Premium
A Closer Look at the Role of Applicant Age in Selection Decisions
Author(s) -
Perry Elissa L.,
Bourhis Anne C.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1998.tb01340.x
Subject(s) - psychology , selection (genetic algorithm) , social psychology , computer science , artificial intelligence
Participants evaluated hypothetical applicants recruited from a younger (university students) or older (American Association of Retired Persons) population for 2 young‐typed jobs, one more strongly young‐typed than the other. Participants were given applicant information, including age and personal characteristics, that varied in the extent to which it was consistent with raters' job stereotypes. Results indicated that younger applicants were evaluated more favorably than older applicants. However, an Applicant Age × Job interaction effect indicated that the older applicant was evaluated less favorably for the more strongly compared with the less strongly young‐typed job. In addition. applicants whose personal characteristics (other than age) were more consistent with raters' job stereotypes were evaluated more favorably than applicants whose characteristics were less consistent. Results also indicated that applicant age and personal characteristics interacted to influence applicant evaluations. The implications of these and other study results are discussed.