Attitudes towards retirement : a cross-cultural study between New Zealand and Brazilian executives

Abstract

Retirement has been recognized as a challenging issue for developed and developing countries. World economical and actuarial projections have demonstrated a need for countries to keep older workers longer in the workforce. However, very little research has been conducted to cast light on the attitudes of the workers towards their jobs and retirement, and the predictors that influence their attitudes. This study examined the similarities and differences in the attitudes towards retirement among executives in New Zealand (individualistic orientation) and Brazil (collectivist orientation), countries that present strong differences in culture, size of population, socio-economical and environmental aspects. Top executives were selected because of their extraordinary involvement and satisfaction with their jobs and their decision-making power; and also because they belong to an extremely individualistic occupational category. As privileged workers they could have satisfactory health and adequate savings. These are important issues for us all. Over and above these matters, top executives could point to other issues that influence the decision to retire. Furthermore, as leaders of large organisations they could be sensitive to the benefit of counselling in what is a career transition, and may be in a position to implement education programs in their organisations. The research was conducted in 2001, targeting 4,200 executives, as the whole population of top executives in New Zealand from companies employing more than 100 staff (Kompass database); and in Brazil, from companies with more than 500 staff (DMS - database). Thus, a total of 517 high-level executives - 226 New Zealanders and 291 Brazilians - leaders of government, quasi-government, and non-government organisations completed a questionnaire with 214 items. Six scales with 21 subscales were constructed. The scales of the perception of gains (EPGR) and losses (EPLR) measure attitudes towards retirement. In general, executives are optimistic about retirement and life after retirement. For executives of both nationalities, the most important losses' subscale is the benefits/compensation and the most important gains 'subscale is more time for relationships. PCQL measures the executives' perception of their collective country's quality of life. Brazilian executives evaluate the Country's Quality of Life more negatively than New Zealanders. The most negative indicators for Brazilians are personal safety followed by wealth distribution, and the level of unemployment. For New Zealanders are traffic, followed by public transport and the amount of bureaucracy. FFIRD scale measures the influence of the family and friends on the decision to retire, and the most important influence came from their partners and children for both nationalities. JPS measures their job perception and it was confirmed that executives in general are highly involved and satisfied with their jobs, but New Zealanders are more satisfied with their jobs than Brazilians. The KFRP scale evaluates the key factors that should be considered in retirement planning for executives. For both nationalities the most important key factor subscale was family relationships. Five hypotheses were tested and the results indicated that the positive attitudes towards retirement (gains) for both nationalities are increased by the positive influence of the family and friends on the decision to retire (FFIRD). The positive attitudes are also increased by the diversity of activities and relationships (SODhen the executives allocate their time, but only for Brazilians. Job involvement and job satisfaction subscales do not influence negative attitudes towards retirement (losses) for either nationality. However, Brazilian executives who perceive their jobs positively have more positive attitudes towards relationships, leisure, hobbies and cultural activities in retirement. PCQL does not predict negative attitudes for either nationality, but demonstrates the biggest difference between them. Also, PCQL has a negative impact for Brazilians and a positive impact for New Zealanders on their retirement planning. Multiple regression analyses confirmed the huge importance of the family and friends for the positive aspects towards retirement for both nationalities. Multiple regression analyses also compared two sets of predictors: individual and social. Consistent with a collectivist orientation, the social predictors (SOD, FFIRD, JPS - Job Perception and PCQL) were more effective predictors of positive, rather than negative attitudes, especially for Brazilians. The individual predictors (health perception, income, income loss and proximity to retirement) were relatively poor at predicting retirement attitudes in general. Nevertheless, these predictors were slightly more successful at predicting negative attitudes than the social predictors. Also, they were more effective for the New Zealand sample, which is consistent with an individualist orientation. Besides cultural differences, comparisons with age (258 younger executives < ̲ 51 yrs) and 253 older executives >̲ 51yrs), and gender (38 females and 490 males) were performed. Suggestions for retirement education programmes, recommendations for further research and human resources programs are also presented.