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Older Workers, Stereotypes, and Discrimination in the Context of the Employment Relationship

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Aging Workers and the Employee-Employer Relationship

Abstract

Age biases could pose challenges to developing and maintaining a successful employment relationship. This chapter reviews theoretical and empirical work on age bias in the workplace (including stereotypes, affect, and discrimination) and utilizes examples of two very different older workers at one hypothetical organization to demonstrate the various ways age biases could impact the employment relationship over time, and in turn how the employment relationship might create conditions that create or hinder age biases. Ideas for future research directly investigating the interplay of age bias and the employment relationship are suggested. An essential message woven throughout the chapter is that we must remember that not all older employees are alike.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USA

    Lisa M. Finkelstein

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  1. Lisa M. Finkelstein
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Correspondence to Lisa M. Finkelstein .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Management, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom

    P. Matthijs Bal

  2. Department of Human Resource Studies, University of Tilburg, Tilburg, The Netherlands

    Dorien T.A.M. Kooij

  3. H. John Heinz III College, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

    Denise M. Rousseau

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Finkelstein, L.M. (2015). Older Workers, Stereotypes, and Discrimination in the Context of the Employment Relationship. In: Bal, P., Kooij, D., Rousseau, D. (eds) Aging Workers and the Employee-Employer Relationship. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08007-9_2

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