Predicting Retirement Upon Eligibility: An Embeddedness Perspective

Concern over the impact of baby-boomers' retirement on needed skills and proprietary knowledge has stimulated an interest in identifying workplace factors associated with retirement upon eligibility. Drawing from embeddedness theory, the authors identify work-based antecedents potentially underlying a related, but distinct, form of withdrawal-retirement upon eligibility. The authors generate and test hypotheses regarding the impact of fit-, sacrifice-, and links-related antecedents using a prospective study design and a national probability sample of some 500 older individuals who, at the time of the initial interview, were within months of becoming-for the first time-eligible to receive such benefits. The findings indicate that, beyond the effects of person-based antecedents (e.g., age, health, assets, expected retirement income), a combination of fit- (i.e., job challenge), sacrifice- (i.e., perceived organizational support), and links-related factors (i.e., stability of close workplace peer relations) have a substantial influence on the decision to retire upon eligibility.