Promoting later planned retirement: Construal level intervention impact reverses with age

We predict an age-related reversal of the effect of a construal level intervention on planned retirement age. As individuals’ temporal distance to retirement decreases, their primary retirement goal is likely to change. Younger individuals are primarily driven by desirability goals, but older individuals are driven by feasibility goals. Results from an online survey show that indeed a construal level intervention-induced global mindset increases the impact of desirability considerations on planned retirement age for younger individuals (and lowers planned retirement age), but increases the impact of feasibility considerations for older individuals (and raises planned retirement age). The findings underline the importance of taking into account heterogeneity in individuals’ chronic construals of decisions when designing construal level interventions to promote later planned retirement ages.