Ageism at Work
- LAST MODIFIED: 26 February 2020
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199828340-0261
- LAST MODIFIED: 26 February 2020
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199828340-0261
Introduction
A demographic shift has been occurring in the workforce and is expected to continue in most industrialized nations across the globe. The popular press calls it “the graying of the workforce,” or “the silver tsunami,” reflecting a trend of an aging workforce. Older employees are remaining at their jobs longer and consequently age diversity within organizations has increased. Five different generations (Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, and Generation Z) are working together more than ever before. Increased age diversity has important implications for organizational processes and can have positive and negative consequences. As this trend continues, businesses must adapt to effectively manage age-diverse employees. If left unchecked, ageism at work can lead to numerous detrimental outcomes for organizations (e.g., reduced firm performance, employee turnover), teams (e.g., intergroup conflict), and individuals (e.g., selection discrimination, poor health). Research on this topic seeks to understand the content and process of age-based stereotyping, accuracy of stereotypes, outcomes of age bias, and conditions under which stereotypes are most likely to result in discrimination. Most of the work to date has focused on older workers; however, attention to younger worker age bias is increasing. Developing research streams strive to understand personal and contextual factors impacting ageism at work, and strategies for mitigating the negative effects of age diversity while fostering positive outcomes.
General Overviews
These selections provide the reader with a comprehensive overview of the key themes, theoretical foundations, and empirical evidence relating to age bias in the workplace. Truxillo, et al. 2017 provides a comprehensive review of ageism-related theory, delineates age categories and associated stereotypes, and reports on how stereotypes can lead to discrimination in hiring, training, and performance appraisal, layoffs, and interpersonal treatment. The authors examine moderators, novel research streams, and promising areas for development of the ageism at work literature. Updated from the 2007 edition, Finkelstein, et al. 2019 provides an up-to-date examination about what age bias is, why age biases occur at work, what processes are at play, under what conditions age bias is most likely to occur, what outcomes can be expected, and what can be done about it on an individual, organizational, and community level. Cadiz, et al. 2017 reviews theoretical foundations and empirical evidence organized within the tripartite framework, that is, through examining separately the cognitive (stereotypes), affective (prejudice), and behavioral (discrimination) components of workplace ageism.
Cadiz, D. M., A. C. Pytlovany, and D. M. Truxillo. 2017. Ageism in the workplace. In The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology.
DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.013.2
Theoretical background and empirical evidence is presented to provide an understanding of age-related stereotypes, prejudices, and discrimination at work. Promising related research and recommendations for future research development are presented.
Finkelstein, L. M., E. A. Hanrahan, and C. L. Thomas. 2019. An expanded view of age bias in the workplace. In Aging and work in the 21st century. Edited by K. S. Shultz and G. A. Adams, 59–101. New York: Routledge.
This chapter provides an overview of age bias in the workplace including a useful framework to structure a comprehensive understanding of the ageism at work literature. The authors walk the reader through relevant research to foster a theoretical and empirical appreciation of this phenomenon, and provide recommendations for future research.
Truxillo, D. M., L. M. Finkelstein, A. C. Pytlovany, and J. S. Jenkins. 2017. Age discrimination at work: A review of the research and recommendations for the future. In The Oxford handbook of workplace discrimination. Edited by A. Colella and E. King, 1–37. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
Research relevant to age discrimination at work is reviewed in this chapter. Theoretical background, stereotype content, empirical evidence relating to prejudice and discrimination, contextual considerations, and future research recommendations are discussed.
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login.
How to Subscribe
Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here.
Article
- Abnormal Psychology
- Academic Assessment
- Acculturation and Health
- Action Regulation Theory
- Action Research
- Addictive Behavior
- Adolescence
- Adoption, Social, Psychological, and Evolutionary Perspect...
- Adulthood
- Affective Forecasting
- Ageism
- Ageism at Work
- Aggression
- Allport, Gordon
- Alzheimer’s Disease
- Ambulatory Assessment in Behavioral Science
- Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA)
- Anger
- Animal Behavior
- Animal Learning
- Anxiety Disorders
- Art and Aesthetics, Psychology of
- Assessment and Clinical Applications of Individual Differe...
- Attachment in Social and Emotional Development across the ...
- Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in Adults
- Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in Childre...
- Attitudes
- Attitudinal Ambivalence
- Attraction in Close Relationships
- Attribution Theory
- Authoritarian Personality
- Autism
- Bayesian Statistical Methods in Psychology
- Behavior Therapy, Rational Emotive
- Behavioral Economics
- Behavioral Genetics
- Belief Perseverance
- Bereavement and Grief
- Biological Psychology
- Birth Order
- Body Image in Men and Women
- Burnout
- Bystander Effect
- Categorical Data Analysis in Psychology
- Childhood and Adolescence, Peer Victimization and Bullying...
- Clinical Neuropsychology
- Clinical Psychology
- Cognitive Consistency Theories
- Cognitive Dissonance Theory
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Communication, Nonverbal Cues and
- Comparative Psychology
- Competency to Stand Trial
- Computational Psychology
- Conflict Management in the Workplace
- Conformity, Compliance, and Obedience
- Consciousness
- Coping Processes
- Correspondence Analysis in Psychology
- Counseling Psychology
- Courage
- Creativity
- Creativity at Work
- Critical Thinking
- Cross-Cultural Psychology
- Cultural Psychology
- Daily Life, Research Methods for Studying
- Data Science Methods for Psychology
- Data Sharing in Psychology
- Death and Dying
- Deceiving and Detecting Deceit
- Defensive Processes
- Depression
- Depressive Disorders
- Development, Prenatal
- Developmental Psychology (Cognitive)
- Developmental Psychology (Social)
- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM...
- Discrimination
- Disgust
- Dissociative Disorders
- Drugs and Behavior
- Eating Disorders
- Ecological Psychology
- Educational Settings, Assessment of Thinking in
- Effect Size
- Embodiment and Embodied Cognition
- Emerging Adulthood
- Emotion
- Emotional Intelligence
- Empathy and Altruism
- Employee Stress and Well-Being
- Environmental Neuroscience and Environmental Psychology
- Ethics in Psychological Practice
- Event Perception
- Evolutionary Psychology
- Expansive Posture
- Experimental Existential Psychology
- Exploratory Data Analysis
- Eyewitness Testimony
- Eysenck, Hans
- Factor Analysis
- Festinger, Leon
- Five-Factor Model of Personality
- Flynn Effect, The
- Forensic Psychology
- Forgiveness
- Friendships, Children's
- Fundamental Attribution Error/Correspondence Bias
- Gambler's Fallacy
- Game Theory and Psychology
- Geropsychology, Clinical
- Habit Formation and Behavior Change
- Happiness
- Health Psychology
- Health Psychology Research and Practice, Measurement in
- Heider, Fritz
- Heuristics and Biases
- History of Psychology
- Human Factors
- Humanistic Psychology
- Humor
- Hypnosis
- Implicit Association Test (IAT)
- Industrial and Organizational Psychology
- Inferential Statistics in Psychology
- Intelligence
- Intelligence, Crystallized and Fluid
- Intercultural Psychology
- Intergroup Conflict
- International Classification of Diseases and Related Healt...
- International Psychology
- Interviewing in Forensic Settings
- Intimate Partner Violence, Psychological Perspectives on
- Introversion–Extraversion
- Item Response Theory
- Kurtosis
- Language
- Laughter
- Law, Psychology and
- Lazarus, Richard
- Leadership
- Learned Helplessness
- Learning Theory
- Learning versus Performance
- LGBTQ+ Romantic Relationships
- Lie Detection in a Forensic Context
- Life-Span Development
- Lineups
- Locus of Control
- Loneliness and Health
- Mathematical Psychology
- Meaning in Life
- Mechanisms and Processes of Peer Contagion
- Media Violence, Psychological Perspectives on
- Mediation Analysis
- Meditation
- Memories, Autobiographical
- Memories, Flashbulb
- Memories, Repressed and Recovered
- Memory, False
- Memory, Human
- Memory, Implicit versus Explicit
- Memory in Educational Settings
- Memory, Semantic
- Meta-Analysis
- Metacognition
- Metamemory
- Metaphor, Psychological Perspectives on
- Microaggressions
- Military Psychology
- Mindfulness
- Mindfulness and Education
- Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
- Money, Psychology of
- Moral Conviction
- Moral Development
- Moral Psychology
- Moral Reasoning
- Motivation
- Music
- Narcissism
- Narrative
- Nature versus Nurture Debate in Psychology
- Neuroscience of Associative Learning
- Nonergodicity in Psychology and Neuroscience
- Nonparametric Statistical Analysis in Psychology
- Observational (Non-Randomized) Studies
- Obsessive-Complusive Disorder (OCD)
- Occupational Health Psychology
- Olfaction, Human
- Operant Conditioning
- Optimism and Pessimism
- Organizational Justice
- Parenting Stress
- Parenting Styles
- Path Models
- Peace Psychology
- Perception
- Perception, Person
- Performance Appraisal
- Personality and Health
- Personality Disorders
- Personality Psychology
- Phenomenological Psychology
- Placebo Effects in Psychology
- Play Behavior
- Positive Psychological Capital (PsyCap)
- Positive Psychology
- Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Prejudice and Stereotyping
- Pretrial Publicity
- Prisoner's Dilemma
- Problem Solving and Decision Making
- Procrastination
- Prosocial Behavior
- Prosocial Spending and Well-Being
- Protocol Analysis
- Psycholinguistics
- Psychological Literacy
- Psychological Perspectives on Food and Eating
- Psychology, Political
- Psychoneuroimmunology
- Psychophysics, Visual
- Psychotherapy
- Psychotic Disorders
- Publication Bias in Psychology
- Race
- Reasoning, Counterfactual
- Rehabilitation Psychology
- Relationships
- Reliability–Contemporary Psychometric Conceptions
- Religion, Psychology and
- Replication Initiatives in Psychology
- Research Methods
- Resilience
- Risk Taking
- Rumination
- Sample Size Planning for Statistical Power and Accurate Es...
- Savoring
- Schizophrenic Disorders
- School Psychology
- School Psychology, Counseling Services in
- Self, Gender and
- Self, Psychology of the
- Self-Construal
- Self-Control
- Self-Deception
- Self-Determination Theory
- Self-Efficacy
- Self-Esteem
- Self-Monitoring
- Self-Regulation in Educational Settings
- Self-Report Tests, Measures, and Inventories in Clinical P...
- Sensation Seeking
- Sex and Gender
- Sexual Minority Parenting
- Sexual Orientation
- Signal Detection Theory and its Applications
- Simpson's Paradox in Psychology
- Single People
- Single-Case Experimental Designs
- Skinner, B.F.
- Sleep and Dreaming
- Small Groups
- Social Class and Social Status
- Social Cognition
- Social Neuroscience
- Social Support
- Social Touch and Massage Therapy Research
- Somatoform Disorders
- Spatial Attention
- Sports Psychology
- Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE): Icon and Controversy
- Stereotype Threat
- Stereotypes
- Stress and Coping, Psychology of
- Student Success in College
- Subjective Wellbeing Homeostasis
- Suicide
- Taste, Psychological Perspectives on
- Teaching of Psychology
- Terror Management Theory
- Testing and Assessment
- The Concept of Validity in Psychological Assessment
- The Neuroscience of Emotion Regulation
- The Reasoned Action Approach and the Theories of Reasoned ...
- The Weapon Focus Effect in Eyewitness Memory
- Theory of Mind
- Therapies, Person-Centered
- Therapy, Cognitive-Behavioral
- Thinking Skills in Educational Settings
- Time Perception
- Trait Perspective
- Trauma Psychology
- Twin Studies
- Type A Behavior Pattern (Coronary Prone Personality)
- Unconscious Processes
- Virtues and Character Strengths
- Wisdom
- Women and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM...
- Women, Psychology of
- Work Well-Being
- Wundt, Wilhelm