Mid and Late Career Issues: An Integrative Perspective

This new book looks at the unique career issues faced by those workers in their mid and late career stages, particularly with regard to the psychosocial dynamics of mid and late careers. With the growth in aging workers worldwide, we need a deeper understanding of the unique challenges and issues as well as the practical implications related to the shifting demographics to an older workforce, particularly the aging of the baby boom generation. This book reviews, summarizes and integrates the literature on a wide variety of issues and organizational realities related to these workers. Numerous case studies based on one-on-one interviews with older workers and recent retirees provides illustrative examples of the key concepts discussed in each chapter. Students, researchers, and professionals in industrial organizational psychology, human resource management, developmental psychology, vocational psychology and gerontology will find this authoritative book of interest.

Mo Wang, PhD, earned his MA and PhD degrees in Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology and Developmental Psychology from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. He is currently a tenured Associate Professor at University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business Administration, specializing in research and applications in the areas of retirement and older worker employment, occupational health psychology, cross-cultural HR management, leadership, and advanced quantitative methodologies. He has received numerous research awards for his research in these areas, including the Early Career Achievement Awards from Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology - SIOP (2012), Academy of Management’s Human Resources Division (2011) and Research Methods Division (2011), and Society for Occupational Health Psychology (co-sponsored by the APA and NIOSH, 2009). He currently serves as an Associate Editor for Journal of Applied Psychology and the Editor for the Oxford Handbook of Retirement.

Deborah A. Olson, PhD, earned her MA and PhD degrees in Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. She is currently an Associate Professor of Management and Leadership at the University of La Verne (ULV) in La Verne, California. Prior to joining ULV, she was a leadership development management consultant for over 25 years. She was the Vice President of Organizational Effectiveness and Management Development for Hay McBer and she owned her own consultancy. During her time as a consultant, she worked with over 350 organizations, from both public and private sectors across North America. Her current research focuses on the areas of career development, leadership and team development, human resource management practices, positive organizational behavior, and the use of talents to optimize the effectiveness of older workers. In fall of 2011, she received the McElwee Excellence in Research Award from the College of Business and Public Management at the University of La Verne for her track record of research since completing her PhD in 1986.

Kenneth S. Shultz, PhD, earned his MA and PhD degrees in Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He also completed a year long National Institute on Aging (NIA) funded post-doctoral research fellowship in social gerontology at the University of Southern California (USC). Ken has been a professor in the Psychology Department at California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB) for over 20 years. He has presented over 100 papers at regional, national, and international conferences, and also published more than 50 refereed journal articles and book chapters focusing on aging and work related topics, including bridge employment and the transition to retirement. He has also published two other books, including Aging and Work in the 21st Century edited with Gary A. Adams.