Older workers and poor performance: Examining the association of age stereotypes with expected work performance quality.
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This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Petery, GA, Wee, S, Dunlop, PD, Parker, SK. Older workers and poor performance: Examining the association of age stereotypes with expected work performance quality. Int J Select Assess. 2020; 00: 1– 12, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/ijsa.12309. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.
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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.