As a result of changing demographic trends in today's workforce, employees of all ages can now be found in all career stages. Consequently, the pairing of a younger supervisor with a relatively older employee is becoming increasingly more common. Research in the United States has shown that such demographically "non-normative" pairings have negative implications for employee attitudes and behaviors, and thus for employee performance management. However, little is known about the effects of such pairings in other nations and cultures, despite the fact that these demographic shifts are occurring on a global level. As such, this study examined the effects of these pairings on employee reactions to formal performance feedback episodes in a large organization in China, due to the nation's similarly shifting demographic trends and its economic power in today's global economy. A series of path analyses showed that being paired with a relatively younger supervisor did predict reduced employee feedback satisfaction and perceptions of feedback utility; but, contrary to the proposed model, these effects did not occur because of reduced interactional justice perceptions or reduced perceptions of leader-member exchange (LMX). Further, LMX did not moderate the study outcomes, demonstrating that having a better relationship with one's supervisor did not alleviate the effects of supervisor relative age on employee feedback reactions. The conceptual and practical implications of these results are discussed in light of a rapidly changing workforce, and of cultural differences, in China.

Past studies showed that older workers maintained a high level of job performance despite declines in physical and cognitive abilities. The present research project aimed at examining the impacts of emotion regulatory and SOC (selection, optimization, and compensation) strategies in explaining how older workers manage to maintain a high level of job performance. Two studies were conducted to assess Chinese insurance sales workers' global and momentary employment of emotion regulatory and SOC strategies at work, and to compare the effectiveness of emotion regulatory and SOC strategies in predicting job performance for younger and older workers. Study 1 was a cross-sectional survey study and consisted of 355 insurance sales workers. Results showed that older adults reported higher employment of elective selection and optimization than did younger workers. Older workers' employment of elective selection and compensation, as well as suppression, was associated with higher job performance, however such association was not found among younger workers. Study 2 was a five-day experience sampling study. It consisted of 87 participants who carried a handheld computer that recorded their momentary employment of emotion regulatory and SOC strategies during their work. Results of the multilevel analyses revealed that older and younger workers varied in their use of cognitive reappraisal, elective selection, and loss-based selection across work-related situations with different levels of task difficulty. Older workers' greater use of the four SOC strategies and suppression in the sampling period was predictive of the post-sampling increase in sales commission. Among these strategies, elective selection contributed the most to the increase in insurance sales among older workers even after accounting for the impact of other strategies. Findings from this research project contribute to the understanding of Chinese workers' psychological adaptation in the face of age-related declines in cognitive abilities. They also revealed cultural differences in the effectiveness of emotion regulatory strategies in predicting job performance of older and younger workers. Moreover, these findings shed light on the types of recommendations that should be given to employers for modifying organizational policies and implementing appropriate training and development programs, to meet with the needs of the aging workforce. / Yeung, Yuen Lan Dannii. / Adviser: Helene H. Fung. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: B, page: 3821. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 76-86). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest dissertations and theses, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.