I'm too old for this: time demands and older, early-career employees' receptivity to supervisor support

This study explores how age and career stage affect receptivity to supervisor support using a multi-wave field sample of 528 employees. Following conservation of resources theory, we suggest that for early-career employees, supervisor support will more strongly mitigate the negative relationship between time demands and satisfaction with work-family balance and career satisfaction. We argue, however, that prior research overlooks a demographic with unique resource valuations: older, early-career employees. We therefore hypothesize and test two-way and three-way interactions of time demands, supervisor support, and career stage on satisfaction with work-family balance and career satisfaction. Our findings illustrate that early-stage employees were more receptive to the buffering impact of supervisor support. Additionally, for early-career employees, older employees compared to younger employees were more receptive to the buffering impact of supervisor support with regard to satisfaction with work-family balance and less receptive with regard to career satisfaction.

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