Quaderni IRCrES 25 – Capitolo 3
Capitolo 3
Oltre la pensione: La costruzione di senso del lavoro ponte*
Beyond Retirement: The meaning-making of bridge employment
Luisa Errichiello(a), Orsola Salmista(b)
(a) CNR-ISMed, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche – Istituto di Studi sul Mediterraneo, Via Cardinale Guglielmo Sanfelice, 8, 80134 Napoli, Italia
(b) Ricercatore indipendente, Salerno, Italia
corresponding author: orsolasalmista@gmail.com
Abstract
This chapter reports preliminary findings from an ongoing qualitative meta-synthesis on bridge employment, paid work undertaken after exit from one’s main career job and before full retirement. Despite decades of research, the field remains fragmented across definitions, typologies, and explanatory frames with limited integrative, interpretive synthesis of lived experiences. We address this gap by meta-synthesizing qualitative studies to illuminate how older workers interpret and manage the retirement transition, giving meaning to the continuation of work activity. Following a meta-ethnographic, inductive approach, we analyzed 16 studies spanning healthcare, academia, manufacturing, services, and public administration in predominantly Western contexts.We conducted open coding, reciprocal translation across studies, and back-to-data checks; because the synthesis is in progress, we present early first-order codes rather than second-order meta-concepts. Three preliminary thematic axes stand out: bridge employment operates as an identity mechanism that preserves and reconfigures the professional self, authenticity and hybrid identity; intergenerational mentoring as generativity; digitalization and techno-ageism. This chapter contributes (i) theoretically, by advancing an interpretive, multi-level reading of meaning-making in late-career transitions; and (ii) practically, by translating emergent themes into HRM design cues and multi-level age-inclusive countermeasures including job design, stigma-free upskilling, structured mentoring, and governance of phased pathways.
Keywords: bridge employment, late-career transitions, qualitative meta-synthesis, individual experience, ageism.
DOI: 10.23760/2499-6661.2026.25_03
ISBN: 978-88-98193-40-0
ISSN (online): 2499-6661
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How to Cite
Errichiello, L., Salmista, O. (2026). Oltre la pensione: la costruzione di senso del lavoro ponte. In D’Ascenzio, A., Errichiello, L., Falavigna, G., & Lamonica, V. (cur.). Mercato del lavoro e relazioni sociali dopo i 50. Riflessioni e politiche per il benessere in una società che invecchia (pp. 39-62). Quaderni IRCrES 25. CNR-IRCrES. http://dx.doi.org/10.23760/2499-6661.2026.25_03
* Questo lavoro è stato realizzato nell’ambito del progetto finanziato da Next Generation EU – “Age-It – Ageing well in an ageing society” (PE0000015), CUP B83C22004880006 – Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza (PNRR) – PE8 – Missione 4, Componente 2, Investimento 1.3. Le opinioni espresse sono esclusivamente degli autori e non riflettono necessariamente quelle dell’Unione Europea o della Commissione Europea. Né l’Unione Europea né la Commissione Europea possono essere ritenute responsabili dei contenuti qui riportati.