THE HOT AND COOL OF DEATH AWARENESS AT WORK: MORTALITY CUES, AGING, AND SELF-PROTECTIVE AND PROSOCIAL MOTIVATIONS
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姝 Academy of Management Review
2009, Vol. 34, No. 4, 600–622.
THE HOT AND COOL OF DEATH AWARENESS
AT WORK: MORTALITY CUES, AGING, AND
SELF-PROTECTIVE AND PROSOCIAL
MOTIVATIONS
ADAM M. GRANT
University of Pennsylvania
KIMBERLY A. WADE-BENZONI
Duke University
Although death awareness is pervasive in organizations and can have powerful
effects on employees’ experiences and behaviors, scholars have paid little attention
to it. We develop a theoretical model of the nature, antecedents, and consequences of
death awareness at work. We differentiate death anxiety and reflection as distinct
states that strengthen self-protective versus prosocial motivations, examine how
mortality cues and aging processes trigger these states, and explore their impact on
withdrawal and generative behaviors.
The idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human Shapiro, 2005; Starbuck, 2002). Applications to
animal like nothing else; it is a mainspring of helping professions soared as many employees
human activity— designed largely to avoid the
fatality of death, to overcome it by denying in changed careers in order to make a greater dif-
some way that it is the final destiny. . . . Of all ference in their communities and societies
things that move man, one of the principal ones is (Wrzesniewski, 2002). For example, in the month
his terror of death (Becker, 1973: ix, 11). and a half following the events, applications to
The tragedies of September 11 had a dramatic Teach For America tripled, and half of appli-
effect on work experiences and behaviors, both cants polled attributed their decisions to pursue
for those who were directly involved (Bacharach teaching to the events of September 11 (Good-
& Bamberger, 2007) and those who were not nough, 2002). Similar trends occurred in other
(Johns, 2006). For some employees the terrorist helping professions, such as firefighting and
attacks resulted in crippling anxiety, leading to health care. For example, after narrowly escap-
stress and absenteeism from work (Byron & ing from the World Trade Center, actress Amy
Peterson, 2002; Salgado, 2002). For others the at- Ting reflected on death and the meaning of her
tacks inspired reflection about death and the life. She walked away from a successful film
meaning of life, motivating remarkable efforts to career to join the Air Force Medical Service: “Af-
contribute to other people and society. Organi- ter September 11, my perspective on life
zational scholars began to reflect on how they changed. I have always wanted to help people,
could best serve the public interest through their so I decided to go back to pursuing the medical
research and their students through their teach- field” (Wrzesniewski, 2002: 231; see also
ing (Greenberg, Clair, & MacLean, 2007; Rynes & Pomeroy, 2002).
Although these reactions were particularly
pronounced and widespread, they are not
We are grateful to former associate editor Linda Treviño unique to September 11. Employees are re-
and four anonymous reviewers for their insights and recom-
mendations. We also appreciate feedback from Jane Dutton minded of their mortality by an array of events
and Alison Fragale, as well as discussions with Josh Ber- that occur both outside of and inside organiza-
man, Tina Juillerat, Meagan Peters, Wendy Smith, Jim tions. Many employees, such as police officers,
Walsh, and participants in the May Meaning Meeting (espe- soldiers, firefighters, miners, and nuclear power
cially Sue Ashford and Andy Molinsky) and the University of
Michigan Management & Organizations half-baked brown
plant employees, work in dangerous jobs that
bag series (particularly Wayne Baker, John Paul Stephens, place their lives on the line. Some studies sug-
and Lynn Wooten). gest that dangerous work leads to anxiety about
600
Copyright of the Academy of Management, all rights reserved. Contents may not be copied, emailed, posted to a listserv, or otherwise transmitted without the copyright
holder’s express written permission. Users may print, download, or email articles for individual use only.2009 Grant and Wade-Benzoni 601 death, emotional exhaustion, and absenteeism critical theoretical and practical issues organi- (Chisholm, Kasl, & Eskenazi, 1983; Jermier, zations face today (Greller & Simpson, 1999; Gaines, & McIntosh, 1989), whereas others indi- Hansson, DeKoekkoek, Neece, & Patterson, 1997; cate that exposure to death in dangerous work Kanfer & Ackerman, 2004; Warr, 2001). motivates bonding and helping between co- Accordingly, organizational scholars have be- workers (Elder & Clipp, 1988). Other employees, gun to devote systematic attention to the role of such as doctors, nurses, rescue workers, funeral age in work motivation and behavior. Recently, employees, paramedics, and grief counselors, Kanfer and Ackerman (2004) developed an ele- work in jobs that expose them vicariously to gant theoretical framework to explain how work death (Ashforth & Kreiner, 1999). More generally, motivation is influenced by age-related changes employees in all jobs are susceptible to ill- in cognitive ability, personality, self-concept, nesses and accidents that can serve as remind- values, affect, and interests. Although their ers of mortality (e.g., Dutton, Worline, Frost, & framework significantly advances existing Lilius, 2006; Kivimäki, Vahtera, Elovaino, Lill- knowledge about the role of age in work moti- rank, & Kevin, 2002; Worrell, Davidson, Chandy, vation, it does not address death awareness as a & Garrison, 1986). vital psychological change precipitated by ag- By making employees aware of death, all of ing. Several decades of research in personality these events have the potential to motivate sub- and life-span developmental psychology high- stantial changes in their behaviors. Indeed, two lights that as adults reach midlife, they become decades of social psychological research has increasingly aware of their own mortality (Erik- demonstrated that awareness of death has son, 1963; McAdams, de St. Aubin, & Logan, 1993; unique, surprisingly powerful effects on individ- Stewart & Ostrove, 1998). However, in spite of uals’ motivations and behaviors (Pyszczynski, widespread agreement about the theoretical Solomon, & Greenberg, 2003). However, we know and practical importance of understanding the little about how death awareness arises in or- role of aging in work motivation, and despite ganizations and why employees display diver- evidence that death is increasingly salient and gent reactions when they experience it. Organi- motivationally potent as employees age, calls to zational scholars have been silent about the role incorporate death into work motivation theories of death awareness in work motivation (Sievers, have gone unanswered (Czarniawska-Joerges, 1986, 1993) and organizational life in general 1995; Sievers, 1993). (Reedy & Learmonth, 2008). In this article we seek to answer these calls Understanding the role of death awareness in with systematic theorizing about the nature, an- organizations is of particular theoretical and tecedents, and consequences of death aware- practical significance, given that workforces ness. We begin with a review of existing theory worldwide are aging rapidly. In the United and research about psychological and behav- States the median age of employees is now ioral reactions to death awareness, paying par- above forty; the number of employees forty-five ticular attention to theories of terror manage- and older has increased by more than 35 percent ment (Greenberg, Solomon, & Pyszczynski, 1997) in the past decade, and they now represent over and generativity (McAdams & de St. Aubin, 40 percent of the entire U.S. workforce (Bureau of 1992). We build on this review to distinguish Labor Statistics, 2007; Fullerton, 1999). Parallel between two distinct forms of death aware- trends have emerged in the European Union and ness— death anxiety and death reflection—and Canada, where employees forty-five and older examine how they differentially engage dis- now make up over 37 percent and 40 percent of crete “hot” experiential versus “cool” cognitive the workforce, respectively, reflecting sizable in- psychological processing systems, thereby creases in the past decade (Carone, 2005; Euro- strengthening either self-protective or prosocial pean Commission, 2007; Statistics Canada, motivations. Second, we turn from the nature of 2006). This dramatic aging of domestic and in- death awareness to its antecedents. We present ternational workforces is attributable to in- a typology of mortality cues, examine how they creases in life expectancy, combined with de- trigger death anxiety and death reflection, and clines in early retirement and birth rates. In explore the role of aging processes in influenc- light of these trends, organizational scholars ing employees’ responses to these cues. Third, agree that the aging workforce is one of the most we examine the behavioral consequences of
602 Academy of Management Review October
death awareness. We explore how the effects of when Hobbes (1950/1651) noted that humans nat-
death anxiety and death reflection on work be- urally fear death and attempt to avoid it by
haviors are contingent on boundary preferences, seeking peace. Although subsequent work in po-
work orientations, and the meaningfulness of litical philosophy has elaborated on this basic
work. And we conclude by discussing theoreti- assumption, the majority of scholarship on
cal contributions, future research directions, death in the social sciences and humanities is
and practical implications. The contingency based on existential philosophy. Building on the
model of death awareness at work that we de- work of Pascal, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche, ex-
velop in this article is displayed in Figure 1. istentialists such as Heidegger and Sartre
called attention to the anxiety, dread, and fear
that people experience when they become
THE NATURE OF DEATH AWARENESS
aware of their own mortality (Appignanesi, 2006;
We define death awareness as a psychologi- Solomon, 2005). Near the turn of the twentieth
cal state—a mental experience triggered by ex- century, existentialism informed the theories of
ternal events (Chaplin, John, & Goldberg, a number of key thinkers in psychology, includ-
1988)—in which people are conscious of their ing Allport, Dewey, Freud, James, and Wundt.
mortality. Scholarly attention to death aware- However, as behaviorism began to dominate
ness was stimulated more than 300 years ago psychology, existentialism fell out of favor
FIGURE 1
A Contingency Model of Death Awareness at Work2009 Grant and Wade-Benzoni 603
(Koole, Greenberg, & Pyszczynski, 2006; cf. writing about one’s own death, answering ques-
Frankl, 1959, and Yalom, 1980). tions about what will happen while dying or
Cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker set the after death, watching videos of deadly automo-
stage for empirical attention to how individuals bile accidents, walking past a cemetery, and
respond to death awareness with three books on being subliminally exposed to death-related
the denial of death, one of which won the Pu- words. For example, studies have shown that
litzer Prize (Becker, 1973). Becker argued that death awareness increases preferences for
awareness of death is a uniquely human capa- charismatic leaders (Cohen, Solomon, Maxfield,
bility and curse, and he focused on the role of Pyszczynski, & Greenberg, 2004), strengthened
cultural belief systems in buffering against ex- support for former President Bush and aggres-
istential anxiety about impending death (for a sive counterterrorism policies (Landau et al.,
review see Liechty, 2002). In the 1980s three so- 2004), increases donations to national but not
cial psychologists discovered Becker’s work and international charities (Jonas, Schimel, Green-
began to design experiments to test and elabo- berg, & Pyszczynski, 2002), increases punish-
rate on his theories. Now, two decades later, ment of criminal offenders who threaten one’s
terror management theory is among the most world view (Arndt, Lieberman, Cook, & Solomon,
generative perspectives in social psychology. 2005), enhances optimism about unlikely victo-
Researchers have conducted well over 250 stud- ries over opponents in soccer matches
ies to test and extend terror management theory (Dechesne, Greenberg, Arndt, & Schimel, 2000),
predictions about how individuals deal with the boosts overconfidence about future financial
cognizance of their own mortality (Greenberg, worth (Kasser & Sheldon, 2000), amplifies dis-
Koole, & Pyszczynski, 2004; Pyszczynski et al., plays of physical strength among athletes but
2003). not among individuals who do not value
strength (Peters, Greenberg, Williams, & Schnei-
der, 2005), and even motivates individuals to
Terror Management Theory: Death Awareness
allocate large quantities of hot sauce to world-
Increases Self-Protective Motivation
view-threatening outgroup members who do not
The central premise of terror management like spicy foods (McGregor et al., 1998). Re-
theory is that people face a basic existential searchers have even demonstrated that people
dilemma: they desire life but know that their express more nationalistic views—and believe
own death is inevitable. To defend and protect charities are more important—when surveyed
themselves against existential anxiety, people while walking past a funeral home (Jonas et al.,
create and cling to cultural world views— 2002).
collective understandings of reality that (1) ren- Several studies have further shown that these
der existence meaningful, coherent, and perma- efforts to defend cultural world views and per-
nent; (2) offer a set of standards for defining sonal worth serve the anxiety-buffering function
what is valuable; and (3) confer either literal or of protecting people against fears of their own
symbolic immortality through religious institu- mortality. For example, researchers have found
tions that assure an afterlife or social institu- that, after inducing death awareness, giving in-
tions that allow them to feel that they are con- dividuals positive feedback reduces self-re-
nected to something larger, more powerful, and ported death anxiety and objective measures of
more permanent than themselves (Pyszczynski, physiological arousal (for a review see Pysz-
Greenberg, & Solomon, 1999; Wade-Benzoni, czynski, Greenberg, Solomon, Arndt, & Schimel,
2006). People defend against existential anxiety 2004). Perhaps most important, research sug-
through self-protective responses— connecting gests that these effects of death awareness may
with and contributing to people and groups who be unique; they do not occur in response to other
share their world views and showing hostility forms of anxiety, such as worries about future
toward people and groups with alternative plans and success, fears of public speaking,
world views that challenge the legitimacy of concerns about intense physical pain or failing
their own. a test, and actual poor performance on intelli-
A large body of research has supported these gence tests (Pyszczynski et al., 1999). Although
core propositions by manipulating death aware- scholars have questioned whether the theory
ness with a range of situational cues, including comprehensively explains the origins of motives604 Academy of Management Review October
for self-esteem and meaning (e.g., Heine, Proulx, trove, 1998; Stewart, Ostrove, & Helson, 2001; Vail-
& Vohs, 2006; Leary, 2004, 2007; Navarette & lant & Milofsky, 1980). Survey data and narrative
Fessler, 2005; Ryan & Deci, 2004), terror manage- analyses of life stories suggest that generativity
ment research provides strong empirical evi- emerges most prominently around midlife, result-
dence that death awareness has a broad array ing from the strengthening of two motives by
of unique psychological and behavioral effects death awareness: the desire to make lasting con-
on individuals. In sum, the core theme cutting tributions and the desire to feel connected with
across terror management research is that others (McAdams & de St. Aubin, 1992, 1998). As
death awareness strengthens self-protective Kotre explains, death awareness strengthens the
motivation—a desire to defend one’s identity “desire to invest one’s substance in forms of life
and image (Ashford, Blatt, & VandeWalle, 2003; and work that will outlive the self” (1984: 16). The
Larrick, 1993; Leary, 2007). desire to make lasting, self-transcendent contribu-
tions is an agentic desire that motivates individ-
uals to buffer against death by extending their
Generativity Theories: Death Awareness
contributions into the future, striving for symbolic
Increases Prosocial Motivation
immortality (Wade-Benzoni, 2006). The desire to
Personality and life-span developmental psy- feel connected with others is a communal desire
chologists have offered a different perspective that motivates individuals to buffer against death
on death awareness. In his classic epigenetic by linking their actions and identities to enduring
theory of development, psychologist Erik Erik- relationships, groups, organizations, and institu-
son (1963, 1982) proposed that people progress tions (Peterson & Stewart, 1996). As sociologist
through eight psychological stages of life, each Morrie Schwartz explained it, “Death ends a life,
of which involves a developmental crisis. He not a relationship” (Albom, 1997: 174).
dedicated the last two of his eight stages of life By strengthening these agentic and communal
to issues related to death. He proposed that in motives to meaningfully contribute and connect,
the final stage of life people become increas- death awareness can lead individuals to take per-
ingly aware of death, which leads to a crisis sonal responsibility for promoting the welfare of
between ego integrity and despair. Those who other people and the next generation by seeking
overcome this crisis experience ego integrity, out work as teachers, mentors, leaders, organizers,
finding coherence and meaning in their lives and inventors (McAdams & de St. Aubin, 1992).
and accepting death. Those who succumb to this Consistent with this perspective, experimental re-
crisis experience despair, continuing to fear and search indicates that death awareness can lead
dread death. Erikson proposed that, before individuals with self-serving values to endorse
reaching this stage, in the penultimate stage of more prosocial values (Joireman & Duell, 2005). As
life—which occurs throughout middle adult- an illustration, Jonas Salk, the inventor of the polio
hood—people grapple with the notion that their vaccine, described the goal of his life as “to be a
lives are finite. They undergo a midlife crisis good ancestor” (Weiner, 2008: 110). Similarly, con-
between generativity and stagnation— contrib- sider the case of R. Buckminster Fuller, the inven-
uting to the next generation versus ceasing to be tor, engineer, mathematician, architect, and pub-
a productive member of society. He proposed lic intellectual often described as the “DaVinci of
that people who prevail over this crisis become the twentieth century.” In 1922 his four-year-old
generative by performing socially valuable daughter, Alexandra, died from complications of
work and mentoring members of younger gen- polio and spinal meningitis. Devastated, he went
erations. People who fall victim to this crisis, to the shore of frozen Lake Michigan to commit
however, become stagnant by withdrawing from suicide. Contemplating his death led him to re-
socially valuable work and mentoring activities. consider the meaning of his life, and instead of
Erikson’s conceptualization of generativity has committing suicide, he decided to embark on an
itself been generative, motivating several de- experiment to learn what a single person can ac-
cades of research on the antecedents and conse- complish at work to change the world and benefit
quences of generativity. Research supports the all of humanity. This led him to work tirelessly
core hypothesis that generativity increases and persistently to make lasting contributions to
around midlife (Keyes & Ryff, 1998; McAdams et society (e.g., Edmondson, 1987; Sieden, 1989). Thus,
al., 1993; Peterson & Klohnen, 1995; Stewart & Os- the core theme cutting across generativity re-2009 Grant and Wade-Benzoni 605
search is that death awareness strengthens proso- death is far off (Arndt, Greenberg, Solomon,
cial motivation—a desire to give, contribute, help, Pyszczynski, & Simon, 1997; Simon et al., 1997).
benefit, make a difference, or protect and promote They then avoid the paralyzing existential terror
the welfare of other people (Grant, 2007, 2008). that death awareness can provoke by marshal-
ing distal defense mechanisms, seeking to pro-
tect themselves by affiliating with value-
Reconciling Terror Management and
congruent groups and criticizing value-
Generativity: Death Anxiety versus Death
incongruent groups (Greenberg et al., 1997;
Reflection
Pyszczynski et al., 2004). This evidence suggests
Terror management and generativity theories that individuals process death anxiety in a hot
appear to offer competing predictions about experiential system to protect the self. Death
how individuals respond to death awareness. anxiety can thus be thought of as an affect-
From a terror management perspective, death driven (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996; Zajonc, 1980)
awareness strengthens self-protective motiva- or reactive (Grant & Ashford, 2008) state in which
tion; from a generativity perspective, death visceral emotional responses drive the process-
awareness strengthens prosocial motivation. ing of mortality cues.
We reconcile these two theoretical perspectives Death reflection describes a cognitive state of
by calling attention to two different forms death death awareness, one in which individuals put
awareness can take. A significant limitation of their lives in context, contemplate their meaning
both terror management and generativity theo- and purpose, and review how others will look
ries is that they fail to differentiate between the upon them after they have passed (Cozzolino et
two fundamentally distinct forms of death al., 2004; Ring, 1984; Ring & Elsaesser Valarino,
awareness (Cozzolino, Staples, Meyers, & Sam- 1998). Death reflection is processed psychologi-
boceti, 2004; Lykins, Segerstrom, Averill, Evans, cally in what is known as the “cool” or cognitive
& Kemeny, 2007). We integrate initial work on system, which is characterized by deliberate,
death awareness by Cozzolino et al. (2004) and analytical, rational reactions based on system-
Lykins et al. (2007) with theory and research on atic processing that is subject to intentional con-
information processing systems (Metcalfe & trol (Metcalfe & Mischel, 1999; see also Bazer-
Mischel, 1999) to distinguish two discrete psy- man, Tenbrunsel, & Wade-Benzoni, 1998;
chological pathways through which individuals Epstein, 1994; Haidt, 2001). These cool psycholog-
can be conscious of mortality. ical processes form the basis of the self-
Death anxiety describes an emotional state of transcendent reactions depicted in generativity
death awareness in which individuals experi- theory and research. Indeed, Simon et al. (1997)
ence fear, panic, and dread about their own mor- found that when primed or instructed to think
tality (Cozzolino et al., 2004; Russac, Gatliff, about their own deaths in a rational, analytical
Reece, & Spottswood, 2007). Death anxiety is pro- mode, individuals did not display self-protective
cessed psychologically in what is known as the reactions, and Cozzolino et al. (2004) found that
“hot” or experiential system, which is character- when asked to engage in death reflection, indi-
ized by immediate, emotional, intuitive, vis- viduals engaged in the prosocial, self-transcen-
ceral, and impulsive reactions based on heuris- dent behavior of sharing raffle tickets and gift
tic processing (Metcalfe & Mischel, 1999; see certificates.
also Epstein, 1994, and Haidt, 2001). These hot Similarly, studies of near-death experiences
psychological processes form the basis of the have shown that as individuals reflect on death,
self-protective reactions depicted in terror man- they become increasingly interested in helping
agement theory and research. Indeed, Simon et others and often change their careers in this
al. (1997) presented empirical evidence that ter- direction, as when an accountant becomes a
ror management responses occur in the hot ex- nurse after contemplating death (Ring & El-
periential system. When individuals are re- saesser Valarino, 1998). Illustrating this point, a
minded of their mortality after being primed or woman described how seeing her four-year-old
instructed to share their natural, emotional re- son narrowly survive being hit by a car led her
actions, they show strong self-protective reac- to reflect on death and motivated her to become
tions. Initially, they deny their personal vulner- an emergency medical technician in order to
ability by asserting their health and noting that help others survive accidents: “I felt sure he was606 Academy of Management Review October
dying, and I didn’t know of anything I could do to events, it tends to be a short-lived response
help him or to preserve his life. . . . [it] was a real triggered by situational cues, lasting in many
turning point. . . . I served an ambulance service circumstances for moments, hours, or days
for 10 years and have saved more than one life” (Lykins et al., 2007). However, death anxiety
(McAdams et al., 1993: 228). can also linger for weeks and months (e.g.,
Moreover, McAdams and de St. Aubin (1992, Russac et al., 2007), at which point it is pro-
1998) reported extensive evidence from longitudi- cessed more like a diffuse mood state than a
nal survey and narrative interview studies indi- specific emotion (e.g., Weiss & Cropanzano,
cating that individuals make deliberate choices 1996). On the other hand, because death reflec-
and commitments to become generative and self- tion is subject to greater intentional, effortful
transcendent. This evidence suggests that indi- cognitive control, it can involve an extended
viduals process death reflection in a cool cogni- contemplation and deliberation process that
tive system that they deliberately control so as to extends for many months or even years (Lykins
find ways to contribute to others and have a last- et al., 2007). Thus, death anxiety is likely to
ing impact. Death reflection can thus be thought of produce faster, more intense psychological re-
as a cognition-driven (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996) sponses, whereas death reflection is likely to
or proactive (Grant & Ashford, 2008) state in which produce slower, less intense responses. Fi-
thoughts and anticipatory plans about the future nally, in terms of focus of attention, death anx-
drive responses to mortality cues. Together, these iety emphasizes protecting the self against
arguments and illustrative examples suggest the negative outcomes, while death reflection em-
following proposition. phasizes promoting positive outcomes for oth-
ers.
Proposition 1: Death anxiety and
death reflection represent distinct
forms of death awareness with dis- THE EMERGENCE OF DEATH AWARENESS
crete motivational consequences: AT WORK
(a) death anxiety engages the hot
Having developed the distinction between
experiential processing system,
death anxiety and death reflection, we now turn
strengthening self-protective motiva-
to the antecedents of these two forms of death
tion, whereas (b) death reflection en-
awareness. When and how does death become
gages the cool cognitive processing
salient to employees at work? Research sug-
system, strengthening prosocial moti-
gests that death awareness is triggered by
vation.
events— experiences or episodes that occur in a
This understanding of death anxiety and bounded time period and place (e.g., Weick &
death reflection as two distinct forms of death Roberts, 1993)—that serve as “mortality cues” by
awareness provides the basis of the contin- making death salient. To capture the range of
gency model of death awareness that we de- events that can make employees aware of
velop in this article. To further unpack the dif- death, we present a typology of mortality cues,
ferences between these two states of death which we derived from a review of the terror
awareness, our preceding discussion suggests management theory literature describing an ar-
that they can be differentiated in terms of three ray of situational forces that increase death
dimensions: emotionality, duration, and focus of awareness, as well as from research in organi-
attention. zational studies referring to death. Our typology
In terms of emotionality, death anxiety is focuses on three core situational dimensions
characterized by extreme, vivid emotions, along which mortality cues vary: source, self-
such as fear, panic, and dread, while death relevance, and exposure.
reflection is characterized by less emotional- Source, the first dimension, captures the ori-
ity and calmer, more controlled thoughts. This gin of the cue—internal or external. Internal
contrast in emotionality has important impli- mortality cues are events that originate within
cations for understanding how the two states the workplace, and external mortality cues are
differ in terms of duration. Because death anx- events that originate outside the workplace.
iety engages the hot experiential system, like Self-relevance, the second dimension, captures
other emotional states focusing on specific how the individual is connected to the mortality2009 Grant and Wade-Benzoni 607
cue—personally or vicariously. Personal mortal- or acute. Chronic mortality cues are recurring,
ity cues are events that trigger death awareness lasting events, and acute mortality cues are
by exposing employees to direct threats to their short-lived, intermittent events. Figure 2 repre-
own lives, and vicarious mortality cues are sents these three core dimensions of mortality
events that trigger death awareness by expos- cues in a 2 ⫻ 2 ⫻ 2 diagram, provides examples
ing employees to others who are dead or in of each type, and describes their predicted im-
danger. Exposure, the third dimension, captures pacts on death anxiety and death reflection,
the frequency and duration of the cue— chronic which we detail below.
FIGURE 2
A Typology of Mortality Cues
Chronic Acute
Internal External Internal External
Definition: Extended Definition: Extended Definition: Time- Definition: Time-
workplace events that outside events that bounded workplace bounded outside events
threaten employees’ threaten employees’ events that threaten that threaten employees’
own lives own lives employees’ own lives own lives
Example: Dangerous Example: Prolonged Example: Workplace Example: Crises
jobs, where firefighters, personal illness or accidents (Hofmann & affecting the self, such
police officers, soldiers, disease (Baldridge & Stetzer, 1998; Perrow, as natural disasters,
ambulance drivers, Veiga, 2001) 1984; Weick & Roberts, automobile accidents,
astronauts, pilots, mine 1993) and terrorist attacks
Personal workers, infectious (Pearson & Clair, 1998)
disease specialists, and
intelligence agents are
responsible for tasks that
directly place their lives
on the line (Jermier,
Gaines, & McIntosh, 1989)
Impact: Low death Impact: Low death Impact: High death Impact: Moderate death
anxiety, high death anxiety, moderate death anxiety, low death anxiety, low death
reflection reflection reflection reflection
Definition: Extended Definition: Extended Definition: Time-bounded Definition: Time-bounded
workplace events that outside events that workplace events that outside events that
place employees in threaten the lives of threaten the lives of threaten the lives of
contact with others dead others in physical or others in physical or others in physical or
or in danger emotional proximity to emotional proximity to emotional proximity to
employees employees employees
Example: Dirty work and Example: Aging or ill Example: Executive Example: Crises
necessary evils, as parents (Goodstein, 1995; death (Worrell, Davidson, affecting other people or
experienced by Ingram & Simons, 1995) Chandy, & Garrison, organizations, such as
physicians, nurses, 1986) terrorist attacks and
hospice workers, natural disasters
paramedics, soldiers, (Pearson & Clair, 1998)
Vicarious
executioners, firefighters,
police officers, disaster
and rescue workers,
trauma and crisis
counselors, and funeral
workers (Ashforth &
Kreiner, 1999; Clark &
LaBeff, 1982; Molinsky &
Margolis, 2005)
Impact: Low death Impact: Low death Impact: Moderate death Impact: Moderate death
anxiety, moderate death anxiety, moderate death anxiety, low death anxiety, low death
reflection reflection reflection reflection608 Academy of Management Review October
The Effects of Mortality Cues on Death Anxiety ity cues to increase (a) death anxiety
and Death Reflection and (b) death reflection at work.
Source. We first propose that internal mortal-
ity cues are more likely than external mortality The Moderating Role of Exposure
cues to increase both death anxiety and death
reflection at work. We base this prediction on We further propose that these effects of inter-
evidence of the encoding specificity principle in nal and personal mortality cues on death anxi-
ety and death reflection are moderated by expo-
memory theory and research, which demon-
sure. More specifically, we propose that whether
strates that memory is context dependent: indi-
mortality cues trigger death anxiety or death
viduals are most likely to recall events in the
reflection is a function of exposure. When em-
domains in which they occurred (Baddeley,
ployees face acute exposure to mortality cues,
1982). For example, employees will be most
these cues will be more likely to elicit death
likely to think of death at work when they are
anxiety and less likely to elicit death reflection
exposed to mortality cues at work, whether
(Lykins et al., 2007). In the face of acute cues,
through performing a dangerous task, having such as accidents, natural disasters, and terror-
contact with others in danger or death, or en- ist attacks, employees are often overwhelmed
countering accidents and disasters in the work- by fear of the unknown (Pyszczynski et al., 2003).
place. Accordingly, when mortality cues origi- We predict the opposite, however, when employ-
nate within the workplace, they will be more ees are chronically exposed to mortality cues;
accessible to employees while working and, these cues will be less likely to elicit death
thus, have greater potential to elicit both death anxiety and more likely to elicit death reflection.
anxiety and death reflection. We propose that chronic exposure increases
Proposition 2: Internal mortality cues awareness of death but enables employees to
are more likely than external mortal- process mortality cues with reflection in the cool
ity cues to increase (a) death anxiety cognitive system, instead of with anxiety in the
and (b) death reflection at work. hot experiential system. Why would chronic ex-
posure to mortality cues change the nature of
Self-relevance. Next, we propose that per- death awareness from anxiety to reflection,
sonal mortality cues are more likely than vicar- rather than reducing the salience of death alto-
ious mortality cues to increase both death anx- gether? Although one might expect that chronic
iety and death reflection at work. As discussed exposure would enable employees to ignore
previously, terror management research reveals mortality cues or disengage cognitive process-
that individuals often dismiss vicarious mortal- ing, theory and research on social cognition re-
ity cues by asserting their own health, longevity, veals that chronic exposure to information tends
or immunity to the triggering events (Arndt et to increase the accessibility of that information
al., 1997; Simon et al., 1997). In contrast, personal (Higgins, 1996; Schwarz, 1999). Such increases in
mortality cues are more difficult to disregard accessibility under chronic exposure are partic-
since employees are confronted with direct evi- ularly common when the information is self-
dence that their lives are at risk. For example, threatening (Wenzlaff & Wegner, 2000), which is
physicians and nurses treating sick patients can a defining feature of mortality cues (Baumeister,
more easily distance themselves from death 1991). Because mortality cues are self-threaten-
than police officers and rescue workers who are ing events, they are extremely difficult to ignore
risking their own lives. When employees per- or suppress (Arndt et al., 1997; Wenzlaff & Weg-
form dangerous jobs or are injured in accidents ner, 2000). Thus, under chronic exposure, em-
or disasters, they will find it difficult to deny the ployees will still be conscious of mortality, but
threats that they have experienced. As such, they will process it differently: instead of react-
personal mortality cues have greater potential ing emotionally with anxiety, they will respond
cognitively with reflection.
to elicit both death anxiety and death reflection
Indeed, research on coping with harm doing,
than vicarious mortality cues.
trauma, and death suggests that, over time, ex-
Proposition 3: Personal mortality cues posure facilitates a process of emotional habit-
are more likely than vicarious mortal- uation, or desensitizing, through which mortal-2009 Grant and Wade-Benzoni 609
ity becomes less terrifying and paralyzing The Moderating Role of Aging Processes
(Ashforth & Kreiner, 1999; Molinsky & Margolis,
Thus far, our analysis has focused on how
2005; Palmer, 1983; Regehr, Goldberg, & Hughes,
situational variations in the source of, self-
2002). Through exposure, employees gain access
relevance of, and exposure to mortality cues will
to supportive occupational ideologies and col-
influence death anxiety and death reflection.
leagues and are able to learn cognitive strate-
We now consider the impact of aging processes,
gies for coping with death, thus rendering mor-
which play a fundamental role in shaping
tality less terrifying and unpredictable. As a
whether employees react to mortality cues with
manager of morticians remarked, “A group of
death anxiety or death reflection. As noted pre-
funeral directors . . . could sit around in the res-
viously, workforces worldwide are aging rap-
taurant talking about the most gory details and
idly, and organizational scholars have begun to
it doesn’t bother them a bit” (Ashforth, Kreiner,
call for theory and research to explain how ag-
Clark, & Fugate, 2007: 149).
ing affects employees’ experiences and behav-
In other words, chronic exposure to mortality
iors (e.g., Kanfer & Ackerman, 2004; Warr, 2001).
cues enables employees to shut down the hot
However, little theory and research has explored
experiential system that governs death anxiety,
the linkages between aging and death aware-
processing death instead in the cool cognitive
ness.
system, where they are able to think and reflect
We propose that as employees age, mortality
about mortality in a deliberate, rational, con-
cues are decreasingly likely to trigger death
trolled fashion. By facilitating emotional habit-
anxiety and increasingly likely to trigger death
uation and desensitization, chronic exposure
reflection. It is not a coincidence that the vast
softens employees’ visceral anxiety reactions,
majority of support for the predictions of terror
enabling them to engage the cool cognitive sys-
management theory has been provided by ex-
tem to reflect on the meaning of life and their
periments involving college students, for whom
potential contributions. For example, firefight-
mortality cues tend to elicit death anxiety (Max-
ers often enter their jobs seeking excitement,
field et al., 2007), whereas the bulk of research
danger, and job security and benefits (Smith,
on generativity has focused on adults at midlife
1988). However, through chronic exposure to
and beyond, for whom mortality cues tend to
death, they often come to think of saving lives as
elicit death reflection (McAdams & de St. Aubin,
a central source of meaning. As one firefighter
1998). Indeed, Maxfield et al. (2007) found that
explained it, “I can look back and say, ‘I helped
younger adults, but not older adults, displayed
put out a fire. I helped save somebody.’ It shows
the anxiety-driven self-protective reactions to
something I did on this earth” (Terkel, 1972: 589).
death awareness predicted by terror manage-
Thus, we expect that mortality cues elicit high
ment theory. Consistent with these findings,
death anxiety and low reflection for employees
several studies suggest that death anxiety
with acute exposure and—reversing the pat-
peaks when individuals are in their twenties
tern—low death anxiety and high reflection for
and declines in a relatively linear fashion there-
employees with chronic exposure. From a dy-
after (Cicirelli, 2002; Fortner & Neimeyer, 1999;
namic viewpoint, this prediction implies that as
Gesser, Wong, & Reker, 1988), and that, over
employees have repeated exposures to acute
extended periods of death exposure, individu-
mortality cues, they may experience these cues
als’ psychological reactions shift away from
as chronic, thereby experiencing less death anx-
anxiety and toward reflection (Lykins et al.,
iety and greater reflection (see Lykins et al.,
2007).
2007).
Accordingly, we expect that as employees
Proposition 4: Exposure moderates the age, they are increasingly likely to respond to
effect of mortality cues on death mortality cues with death reflection rather than
awareness such that (a) acute expo- death anxiety. Research identifies two interre-
sure increases death anxiety and de- lated mechanisms through which aging shifts
creases death reflection while (b) reactions to mortality cues away from anxiety
chronic exposure decreases death and toward reflection. First, aging gives rise to a
anxiety and increases death reflec- process of selective optimization and compensa-
tion. tion, in which individuals adapt to age-related610 Academy of Management Review October
changes by prioritizing interests, choosing vancing career stages, achievement of higher
meaningful and realistic goals, adjusting stan- levels of organizational and occupational ten-
dards, and finding new methods to complete ure, and retirement planning programs are ex-
tasks and accomplish goals (Baltes & amples of symbolic aging processes that can
Carstensen, 1996; Kanfer & Ackerman, 2004). strengthen employees’ tendencies to reflect on
Several decades ago Kübler-Ross (1969) argued death by serving as reminders of time passed
that as they gain exposure to death, individuals and by highlighting that time left is finite and
move through stages of denial, anger, bargain- decreasing. In some organizational and occupa-
ing, and depression, toward eventual accep- tional settings, these symbols may be particu-
tance. Indeed, recent research suggests that in- larly salient, as in the case of air traffic control-
dividuals are increasingly likely to reflect on lers, who face a mandatory retirement age of
death as they age, which leads them to select fifty-six (Kanfer & Ackerman, 2004). We expect
value-congruent, personally significant goals that these types of symbolic aging processes,
that reduce death anxiety (Lykins et al., 2007), not only chronological aging processes, can trig-
typically by becoming generative through con- ger death reflection.
tributing to other people or to future generations
Proposition 5: Aging processes moder-
(McAdams & de St. Aubin, 1992; Midlarsky &
ate the effect of mortality cues on
Hannah, 1989). As they age, rather than fearing
death awareness such that as employ-
death, individuals find value in reflecting on
ees age chronologically and symboli-
“time passed” and getting the most out of “time
cally, they tend to respond to mortality
left” (Carstensen, Isaacowitz, & Charles, 1999;
cues with (a) decreasing death anxiety
Kanfer & Ackerman, 2004).
and (b) increasing death reflection.
Second, aging enhances employees’ capacity
for self-control, which has been shown to de-
crease death anxiety (Gailliot, Schmeichel, &
BEHAVIORAL CONSEQUENCES OF DEATH
Baumeister, 2006). Research on personality de-
AWARENESS AT WORK
velopment reveals that as they age, individuals
show dominant trends toward becoming in- Now that we have explained how mortality
creasingly emotionally stable and conscien- cues and aging processes interact to influence
tious (Caspi, Roberts, & Shiner, 2005), two traits death anxiety and death reflection, we can ex-
that play a central role in self-control and will- amine the consequences of these two psycho-
power (Metcalfe & Mischel, 1999; Olson, 2005). logical states for work behavior, an important
Accordingly, aging equips employees with a issue that has rarely been addressed in organi-
heightened capacity for controlling thoughts zational scholarship (Sievers, 1986, 1993). We fo-
and feelings that allow them to override the cus on two core classes of work behavior: with-
visceral, impulsive, emotional death anxiety re- drawal behaviors, which involve behavioral
actions triggered by the hot experiential system disengagement from work through absenteeism,
and to activate the deliberate, rational, analyti- tardiness, and turnover (Harrison, Newman, &
cal processing guided by the cool cognitive sys- Roth, 2006), and generative behaviors, which are
tem. Thus, we propose that employees’ re- actions taken to make meaningful, lasting con-
sponses to mortality cues are age dependent tributions that benefit other people and groups
such that aging decreases death anxiety reac- (McAdams & de St. Aubin, 1992). We focus on
tions and increases death reflection reactions. these behaviors not only because they can have
It is important to note that these predictions destructive versus constructive implications for
apply to both chronological and symbolic aging job performance but also because they have
processes. As employees age chronologically, been linked directly to aging processes (Ng &
they are increasingly likely to experience ob- Feldman, 2008) and to different psychological
servable physical and psychological changes states that closely parallel our distinction be-
that promote death reflection, such as graying tween death anxiety triggering self-protective
hair and losses in vision, hearing, and memory. motivation and death reflection triggering
However, organizational life is replete with sym- prosocial motivation. More specifically, re-
bolic signals that draw attention to aging and searchers have found that withdrawal behav-
can thus promote increased death reflection. Ad- iors are often driven by stress and negative2009 Grant and Wade-Benzoni 611
emotions (e.g., Podsakoff, LePine, & LePine, 2007; haviors. However, several studies provide
Spector & Fox, 2002), whereas generative behav- indirect evidence of this effect by linking acute
iors are often driven by the desire to help others mortality cues to withdrawal behaviors through
(e.g., Grant, 2008; McAdams & de St. Aubin, 1992; stress processes. One study showed that the
Rioux & Penner, 2001; Spector & Fox, 2002). In the death of a family member predicted higher lev-
following sections we develop propositions that els of sickness absenteeism among municipal
explain how both individual and contextual con- employees in the following year (Kivimäki et al.,
tingencies moderate the effects of death anxiety 2002). Another study showed that employees’ re-
on withdrawal behaviors and death reflection on ports of strain from the acute events of Septem-
generative behaviors in the work domain. ber 11 predicted higher levels of absenteeism in
subsequent weeks (Byron & Peterson, 2002). And
a third study showed that employees who per-
Death Anxiety and Stress-Related Withdrawal
ceived high levels of danger in their jobs were
Behaviors at Work
likely to report strong intentions to quit (Zaccaro
We expect that, in general, death anxiety is & Stone, 1988). Accordingly, we propose that
likely to increase withdrawal behaviors at work. death anxiety, particularly when it is intense or
The logic behind this prediction is provided by long-lasting, will lead employees to protect
theory and research on stress, which suggests themselves from stress by withdrawing from
that death anxiety is a cause of stress and work.
strain, and stress and strain can result in feel-
Proposition 6: Death anxiety increases
ings of emotional exhaustion. The consequence
stress-related withdrawal behaviors
of stress and strain caused by death anxiety can
of absenteeism, tardiness, and turn-
be short-term withdrawal behaviors, such as ab-
over.
senteeism and tardiness, since employees lack
the emotional energy to attend work or find However, there are conditions under which
themselves distracted from work-related death anxiety is more versus less likely to in-
thoughts (Byron & Peterson, 2002). In the case of crease withdrawal behaviors. Our earlier prop-
particularly intense or long-lasting levels of ositions suggested that employees will experi-
death anxiety that employees find emotionally ence greater death anxiety at work when
overwhelming, the consequence can be the mortality cues are internal rather than external
longer-term withdrawal behavior of turnover, as to the workplace. This suggests that internal
employees seek to protect themselves by transi- mortality cues are generally likely to cause
tioning to jobs with less exposure to mortality death anxiety at work and, therefore, stress and
cues (e.g., Zaccaro & Stone, 1988). withdrawal behaviors. But when mortality cues
The proposed linkages among death anxiety, are external, different employees may display
stress, and withdrawal behaviors are supported different patterns of responses. Work-family re-
by several studies. With respect to the effect of search indicates that employees differ in their
death anxiety on stress, a naturally occurring boundary preferences: “integrators” prefer to
quasi-experiment showed that the deadly Three blur the boundary between work and other life
Mile Island nuclear accident predicated higher domains, whereas “segmenters” prefer to sepa-
levels of employee tension (Chisholm et al., rate work from other domains of life (Edwards &
1983). Similarly, a study of physical danger in Rothbard, 1999; Rothbard, Phillips, & Dumas,
police work linked objective hazards to fear of 2005). Because integrators choose not to com-
death, which was associated with higher emo- partmentalize their lives, external mortality
tional exhaustion and disaffection with the or- cues are likely to spill over and influence their
ganization (Jermier et al., 1989), and a study of thoughts and feelings about death at work, pre-
New York city firefighters showed that involve- cipitating higher death anxiety, which will lead
ment in the traumatic September 11 events was to more withdrawal behaviors.
associated with higher levels of depression and Segmenters, on the other hand, are motivated
stress (Bacharach & Bamberger, 2007). to draw sharp boundaries between work and
Because few researchers have explicitly mea- other life domains. For segmenters, then, work
sured death anxiety, there is little direct evi- may provide a respite from external mortality
dence that death anxiety causes withdrawal be- cues, promoting task focus and reducing the ten-612 Academy of Management Review October
dency to display such withdrawal behaviors as for cues about how to prioritize tasks, goals, and
absenteeism, tardiness, and turnover. Indeed, activities (Lykins et al., 2007). For example, Ap-
terror management research has shown that ple founder Steve Jobs explained that being di-
some individuals seek to escape death anxiety agnosed with cancer led him to pursue more
by fleeing from the source of the anxiety and value-congruent projects: “I have looked in the
focusing intensely on another domain (McGre- mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today
gor, Gailliot, Vasquez, & Nash, 2007; McGregor & were the last day of my life, would I want to do
Marigold, 2003). This is a pattern that we expect what I am about to do today?’ . . . Remembering
to see among segmenters: their motivation to that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool
compartmentalize their lives will lead them to I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big
respond to external mortality cues by increasing choices in life” (Jobs, 2005).
their focus on work tasks, which will reduce the We expect that whether death reflection
stress and distraction of death anxiety and drives employees to express their prosocial mo-
thereby prevent withdrawal behaviors. Thus, in tivation in generative behaviors within or out-
the event of external mortality cues, death anx- side the domain of work depends on their orien-
iety is more likely to influence withdrawal be- tations toward work, which capture the values
haviors among integrators than segmenters. they attach to work (Wrzesniewski, Dutton, &
Proposition 7: When mortality cues are Debebe, 2003). Psychologists and sociologists
external to the workplace, work have argued that employees typically hold one
boundary preferences moderate the of three orientations toward work—job, career,
effect of death anxiety on withdrawal or calling (Bellah, Madsen, Sullivan, Swidler, &
behaviors such that segmenters en- Tipton, 1985; Schwartz, 1986). Job-oriented em-
gage in fewer withdrawal behaviors ployees see work as a means to fulfill the values
than integrators. of supporting oneself, one’s family, and one’s
leisure time. Career-oriented employees see
work as a means to fulfill the values of status,
Death Reflection and Generative Behaviors promotions, achievement, and challenge. Call-
at Work ing-oriented employees see work as an end in
and of itself, as an intrinsic source of personal
As noted previously, death reflection is likely
meaning, and as a means to fulfil the value of
to trigger prosocial motivation, which has been
linked to higher levels of generative behaviors, helping others.
such as helping, mentoring, and effort and ini- We draw on theories of resource allocation
tiative in tasks that benefit others (Grant, 2008; and value congruence to propose that these
Rioux & Penner, 2001). However, rather than dis- work orientations play a critical role in influenc-
playing generative behaviors at work, employ- ing employees’ behavioral reactions to death
ees can choose to express their prosocial moti- reflection. By enhancing the salience of mortal-
vations in generative behaviors outside the ity, death reflection increases employees’
domain of work (McAdams & de St. Aubin, 1992). awareness that time is finite, motivating them to
In this section we consider the individual and make decisions about where to allocate their
contextual contingencies that shape whether energy and attention (Becker, 1965; Hobfoll,
death reflection drives employees to express 2002). Theories of value congruence explain
prosocial motivation in generative behaviors these responses with reference to values: to de-
within or outside the domain of work. termine where to allocate scarce resources, em-
From the perspectives of theories of resource ployees turn to their values, or guiding princi-
allocation (Becker, 1965; Hobfoll, 2002) and value ples, for information about how to prioritize their
congruence (Cable & Edwards, 2004; Schwartz, options (Cable & Edwards, 2004; Schwartz, 1992;
1992), when employees reflect on death, they Vroom, 1964). Indeed, terror management re-
become increasingly aware that time is finite search indicates that when death is salient, in-
and turn to their values in order to make deci- dividuals invest more time and energy in activ-
sions about how to allocate their resources. In- ities that are reflective of their personal values
deed, recent research shows that death reflec- and identities (McGregor, Zanna, Holmes, &
tion motivates individuals to turn to their values Spencer, 2001).2009 Grant and Wade-Benzoni 613
The moderating role of work orientations. We For calling-oriented employees, work is a po-
propose that work orientations provide a set of tential source of meaning, identity expression,
principles to guide the decision about how to and social contribution. We expect that death
allocate time and energy. Research on work ori- reflection will motivate calling-oriented em-
entations shows that job-oriented employees ployees to express their prosocial motivations at
tend not to define their identities strongly in work by engaging in generative behaviors. If
terms of work (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001; they recognize opportunities to help and mentor
Wrzesniewski, McCauley, Rozin, & Schwartz, others, they will be likely to take initiative in
1997). Accordingly, we expect that employees crafting their jobs to provide more help and
with job orientations will choose to express their mentoring (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001). They
prosocial motivations outside the work domain, also will be likely to display high levels of effort
since they do not expect to find meaning in work and persistence in tasks that benefit others
(Wrzesniewski et al., 1997). Thus, death reflec- (Grant, 2007). For example, psychologists have
tion will motivate job-oriented employees to discovered surges in objective contributions as
pursue generative activities outside of work, creative workers, such as artists, composers,
such as childrearing and volunteering, and to and writers, reach retirement age in their 60s,
invest less time and energy in the work domain. 70s, and even 80s (Simonton, 1988). One expla-
For instance, consider a funeral home director nation for this pattern is the “swan-song” phe-
who explains that she has a job orientation to- nomenon: reflecting on death strengthens the
ward work: “I didn’t want to go into the funeral motivation of calling-oriented individuals to
businesses. . . . I had some choices, some leave behind a meaningful contribution. In a
chances to do other things, but, well, it’s a family study of nearly 2,000 works of composition by 172
business. . . . It’s not something that I picked” classical composers, Simonton (1989) found that
(Bowe, Bowe, & Streeter, 2000: 663, 668). She de- last works had higher objective popularity and
scribes how chronic mortality exposure in her job expert ratings of aesthetic significance, even af-
leads to death reflection, which motivates her to ter controlling for age and eminence:
spend more time with her family: “I know that
seeing so much death firsthand . . . I appreciate As people approach their last years, they may
undergo a life assessment, a reflection on where
life more because I do this . . . because I know it they have been and on how little time remains to
could all end like that. . . . I appreciate family and travel, and so may feel that the limited future
get-togethers more doing this” (Bowe et al., 2000: must be exploited to the utmost. . . . For creative
668). individuals, the outcome of this life review may
Employees with career and calling orienta- be a significant reshaping of the content and
form of those works selected as the career’s coda,
tions, on the other hand, will choose to express rendering them qualitatively distinct from other
their prosocial motivations in the work domain. works. Last-works effects hinge not on the cre-
These employees invest their identities more ator’s chronological or even career age but rather
strongly in work than job-oriented employees, on the perceived proximity of death (Simonton,
thereby attaching more meaning and impor- 1989: 42).
tance to work as a life domain (Wrzesniewski et
Together, these arguments and examples sug-
al., 1997). For career-oriented employees, work is
gest that death reflection will increase the gen-
a central source of status and prestige
erative behaviors of calling-oriented and ca-
(Wrzesniewski et al., 1997). Moreover, research
reer-oriented employees while it will decrease
on near-death experiences shows that death re-
the generative behaviors of job-oriented em-
flection can broaden individuals’ focus of atten-
ployees in the work domain.
tion beyond their own narrow career goals to-
ward a consideration of helping others and Proposition 8: Work orientations mod-
doing good (Cozzolino et al., 2004; Lykins et al., erate the effect of death reflection on
2007). These findings suggest that death reflec- generative behaviors in the work do-
tion will motivate career-oriented employees to main such that death reflection (a) in-
engage in higher levels of generative behavior creases work generativity for career-
in order to simultaneously achieve their agentic oriented and calling-oriented employees
and communal goals of improving their own and (b) decreases work generativity for
reputation and contributing to other people. job-oriented employees.You can also read
