Hiring retirees: impact of age norms and stereotypes

Abstract

Purpose -Our study investigates the role of managers in the re-employment of early retirees and focuses on the effect of managers' age norms and stereotypes on managers' employment decisions.Design/methodology/approach-A combination of a factorial study and a survey was conducted. First, information on the age norms and stereotypes was collected. Secondly, profiles of hypothetical retired job applicants were presented to the employers, who were asked to make a specific hiring decision. The information collected during both studies was combined in the analysis and multilevel models were estimated.Findings -The results indicate that higher age norms (defined as age at which somebody is believed to be unable to work for 20 hours a week or more) result in a higher propensity to hire an early retiree. Stereotypes, by contrast, do not influence managers' decisions. Early retirees' chances for re-employment are also related to their own circumstances (physical appearance and relevant experience) and organisational forces, as they are hired when organisations face labour force shortages.Research limitation / implications -With the use of vignettes study we deal with hypothetical hiring situation.Originality value-Although the effect of attitudes has been often suggested, not much empirical evidence was presented to support this notion. Our study estimates the effect of age norms and stereotypes on hiring decision.

European Top Managers’ Age-Related Workplace Norms and Their Organizations’ Recruitment and Retention Practices Regarding Older Workers

“…It furthermore shows the importance of top managers in directing organizations' practices, and thereby the importance of leadership in the emergence and effects of norms (e.g., Ostrom, 2000). Next to directing line managers' selection behavior regarding older job applicants (Karpinska et al, 2013a;Oude Mulders et al, 2014), agerelated workplace norms also influence organizations' practices on a higher level. This may imply that age-related workplace norms of top managers 'trickle down' through the organization, affecting other people's norms in the process, and thereby affecting organizations' behavior.…”

“…Awareness campaigns could create more awareness about age discrimination, age equality, and qualities of older workers. In particular, more attention to culturally expected retirement timing and age equality is warranted, since age-related workplace norms are more directly related to employment behavior by organizations and managers than stereotypes of older workers (see also Karpinska et al, 2013a). Especially when it comes to stimulating employment outside the societal norm of 'normal retirement age', policy makers should try to change top managers' norms about career duration and retirement timing.…”

“…Age-related workplace norms have been shown to influence employment decisions regarding older workers in various settings (e.g., Karpinska et al, 2013a;2013b;Lindner et al, 2014), but norms of top managers have not been studied before. Workplace norms that are considered here are the norms regarding equal treatment of younger and older workers on the labor market (age equality norms) and norms about the appropriate timing of retirement of older workers (retirement age norms).…”

Training opportunities for older workers in the Netherlands: A Vignette Study

“…As indicated by Van Solinge and Henkens (2007), retirement age norms illustrate the appropriate time to retire, and they affect retirement decisions of older workers. Previous research by Karpinska et al (2013a;2013b) has shown that age norms held by managers do affect their hiring and retention decisions regarding older workers, and form a barrier to prolonged employment.…”

Older workers: stereotypes and occupational self-efficacy

“…We chose to use the cutoff of 50 years to distinguish older workers from younger workers. Even if there is little consensus on the chronological age (or ages) at which an "older worker" is defined, a number of previous studies have used 50 years old as cut-off (McCarthy et al, 2014) and, furthermore, according to managers' opinion, the "limit of employment" seems to be 50 years (see, Karpinska et al, 2013). Based on previous findings, which showed that the same age stereotypes are shared by people of different ages, we expect that:…”