The relationship of work satisfaction, organizational commitment and retirement intention of older workers in institutional foodservices

The relationship between the work attitudes, job satisfaction and organizational commitment has been demonstrated to influence turnover/retirement. This relationship is important due to changing demographic patterns in the 0.3. A food service labor shortage has potential for retarding the long-term growth of the food service industry. However, recruitment and retention of older workers could be a factor in controlling this problem. Therefore the major purpose of this research was to obtain information from current older food service employees to permit the determination of how various aspects of their jobs affect job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and thus intention to remain on the job. The major independent variables in this research postulated to effect the dependent variable, turnover/retirement intention included, intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction, organizational commitment, working conditions, level of pay, and financial security. The sample population consisted of older workers employed in hospital and college/university food services. Data were collected via questionnaire. A 61 % response rate ( N=243) was obtained.

The results indicate that older workers demonstrate moderate levels of work satisfaction and relatively high levels of organizational commitment. However a practically meaningful relationship between work satisfaction (measured by the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire) and organizational commitment ( measured by the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire), as correlated with turnover/retirement intention was not found. Although not considered meaningful , a week but statistically significant relationship was found (r=.15, p< .02) between intrinsic satisfaction and turnover/retirement intention.

Older workers in this study are generally less satisfied with the chance for advancement in their jobs, and with the pay for the amount of work done. These two items are extrinsic measures of satisfaction. Regression analysis revealed that older worker perceptions of the physical demands of the job (r=.3?), working conditions (r=.33}, and employer communication of retirement options (r=.2l) predicted 39% of the variance in the dependent variable, organizational commitment. Fifty-three percent of older workers in this study would recommend their jobs to others, and 54% of older workers state they would delay retirement past the age they now plan to retire if they could work part—time. The food service industry will see increases in the number of older workers in the near future. This research provides a foundation from which other research involving older workers can emerge.