Age‐Inclusive HR Practices as Resource Passageways: Explaining Retirement Intentions Through Employability and Job Insecurity

ABSTRACT To decide about retirement, employees assess and react to their work environment, including age‐inclusive HR practices. Age‐inclusive HR practices ensure equal access to key HR functions for all employees—regardless of age, for example, training and development for all age groups, unlike age‐specific HR practices, which target older workers exclusively, for example, development opportunities for older workers. In this study, we uncover why age‐inclusive HR practices are effective in retaining older employees. Using a conservation of resources theory approach, we explain that age‐inclusive HR practices can enhance older employees' employability (i.e., perceived ability to realize job opportunities within and between employers) and reduce their job insecurity (i.e., perceived risk of a decline in job quality, including working conditions, career prospects, and salary). Employability, conversely, weakens employees' retirement intentions, while job insecurity strengthens these intentions. We use a three‐wave design with 758 older employees and path analysis, controlling for age‐specific HR practices, to demonstrate the unique effect of age‐inclusive HR practices on employees' retirement intentions. Findings showed that age‐inclusive HR practices (beyond age‐specific HR practices) were indirectly linked to employees' retirement intentions via job insecurity but not employability, emphasizing their importance for resource loss prevention as a means for older employees' retention.