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The Impact of Career Experiences on Generativity and Postretirement Choices for Intelligence Community Baby Boomers

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2020, Ph.D., Antioch University, Leadership and Change.
This study focused on baby boomers and explored how a career with a mission-focus in the Intelligence Community influenced boomer generativity and subsequent choices after retirement. Baby boomers make-up the majority of the population that is retirement eligible today and have the benefit of a longer life expectancy commensurate with improvements in health care over the past century. Current retirement literature covers a range of options that redefine what retirement means today. This study employed a two-phase mixed method approach to investigate the characteristics and impacts of a mission-focused career, and to understand how such experiences impact postretirement opportunities and choices. During Phase 1 a survey was administered to 280 retired Intelligence Community members and included an established Social Generativity Scale (SGS) derived by Morselli and Passini (2015). Phase 1 results showed that most respondent’s personal work experience included a range of selfless or service related factors within their work environment, and also identified a high level of social generativity. A series of regression analyses identified the ability to make a difference and a shared sense of purpose as the most significant aspects of an Intelligence Community experience. Additionally participants’ postretirement activities were influenced by their Intelligence Community “mission-focused” work experiences. Their work in the Intelligence Community and sense of generativity positively influenced their choice of activities after retirement. In Phase 2 of the study, focus groups with a subset of survey respondents reflected on the results from Phase 1 as it pertained to their personal lives and choices. Stories documented that a strong sense of mission and service persisted in postretirement activities, both formal work roles as well as a strong sense of volunteerism. Despite study limitations, positive implications for future studies looking across different population segments provide an avenue to further explore these relationships between selfless work experiences as a component of postretirement directions. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA: Antioch University Repository and Archive, http://aura.antioch.edu/ and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu/
Elizabeth Holloway, PhD (Committee Chair)
Carol Baron, PhD (Committee Member)
Suzanne Kunkel, PhD (Committee Member)
279 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Kramer, M. V. (2020). The Impact of Career Experiences on Generativity and Postretirement Choices for Intelligence Community Baby Boomers [Doctoral dissertation, Antioch University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1594229531470088

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Kramer, Marianne. The Impact of Career Experiences on Generativity and Postretirement Choices for Intelligence Community Baby Boomers. 2020. Antioch University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1594229531470088.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Kramer, Marianne. "The Impact of Career Experiences on Generativity and Postretirement Choices for Intelligence Community Baby Boomers." Doctoral dissertation, Antioch University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1594229531470088

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)