Management Ph.D. student awarded grant for dissertation on the aging workforce

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Yiduo Shao, a Ph.D. candidate in the management department at the University of Florida Warrington College of Business, is among the recipients of the Society for Human Resource (SHRM) Foundation Dissertation Grant Award. As part of her award, Shao will receive $5,000 for her dissertation work and will be invited to present her findings at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting in 2022.

This year, the SHRM Foundation Dissertation Grants were given to two promising researchers in the field of human resource management at the dissertation stage of their doctoral education. The annual competition is funded by the SHRM Foundation and is in partnership with the HR Division of the Academy of Management to support the dissertation research of doctoral candidates.

“I feel grateful to receive this award,” Shao said. “I consider this award as an important recognition of my dissertation’s novelty, quality and contribution. It motivates me to complete my dissertation and make continued contribution to the field via my research.”

Shao’s dissertation idea stems from the global population aging trend. As organizations are facing an increasing need to manage and engage this workforce, Shao’s research seeks to understand what organizations can do better.

“In particular, [I seek to understand] what HR practices may be implemented to leverage the aging workforce and promote workers’ engagement as they grow older,” Shao explained. “I develop a theoretical model that delineates various age-associated benefits and challenges employees may experience in remaining engaged at work, and how two types of age-related HR practices (i.e., older worker-specific HR practices and age-inclusive HR practices) may help magnify those age-associated benefits and mitigate those challenges.”

Shao notes she is grateful for the guidance she’s received from her committee chair Mo Wang, Lanzillotti-McKethan Eminent Scholar, and dissertation committee members Joyce Bono, W.A. McGriff III Professor, Brian Swider, Beth Ayers McCague Family Fellowship Associate Professor, and Philip Podsakoff, Hyatt and Cici Brown Chair in Business. 

“I would like to thank Dr. Mo Wang for nominating me to receive this award,” Shao said. “I also appreciate the valuable feedback from my dissertation committee, who offered important guidance for me to improve my dissertation research. Finally, I am grateful for the funding from the SHRM Foundation and thank the award selection committee at the Human Resources Division of the Academy of Management.”

Shao is also the recipient of a Warrington College of Business Ph.D. Teaching Award for her teaching efforts in the spring of 2020 as well as an Outstanding International Student Award from the University of Florida. Her research on how COVID-19 affected employee feelings of job insecurity was featured in the Warrington Newsroom with tips for managers on how to help mitigate insecurity feelings among employees.

In addition to the aging workforce and older worker employment, Shao’s research interests include diversity and inclusion, virtual workplace and artificial intelligence in management, and change and innovation.

Shao received her bachelor’s degree in psychology and her bachelor’s degree in economics from Peking University in China.