This study evaluates the cumulated empirical evidence on 6 common age stereotypes. These stereotypes suggest that older workers are: (a) less motivated, (b) generally less willing to participate in training and career development, (c) more resistant and less willing to change, (d) less trusting, (e) less healthy, and (f) more vulnerable to work-family imbalance. The meta-analysis included 418 empirical studies (N= 208,204) and examined the relationships of age to 39 variables representing the content domain of age stereotypes. The only stereotype consistent with empirical evidence is that older workers are less willing to participate in training and career development activities. The paper concludes with implications for future theory development and management practice.

Evaluating Six Common Stereotypes About Older Workers with Meta‐Analytical Data

A synopsis on aging-Theories, mechanisms and future prospects

The workforce in most industrialized countries is aging and becoming more age-diverse, and this trend is expected to continue throughout the twenty-first century. Although there has been an increased interest in research on age differences at work, few studies have examined actual interventions designed to support workers at different points across the life span. In this article, we review the literature related to aging at work, including physical, cognitive, personality, and motivational changes; life-span development theories; age stereotyping; age diversity; and work–life balance. Based on this review, we propose a number of avenues for intervention research to address age differences at work. We conclude by identifying critical challenges specific to studying age at work that should be addressed to advance research on interventions.

Supporting the Aging Workforce: A Review and Recommendations for Workplace Intervention Research

In European nations, the aging of the workforce is a major issue which is increasingly addressed both in national and organizational policies in order to sustain older workers' employability and to encourage longer working lives. Particularly older workers' employability can be viewed an important issue as this has the potential to motivate them for their work and change their intention to retire. Based on lifespan development theories and Van der Heijden's 'employability enhancement model', this paper develops and tests an age-moderated mediation model (which refers to the processes that we want to test in this model), linking older workers' (55 years old and over) perceptions of job support for learning (job-related factor) and perceptions of negative age stereotypes on productivity (organizational factor), on the one hand, and their intention to retire, on the other hand, via their participation in employability enhancing activities, being the mediator in our model. A total of 2,082 workers aged 55 years and above were included in the analyses. Results revealed that the two proposed relationships between the predictors and intention to retire were mediated by participation in employability enhancing activities, reflecting two mechanisms through which work context affects intention to retire (namely 'a gain spiral and a loss spiral'). Multi-Group SEM analyses, distinguishing between two age groups (55-60 and 61-65 years old), revealed different paths for the two distinguished groups of older workers. Employability mediated the relationship between perceptions of job support for learning and intention to retire in both age groups, whereas it only mediated the relationship between perceptions of negative age stereotypes and intention to retire in the 55-60 group. From our empirical study, we may conclude that employability is an important factor in the light of older workers' intention to retire. In order to motivate this category of workers to participate in employability enhancing activities and to work longer, negative age stereotypes need to be combated. In addition, creating job support for learning over the lifespan is also an important HR practice to be implemented in nowadays' working life.

/pdf/keep-up-the-good-work-age-moderated-mediation-model-on-1idjsen97v.pdf

Keep Up the Good Work! Age-Moderated Mediation Model on Intention to Retire

Despite widespread popular concern about what it means to be over 40 and unemployed, little attention has been paid in the literature to clarifying the role of age within the job seeking experience. Extending theory, we propose mechanisms by which chronological age affects job search and reemployment outcomes after job loss. Through a meta-analysis and examination of 2 supplemental datasets, we examine 5 questions: (a) How strong is the relationship between age and reemployment speed? (b) Does age disadvantage individuals with respect to other reemployment outcomes? (c) Is the relationship between age and reemployment outcomes mediated by job search activities? (d) Are these relationships generalizable? and (e) Are these relationships linear or curvilinear? Our findings provide evidence for a negative relationship between age and reemployment status and speed across job search decade, world region, and unemployment rate, with the strength of the negative relationship becoming stronger over age 50. Job search self-efficacy and job search intensity partially mediate the relationship between age and both reemployment status and speed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Age and reemployment success after job loss: An integrative model and meta-analysis.

Objective. This article presents an updated meta-analysis of field and laboratory studies that examine the influence of age on a number of evaluative workplace outcomes (advancement, selection, general evaluations, interpersonal skills, and reliability). Method. A random effects meta-analytic procedure was used. Results. In line with the perspective that perceptions of older workers are multidimensional, the observed meta-analytic correlations indicate that age has medium-sized negative effects on majority of the outcomes investigated (radvancement = −.21, rselection = −.30, rgeneral evaluations = −.24, and rinterpersonal skills = −.23, and a medium-sized positive effect on perceptions of reliability (rreliability = .31). Additionally, evidence of moderation by study design for the selection outcome is presented, such that within-subjects designs elicit stronger effects of age than between-subjects designs. Discussion. The present study demonstrates that it is likely that older workers are not viewed entirely negatively or entirely positively in the workplace; rather, the perceptions of older workers are more are varied, and even positive in some cases.

Examining Positive and Negative Perceptions of Older Workers: A Meta-Analysis

A Review of Aging Theories and Modern Work Perspectives

Purpose
This article investigates the efficacy of the Structured Free Recall Intervention (SFRI; J Bus Psychol 15:229–246, 2000a; Organ Behav Hum Decis Process 82:237–267, 2000b ) for reducing the impact of bodyweight-based stereotype endorsement on performance ratings, both immediately and when a time delay occurs between the observation and rating of performance.

Testing the Structured Free Recall Intervention for Reducing the Impact of Bodyweight-Based Stereotypes on Performance Ratings in Immediate and Delayed Contexts

Anne C. Bal

Papers

Examining Positive and Negative Perceptions of Older Workers: A Meta-Analysis

A Review of Aging Theories and Modern Work Perspectives

Testing the Structured Free Recall Intervention for Reducing the Impact of Bodyweight-Based Stereotypes on Performance Ratings in Immediate and Delayed Contexts