Are older applicants less likely to be invited to a job interview? – an experimental study on ageism
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-11-2020-0515 |
| Published date | 12 April 2022 |
| Date | 12 April 2022 |
| Pages | 1259-1272 |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
| Author | Éva Berde,Mánuel László Mágó |
Are older applicants less likely to
be invited to a job interview? –
an experimental study on ageism
Eva Berde and M
anuel L
aszl
oM
ag
o
Institute of Economics, Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest, Hungary
Abstract
Purpose–The maingoal of this paper is to test whether older Hungarian women face age discriminationin the
job market. The theoretical framework of this paper measures the level of discrimination and highlights that
age discrimination leads to a waste of human resources.
Design/methodology/approach –Two pairs of fictitious CVs were created; each pair included a younger
(34yearsold)andanolderwoman(60yearsold)withanagedifferenceof 26 years. One pair was designed for office
assistant positions, the other for economic analyst positions. The contents of the CVs with photos were entirely
fabricated except for active email addresses and phone numbers to allow responses to be tracked. LinkedIn accounts
were also created for the analysts.Applications were sent over a four-month period from November 2019. The rate of
invitation to interviews was analysed with mathematical statistical methods and a small probability model.
Findings –The younger job seekers were invited to interviews about 2.2 times more often than the older ones. Based
on the authors’probabilitymodel, employers evaluate the skills of older a pplicantsat only 45–67%of their actual skills.
Research limitations/implications –The experiment had to be stopped due to the Covid-19 lockdown as
there were no new job postings.
Originality/value –The experiment demonstrates that age discrimination exists in Hungary. In addition to
traditional audit job applications through HR portals, we used LinkedIn too. The small probability model
applies an old framework in a new environment.
Keywords Ageing society, Job advertisements, Audit job application, CV homogenisation, Measuring age
discrimination
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
In most European countries the share of older workers had dropped significantly by the
beginning of the last third of the 20th century, when the employment rate was on average below
40% in the 55–59-year age group (Eurostat). In Western European countries the employment rate
of older people in the job market started to increase from the beginning of the 2000s. In the former
Eastern Bloc countries, the same process did not start until the following decade, in the early
2010s. This finally led to an increase in the employment rate of the older population throughout
Europe: more than 70% of the people aged 55–59, around 45% of the 60–64age group and almost
10% of people aged 65 or above were employed in 2019.ThesituationinHungaryfollowstheEU
average, with an occasional 1–2% point difference up or down. The main reasons behind this
employment rate increase are those measures takenbyEuropeangovernmentsinresponsetothe
ageing of their populations and the risingwillingness and ability to keep working later in life due
to increased life expectancy (Eichhorst et al., 2014;Hof€
acker and Radl, 2016;Van Dalen et al., 2009).
In almost all European welfare states, as in Hungary, governments have usually tightened
the rules for pay-as-you-go pension systems and it seems that this trend will continue (Gruber
et al., 2009). The main measures include continuous increasing of the retirement age,
discontinuation of early retirement opportunities and continuous shifts from the system of
An
experimental
study on
ageism
1259
Funding: This research has been supported by the European Union and Hungary and co-financed by the
European Social Fund through the project EFOP-3.6.2-16-2017-00017, titled “Sustainable, intelligent and
inclusive regional and city models”.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0142-5455.htm
Received 29 November 2020
Revised 20 September 2021
14 March 2022
Accepted 22 March 2022
Employee Relations: The
International Journal
Vol. 44 No. 6, 2022
pp. 1259-1272
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-11-2020-0515
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