Dissertation_Paula Aleksandrowicz_12 ... - Jacobs University

I had originally intended to focus on labour-intense (rather than skill-intense)
manufacturing firms as research shows that the push towards early exit in such surroundings
is especially pronounced due to hard working conditions and health impairments caused
thereby, technological change and the related obsolescence of (old) knowledge, and the
decline of the industrial sector (EC 2004a: 117-120; BmFSFJ 2005: 79, 85). Thus, I
assumed that firms with a higher percentage of blue-collar workers performing hard
physical work (e.g. working at assembly lines, in the cold, lifting heavy burdens) would be
more pressed to develop strategies which cushion the negative effects of an ageing
workforce.
In the course of the research, I broadened the range of sectors and included a few firms
from the services as well in line with heterogeneity sampling. The rationale behind it was
the striving for greater generalisability, and the knowledge that the employment risk of older
workers differs by branches and production regimes (Frerichs 2002; Rosenow/Naschold
1994: 42ff).
I aimed at least 10, preferably 15 firms per country.
The firms in my sample are no ´matched pairs´ in the meaning of Dore (1973; quoted
after Jürgens 1991: 195). The reason is that in Poland, large firms above 500/1.000
employees are seldom; only 0.13 per cent of companies employ 250 persons or more (MG
2006: 29). The firms I have in my sample are more typical of the segment of large firms in
Poland. Therefore, by choosing even larger firms, to match the German ones in size, I would
obstruct the idea of comparing firms which are typical for the given country (comp.
Heidenreich 1991: 52).
I collected empirical data in expert interviews based on an interview guideline. Expert
interviews are recommended in situations when concrete data on a given subject is afforded
(instead of the personal opinions and feelings of the interviewee; Trinczek 2002: 209). I
developed an interview guideline designed for a partially structurised 1-2 hours talk. The
guideline was based on academic literature, my own considerations and discussions within
the ActivAge group (see Annex A). It contained a part which was similar for all countries
participating in a project and a part which had to be adapted to individual country cases. I
also developed the guideline inductively, out of data: As I realised that my interviewees
understood the term ´older worker´ differently, I included the question “What constitutes in
your view an older worker?” into the Polish questionnaire guideline and into the guideline
for the second interview wave in German companies. The latter questionnaire was also
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