Ageism at work: The impact of intergenerational contact and organizational multi- age perspective

TLDR: The authors examined how intergenerational contact and organizational multi-age perspective may contribute toward mitigating ageism and improving work attitudes through a dual identity process, and found that workers' dual identity is a key mediator of the effects of context on both ageisms and attitudes at work.

Abstract: Despite the prevalence of ageism in the workplace, little empirical effort has been devoted to analysing the contextual factors that may help reduce it. Building upon research on intergroup contact and multiculturalism, we examine in two studies how intergenerational contact and organizational multi-age perspective may contribute toward mitigating ageism and improving work attitudes through a dual identity process. In Study 1, SEM analyses confirm that workers’ dual identity is a key mediator of the effects of context on both ageism and attitudes at work. Study 2 replicates and extends the results of Study 1, firstly by showing the mediational effects of perceived procedural justice, and secondly by investigating stereotypes more closely related to the population of older workers. As a set, our findings shed new light on ageism at work as well as on the protective role of two aspects of the social context.