Abstract:

While digital transformation offers new opportunities for enterprise operations management, it also presents a novel managerial challenge, that is the digital divide among older workers. As they age, older workers experience a gradual decline in learning ability and cognitive processing speed. Confronted with emerging digital technologies, they often perceive themselves as less adaptable and fear that their accumulated work experience may become obsolete. These concerns undermine their sense of job continuity and stability, leading to what is termed digital technology-driven job insecurity, which is referred to as digital technology-driven job insecurity among older workers. This form of job insecurity differs from traditional job insecurity, as it encompasses unique and complex conceptual implications, triggering factors, and influence mechanisms. However, existing research has yet to sufficiently explore the conceptual definition, measurement, and mechanisms of digital technology-driven job insecurity among older workers.

This study focuses on older workers (defined as individuals aged 40 and above who are currently employed) and introduces the concept of digital technology-driven job insecurity among older workers. Using a mixed-methods approach that integrates both qualitative and quantitative research, the study consists of three interconnected sub-studies: First, it explores the conceptual meaning and structural dimensions of digital technology-driven job insecurity among older workers and develops a reliable and valid measurement tool. Second, drawing on the theory of person-context interaction, it examines the interactive effects of individual characteristics and organizational situational factors on job insecurity. Finally, based on the motivational theory of life-span development, it analyzes the influence pathways and moderating effects of digital technology-driven job insecurity on later career behaviors among older workers.

This study defines digital technology-driven job insecurity among older workers as the perceived threat to job continuity and stability arising from concerns that the rapid application and iteration of digital technologies may outpace their ability to adapt, potentially rendering their accumulated experience obsolete. Its dimensions include digital technology adaptation job insecurity and experiential advantage substitution job insecurity. In prior research, we identified individual-level factors—such as age-related digital technology stereotypes, positive attitudes toward digital technologies, and intrinsic motivation for digital technology learning—that differentially affect older workers’ digital technology-driven job insecurity. At the situational level, developmental human resource management practices positively moderate these relationships. In outcome-based research, we found that digital technology-driven job insecurity weakens older workers’ developmental motivation, thereby diminishing their digital technology learning behaviors, while simultaneously stimulating their legacy motivation, which enhances intergenerational knowledge contribution behaviors. Furthermore, when older workers possess a higher growth mindset, the negative effects of digital technology-driven job insecurity are mitigated, and its positive effects are amplified. Similarly, when they perceive greater organizational support for digital technology, the negative impacts of digital technology-driven job insecurity are weakened, while its positive impacts are strengthened.

This study constructs a systematic theoretical model by exploring the conceptual connotations, triggering factors, and mechanisms of digital technology-driven job insecurity among older workers. The key innovations of the study are as follows: First, it introduces the conceptual framework of digital technology-driven job insecurity among older workers, uncovering its unique structural dimensions. This contribution not only enriches research on older workers in digital contexts but also addresses the gap in existing digital transformation studies regarding the work perceptions of older employees. Second, drawing on the theory of person-context interaction, the study comprehensively examines the antecedents of digital technology-driven job insecurity from both individual and situational perspectives, enhancing the theoretical understanding of its origins. Third, based on the motivational theory of life-span development, it investigates the dual motivational pathways through which digital technology-driven job insecurity influences later career behaviors among older workers, expanding research on the behavioral consequences of such insecurity. Overall, this study offers valuable insights for enterprises in addressing the digital divide among older workers and provides both theoretical foundations and practical guidance for strategic decisions related to workplace aging, ultimately fostering intergenerational collaboration and supporting sustainable development in the digital transformation process.

Key words: job insecurity, older worker, digital technology