working in micro/small, medium-sized and large companies. The research is based on the survey conducted in Bulgaria, Russia and Serbia with the employees' attitudes obtained via a structured questionnaire. A similar socio-historical background of the three countries and different levels of accomplished socio-economic development at present is taken into account. A proposed ranking methodology was based on the multi-criteria decision analysis approach, observed through five studied dimensions: environmental, social, economic, stakeholder and voluntariness. The ranking was carried out using the integrated Entropy-PROMETHEE-GAIA method, where the Entropy method was used for determining the weights of the criteria, whereas PROMETHEE-GAIA was used for final ranking. The obtained results were analyzed from the multi-cultural point of view and show more significant differences in the attitudes of employees from different countries, rather than when the size of a company is taken into consideration.

Until recently, Zimbabwean insolvency law was unconcerned with rights of employees on insolvency of the employer. The new Insolvency Act points in a different direction. It guarantees limited rights of workers in their capacity as creditors and as employees. There is a convergence of insolvency law and labour law. These are legal disciplines with contradictory philosophies. This contribution analyses the rights of employees on insolvency in Zimbabwe. The review is informed by international best practices. The article establishes that Zimbabwe follows the “model two: bankruptcy preference approach”. It brings to the fore fundamental weaknesses inherent with this approach in the Zimbabwean context. The article argues that the protection of employees’ rights on insolvency can be enhanced if Zimbabwe follows the “pro-employee approach” and the “bankruptcy priority-guarantee fund approach”. It concludes by advocating for the alignment of the Insolvency Act with international best practices, the constitution and labour legislation.

Noncompete clauses (NCCs), or agreements by employees to not work for a competitor or start a competing business, have recently faced increased public scrutiny and criticism. This article provides a qualified defense of NCCs. I focus on the argument that NCCs should be banned because they unfairly restrict the options of employees. I argue that this argument fails because it neglects the economist Thomas Schelling’s insight that limiting exit options can be beneficial for a person. This employee-based defense of NCCs does not absolve all their uses, but it does give us a rough test for evaluating the permissibility of NCCs. With this test in hand, I turn to some of the more controversial uses of NCCs. For those who weigh heavily the interests of employees, the question is not whether NCCs, but when.

In Western countries, an increasing number of companies has difficulties with recruiting and retaining employees, along with growing employer responsibilities in the workplace. Therefore, companies’ interest in disability management programs has increased. This article examines employee perspectives of disability management and how it is related to job satisfaction, physical and mental health, workplace morale and sickness absence. Employees from seven Swiss companies (N=482), from the private and public sector, participated in either an online and paper-and-pencil survey for this present study. The survey asked employees to report their views of how disability management is related to job satisfaction, mental health, physical health, workplace morale and absenteeism. The Swiss employees participating in the study knew about disability management and related programs, which are implemented in their company. They valued them as moderately helpful for a variety of factors related to workplace wellbeing, and regarded the programs generally as high quality and wanted them to continue, because they contribute to job satisfaction, mental health, physical health, workplace morale and reduced sickness absence. However, employees also saw more value in disability prevention (DP) and stay at work (SAW) programs than in return to work (RTW) programs. Male employees and those working for public organisations saw more benefit in disability management programs than female employees and those working in the private sector.

Futurists predict that a third of jobs that exist today could be taken by Smart Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Algorithms (STARA) by 2025. However, very little is known about how employees perceive these technological advancements in regards to their own jobs and careers, and how they are preparing for these potential changes. A new measure (STARA awareness) was created for this study that captures the extent to which employees feel their job could be replaced by these types of technology. Due to career progression and technology knowledge associated with age, we also tested age as a moderator of STARA. Using a mixed-methods approach on 120 employees, we tested STARA awareness on a range of job and well-being outcomes. Greater STARA awareness was negatively related to organisational commitment and career satisfaction, and positively related to turnover intentions, cynicism, and depression.

Collective entrepreneurship (CE) is the ability of several individuals to jointly innovate and create within organisations. In this exploratory study, we investigate whether the relationship between some specific leadership styles and more effective CE is affected by moderator variables. The unit of analysis were staff members of a Portuguese group of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). A total of 204 questionnaires were returned, representing almost half the employee population we approached. For measurement, we employed 19 items to gather the six latent variables related to our model. For data analysis, we used partial least squares. We found that participative leadership style had the highest joint and indirect effect on more effective CE. Job satisfaction appears to be an important moderator for the occurrence of CE. The impact of employees’ organisational commitment and collaboration on CE is rather weak. Our study contributes to advancing knowledge in the fields of organisational psychology and entrepreneurship. We combine and extend previous research, which allows us to reconcile the sometimes contradictory findings so far concerning leadership and CE in the realm of small- and medium-sized enterprises.

The employer–employee relationship is underpinned by a psychological contract, which refers to employee beliefs about the exchange of employee contributions and employer inducements. However, there is limited understanding of how employers can shape psychological contracts to meet employees' needs and aspirations. Meeting these needs starts with an understanding of employees' preferences for psychological contract contributions and inducements. We propose that career stage models can be used to achieve that understanding. Using the career stage models of Dalton, Thompson, and Price (1977) and Super (1957), we derive insights into the preferred contributions and inducements, respectively, at various points of an employee's career lifecycle. These insights will help organizations create desirable psychological contracts and retain valued employees.

The core objective of the present work is to explore the reasons why workers from different employment sectors join training courses to improve their job. To this end we assessed achievement motivation, locus of control and professional qualifications according to the participants’ employment sector. The final sample consisted of 1460 active Spanish workers from four different employment sectors: services, catering, metal construction, and others. Of the sample, 40.1% were male and 59.9% female, with a mean age of 33.3 years (SD = 9.7). The results show that the new scale developed to assess achievement motivation, locus of control and workers’ qualifications presents adequate psychometric characteristics. Statistically significant differences were found in relation to employment sector. The areas studied showed satisfactory levels of workers’ effort and achievement motivation to perform their jobs, though their attitudes toward the training courses as a basis for improving their employability are varied. Workers in the catering sector had higher levels of external attribution and the lowest interest in training. Those in the service sector had higher levels of achievement motivation and effort at work. Future research should develop a joint program covering the public and private sectors for the modification of these beliefs, attitudes and attributions.