The Moderating Effects of National Age Stereotyping on the Relationships between Job Satisfaction and its Determinants: A Study of Older Workers across 26 Countries
| Author | Edward Shiu,Louise M. Hassan,Sara Parry |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12091 |
| Published date | 01 April 2015 |
| Date | 01 April 2015 |
The Moderating Effects of National Age
Stereotyping on the Relationships between
Job Satisfaction and its Determinants:
A Study of Older Workers across
26 Countries
Edward Shiu, Louise M. Hassan and Sara Parry
Hen Goleg, Bangor University, College Road, Bangor, Wales LL57 2DG, UK
Corresponding author mail: e.shiu@bangor.ac.uk
This research explores how national age stereotypes impact older workers’ job-related
perceptions by examining probability based samples across 26 countries taken from the
European Social Survey. Multilevel data analysis was undertaken. Results show that, at
the individual level, both extrinsic rewards and intrinsic rewards directly impact older
workers’ job satisfaction. At the country level, significant variations are found in the
relationships between job satisfaction and related rewards for older workers across the
26 countries. Society’s stereotypical views towards older people explained some of these
cross-country variations. This study contributes to extant literature by explicating the
process by which society’s age stereotypes and the meta-stereotypes held by older
workers affect how these workers make sense and take meaning out of their job-related
circumstances leading to enhanced or diminished job satisfaction. Implications highlight
the need for management to be vigilant in identifying and dealing with age stereotypes in
the workplace. Furthermore, managers need to be more aware of the potential harmful
consequences arising from negative meta-stereotypes and should implement strategies to
tackle workplace stereotypes that would lead to negative meta-stereotypes held by older
workers.
Introduction
The population of the world is ageing with around
one-fifth of the world population aged 50 or over,
rising to a third by 2050 (US Census Bureau,
2011). In step with the ageing population, the pro-
portion of older workers in the workforce is
expected to similarly increase (Alley and
Crimmins, 2007). Given the abolishment of a
statutory retirement age or the increasing age of
statutory retirement across many countries
(OECD, 2011), it is imperative to examine factors
that influence the continued well-being of older
workers. In modern societies, citizens gain social
prestige and status from employment. Thus from
a life course perspective older workers might well
be concerned regarding the maintenance of their
social and financial standings through their con-
tinued participation in work. From a social policy
perspective, there is a financial necessity that older
workers remain longer in the workforce to pay for
retirement systems and enhance economic growth
(Feyrer, 2007). From a management perspective,
evidence suggests that discrimination against
older workers is widespread (Lieber, 2007;
Loretto, Duncan and White, 2000) with older
This research is based on data from the 2008 and 2010
rounds of the European Social Survey; see http://
www.europeansocialsurvey.org/.
© 2015 British Academy of Management. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4
2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA, 02148, USA.
British Journal of Management, Vol. 26, 255–272 (2015)
DOI: 10.1111/1467-8551.12091
workers’ perceptions of age discrimination having
an undesired impact on job-related perceptions
(Chiu et al., 2001; Redman and Snape, 2006). In
particular, Redman and Snape (2006, p. 174) con-
clude that ‘there is a clear business case for
employers to tackle age discrimination in the
workplace’. Ageism has been acknowledged as
‘one of the most socially-condoned and institu-
tionalized forms of prejudice’ (Nelson, 2005,
p. 208). Additionally, as Scott (1992, p. 20) states:
‘employees come to the organization with heavy
cultural and social baggage obtained from inter-
actions in other social contexts’. There is thus an
imperative to examine if and how society’s stereo-
typical views regarding age exert their influences
on older workers.
Stereotyping represents people’s tendency to
associate specific traits with other social groups
(Fiske et al., 2002). Stereotypes are inaccurate or
distorted social judgements which individuals
hold about the traits of members of groups that
are perceived as being different to their own. Ste-
reotypes manifest in society via prejudice and dis-
crimination (Fiske, 1998). According to Cuddy,
Glick and Beninger (2011, p. 80), ‘stereotypes are
ubiquitous, both as cultural artifacts to which eve-
ryone is constantly exposed and, consequently,
habits of mind that frequently influence percep-
tions of others’. Stereotypes operate at a national
cultural level (Cuddy et al., 2009) and have been
found to influence people’s thought processes and
guide people’s behaviour (Fiske, 1998; Scott,
1992). Warmth (e.g. friendliness, trustworthiness,
empathy and kindness) and competence (e.g.
intelligence, power, efficacy and skill) have been
identified as central dimensions of social judge-
ment within the stereotype content model (SCM)
(Fiske et al., 2002). Although older workers are
generally seen as warm, the poor performance/
competence stereotype has been found to be a
prevailing but inaccurate reflection of older
workers (Posthuma and Campion, 2009).1
Against this background, this research contrib-
utes to the literature by exploring the role of the
SCM in explaining cross-country differences in
the relationship between older workers’ job-
related perceptions and job satisfaction. In par-
ticular, research to date has yet to extend the
findings with regard to the influences of national
age stereotypes in a large scale cross-national
study. Theoretically, this study sheds light on the
process by which national age stereotypes exert
their influences on how older workers interpret
workplace conditions with consequences on the
level of job satisfaction felt by these older
workers. This study extends current knowledge
(1) conceptually by relating age stereotypes held
in wider society to those which operate within
organizations and (2) methodologically by build-
ing multilevel models and testing the moderating
effects of country-level stereotypes on individual-
level relationships. Practically, the findings should
help managers gain a better understanding of the
possible harm to older workers and the firm,
whereby socially held stereotypes of older people
can lead to detrimental effects on older workers.
Theoretical background
McCann and Giles (2002, p. 166) observe that
‘workplace stereotypes do not occur in isolation,
and thus they tend to reflect widespread societal
stereotypes of older people’. In particular, the
workplace is a microcosm of society that reflects
the stereotypes and biases of the national social
environment (Dennis and Thomas, 2007).
Kirkman, Lowe and Gibson (2006, p. 285) make
the link between values and beliefs held in society
and those of the workplace by asserting that
1Cross-country studies assessing the warmth and compe-
tence stereotypes of older people commonly characterize
older people as warm but incompetent (Cuddy, Norton
and Fiske, 2005; Cuddy et al., 2009). For example Cuddy
and Fiske (2002) show that US older adults are perceived
as warm but incompetent. Cuddy, Norton and Fiske
(2005) examine the cross-national stability of this view
with a cross-cultural sample of six non-US countries
(Belgium, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Japan, Israel and
South Korea) and find that the warm/incompetent ste-
reotyping of older people is similar across these six
nations. In Harwood et al.’s (1996) study examining six
nations (Hong Kong, Korea, Philippines, Australia,
New Zealand, USA), all countries’ perceptions of peo-
ple’s personal vitality (competence) decreased with age
whilst people’s benevolence (warmth) increased with age.
Other cross-cultural investigations examining views in
Japan (Koyano, 1989), China, Taiwan (Tien-Hyatt,
1986) and Thailand (Sharps, Price-Sharps and Hanson,
1998) also reported similar findings. In another study
across seven European and three East Asian countries,
Cuddy et al. (2009) confirm the stereotypical (warm but
incompetent) view of older people held by people across
these ten countries. Krings, Sczesny and Kluge (2011)
also find these stereotypes apply to older workers.
© 2015 British Academy of Management.
256 E. Shiu, L. M. Hassan and S. Parry
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