Abstract: Organizations increasingly confront demographic transformation in which populations worldwide work longer, yet investment in workforce development remains age-biased and insufficiently calibrated. Contemporary evidence challenges linear assumptions that more development opportunities invariably produce superior outcomes. Drawing on research by Yue and Huang (2025) and integrating expectancy theory with lifespan developmental psychology, this article demonstrates that development human resource practices (DHRPs)—including training, internal promotion, incentive compensation, and challenging assignments—follow an inverted U-shaped relationship with employee outcomes. The relationship varies nonlinearly across career stages: DHRPs relate negatively to engagement among early-career employees but curvilinearly among mature professionals. Affective organizational commitment mediates these relationships. Organizations operating in contexts where employees aged 55 and older will represent eight to nine percent of the workforce by 2032 must recalibrate development investments, abandon age stereotypes, and recognize that appropriate calibration rather than maximum provision drives performance.
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