Younger workers’ metastereotypes, workplace mood, attitudes, and behaviors

Eden B. King · Lisa M. Finkelstein

40 citations0/0 files storedJournal of Managerial Psychology

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

Retirement, Disability, and Employment Social and Intergroup Psychology Generational Differences and Trends

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of age-related stereotyping processes on younger workers’ mood, attitudes, and impression management behaviors at work. Design/methodology/approach – Using survey data from 281 younger workers, the hypothesized model was tested using structural equation modeling. Findings – As younger workers are more self-conscious about being age stereotyped, they are less likely to be satisfied with older co-workers, which is partly explained by negative mood associated with that metastereotype consciousness. Also, chronological age, age-group identification, and age prejudice, were critical influences on the emergence of metastereotype consciousness. Research limitations/implications – Unexpected findings point to: experiences of younger workers which may not follow the same patterns found with older groups and unique operation of age as a dynamic social category that may not parallel findings regarding other social categories. Practical implications – There is clearly potential for younger workers to be concerned they are viewed “stereotypically” and this metastereotype consciousness influences how they feel, think, and behave at work. Organizations should be aware of the potential antecedents and consequences, as well as the nature of metastereotypic perceptions, to better facilitate positive and productive interactions across age groups at work. Originality/value – This research contributes to an understanding of younger workers’ experiences at work, highlights the role of mood in the operation of metastereotypes on attitudes and behaviors in age-diverse contexts, and improves our understanding of social biases and inequality associated with age-based groups.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 40 citations exist upstream.

References

1988Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales.1988Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales.2004The Social Identity Theory of Intergroup Behavior 1996Power analysis and determination of sample size for covariance structure modeling.2002A model of (often mixed) stereotype content: Competence and warmth respectively follow from perceived status and competition.1996Affective Events Theory: A theoretical discussion of the structure, causes and consequences of affective experiences at work.2010What Reviewers Should Expect from Authors Regarding Common Method Bias in Organizational Research 2002Contending with group image: The psychology of stereotype and social identity threat

Cited by

2021Thinking of you thinking of me: An integrative review of meta‐perception in the workplace 2021The mechanism of goal-setting participation’s impact on employees’ proactive behavior, moderated mediation role of power distance 2019Please Don’t Look at Me That Way. An Empirical Study Into the Effects of Age-Based (Meta-)Stereotyping on Employability Enhancement Among Older Supermarket Workers 2019

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.