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Older workers and poor performance: Examining the association of age stereotypes with expected work performance quality
Author(s) -
Petery Gretchen A.,
Wee Serena,
Dunlop Patrick D.,
Parker Sharon K.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
international journal of selection and assessment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.812
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1468-2389
pISSN - 0965-075X
DOI - 10.1111/ijsa.12309
Subject(s) - psychology , stereotype (uml) , association (psychology) , quality (philosophy) , social psychology , work performance , work (physics) , selection (genetic algorithm) , age discrimination , computer science , mechanical engineering , business administration , philosophy , epistemology , artificial intelligence , engineering , business , psychotherapist , labour economics , economics
We investigated how age‐based worker stereotypes correspond with attributes of expected work performance. Participants ( N = 220) rated 86 stereotypical descriptors of older (e.g., ‘resistant to change’) and younger workers (e.g., ‘savvy with technology’). Each descriptor was rated on both the extent that it was a common stereotype about younger (vs. older) workers, and characteristic of good (vs. poor) expected work performance. Ratings revealed stereotypes that were strongly associated with both a worker age group and with work performance quality, offering an explanatory mechanism for how candidates’ ages might influence judgments around personnel selection. A table of the paired age/performance ratings is provided to encourage the development of less age‐biased recruitment and selection materials.