Age discrimination in simulated employment contexts: An integrative analysis.

Abstract

In the area of age discrimination in simulated employment settings, the present study meta-analytically tested 4 primary hypotheses derived from the social psychological stereotyping literature, referred to as the in-group bias, job information, salience, and job stereotype hypotheses. In general, the results supported the in-group bias, job information, and salience hypotheses, in that younger raters tended to give less favorable ratings to older workers when they were not provided with job-relevant information about the workers and when they concurrently rated old and young workers. Future research, including the initiation of research on economic-based age stereotypes, as well as practice directions related to valuing age diversity in organizationa l stakeholder groups are discussed. With the imminent aging of the labor force (cf. Forteza & Prieto, 1994; Warr, 1994), attitudes and beliefs about the aging work population are of critical importance to the quality of work life. Although older workers are sometimes perceived as being slower, less creative, less flexible, more resistant to change, disinterested in training, and prone to illness and accidents (Doering, Rhodes, & Schuster, 1983; Rhodes, 1983; Stagner, 1985), these beliefs often are inconsistent with the research literature. A number of empirical studies and research reviews (cf. Avolio, Waldman, & McDaniel, 1990; Forteza & Prieto, 1994; Mayrand, 1992; McEvoy & Cascio, 1989; Smith, 1990; Waldman & Avolio, 1986; Warr, 1994) have indicated that there is often a positive or no statistically significant association between a worker's age and many aspects of job performance. Despite this expanding body of knowledge, age discrimination with respect to employment decisions continues, as evidenced by the thousands of complaints filed each year under the Age Discrimina