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Ageism has deleteriously influenced individuals and society for nearly half a century. Despite receiving increased attention, it remains under-researched regarding how it might be reduced in the workplace. Even though its prevalence and allure, review studies on workplace ageism (WA) are also scarce, and thus a review is warranted.

To fill the preceding void, this study will systematically review the existing literature on WA using data from the past four decades.

This study identified the various antecedents and the intervention mechanism through which WA may be reduced. Additionally, through reviews, the authors advance the research by offering promising avenues for future research.

This review contributes to human resources managers and will inspire future scholars to delve deeper into combating age discrimination, stereotypes and bias toward employees in workplaces.

The purpose of this paper is to address four interrelated questions: what is the prevalence of ageism amongst employers? What are the factors conditioning employers’ age stereotypes? To what extent are ageist attitudes among employers translated into discriminatory recruitment, retention and firing practices? And what factors can moderate the stereotype–discrimination interaction?

The paper draws on a survey conducted among Danish employers; 2,525 completed the survey questionnaires; response rate 25 per cent.

The major finding is that ageist stereotypes among employers do not translate into discriminatory personnel management practices.

The findings may be specific to Denmark. Denmark is renowned to be a non-hierarchical, egalitarian society, which may have implications for personnel management practices.

Contrary to this study, most studies analysing ageist stereotypes do not assess the extent to which stereotypes are translated into discriminatory personnel management practices in the workplace.

As a fairy tale is adapted to fit with current cultural discourses, drastic changes occur. One of these changes is the erasure of the old man. The wise old man, the doddering old fool, and many more tropes that older men fill have been altered. The eccentric Merlin and the mad Hatter have been replaced with younger versions in Merlin (2008–2012) and the Syfy miniseries Alice (2009). While the grandfather is technically found in Disney's Once Upon a Time in the form of Rumpelstiltskin, it is rarely discussed. In the Beauty and the Beast (2017), Maurice is no longer the town oddity as he goes from tinkering with odd inventions, to being a music box maker. His creativity and quirky idiosyncrasies have been erased.

This chapter delves into this disappearance of the older man in modern fairy tale adaptations, and the repercussions this has in the representation for the older man. Furthermore, this chapter seeks to show how toxic ageist notions in Hollywood have impacted the role of the old man as he is replaced with the stereotypical younger man, due to the increased objectification of men in film and the subsequent conformity to the ‘ideal masculine form’. This objectification can be seen through the slow ‘reinvigoration’ of the Mad Hatter from Disney's Alice in Wonderland (1951) to the Hatter in Syfy's Alice (2009), Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter, Tarrant Hightopp, in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (2010), and finally Sebastian Stan's Mad Hatter in Once Upon a Time (2011–2018).

Ageism refers to the systematic, cultural devaluation of agedness and concomitant discrimination against older adults that is endemic to Western industrialised societies. Age-based discrimination is expressed through the numerous, taken-for-granted, negative stereotypes that equate oldness with frailty, senility, asexuality, obsolescence and loss of attractiveness. It is also evident in the institutional policies and everyday practices that both subtly and overtly exclude older adults from full and meaningful access to resources and opportunities in various organisational settings, including the workplace. This chapter explores the ways that ageism shapes and constrains the experiences and prospects of older workers as they endeavour to obtain or retain employment and/or access to training and promotions. I will discuss how age-based stereotypes and discrimination are gendered, resulting in differential impacts on older men and women seeking employment or those who are currently employed. I will further consider how the older body more generally and appearance in particular are the focal points of ageist assumptions, norms and practices in the workplace. I will conclude by reflecting on the implications and outcomes of age-based exclusion and discrimination on the lives of older male and female employees.

This study aims to investigate the impacts of pandemic-related media coverage on younger hospitality and tourism employees’ ageist attitudes toward older people by applying the media priming theory and the terror management theory.

This study takes a mixed-method approach through an online survey. A total of 416 usable responses are collected from current US hospitality and tourism employees under 55 years. Qualitative data were analyzed using word cloud. Partial least squares structural equation modeling is then used to test the hypothesized model.

The study’s results show that younger employees' cognitive reaction negatively affects aging anxiety and intergenerational tension, which subsequently influence their willingness to work with older people. Negative media-induced emotions are positively associated with aging anxiety, whereas positive emotions exert no significant impact. Intergenerational contact frequency moderates the effect of intergenerational tension on younger employees’ willingness to work with older people.

This study’s findings contribute to the hospitality and tourism workforce literature by considering the priming effects of media coverage on younger employees’ attitudes toward self-aging and the older group. This study also offers managerial insights on developing effective age-inclusion interventions to reduce workplace ageism in the post-pandemic era.

Existing hospitality and tourism studies on older workers are scant and largely descriptive. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first study that assesses the effects of pandemic-related media coverage on workplace ageism toward older people among the current hospitality and tourism workforce.

This study aims to answer two research questions: first, to what extent can workplace bullying be explained by ageism? And second, does the likelihood of workplace bullying increase when age interacts with gender and ethnic minority?

The authors report results from a survey carried out in 11 organizations in Estonia (N = 1,614) using the Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised (Einarsen et al., 2009).

The results show that ageism does not explain bullying in Estonia. As in some earlier studies, older age correlates negatively with negative acts, and women report less work-related bullying than men. These findings were unexpected because Estonia's post-socialist background and the highest gender wage gap in Europe suggested otherwise. However, there is gendered ageism in work-related bullying such that older women report more negative acts in their workplace. Respondents from ethnic minority groups do not experience more bullying in general, nor in combination with age. Surprisingly, managers reported both person- and work-related bullying more than employees with no subordinates.

The study contributes to intersectionality literature with a view to workplace bullying in post-socialist study context.

This article investigates whether employers are more likely to employ older workers when faced with a shortage of qualified labour. Furthermore, it analyses whether in such cases age stereotypes moderate employers' preferences towards four employment options: (1) supporting workers to continue until the retirement age, (2) encouraging workers to continue beyond the retirement age, (3) recruiting someone older than 55 and (4) (re)hiring someone who has retired.

Data were drawn from a survey conducted among Finnish employers in 2021 (response rate = 66%, N = 1,442). Applying factor analysis to questions about older workers' qualities compared to those of average workers, a distinction was made between perceptions of experience-related and adaptability-related qualities. Generalised ordered logistic regression models were estimated to analyse the relations of preferences for each employment option with experiencing recruitment problems, workplace age stereotypes and interactions between these.

Experiencing recruitment problems was positively related to preferences for hiring a retired person. Employers with difficulties in recruitment were more likely to support work until the retirement age and recruit someone over 55, but only if they had above-average positive perceptions of older workers' experience-related qualities. Employers confronted with recruitment difficulties were more likely to encourage workers to continue beyond the retirement age if they had more positive perceptions of older workers' adaptability-related qualities.

This study shows that, even when confronted with labour shortages and population ageing, workplace age stereotypes still pose a potential obstacle for employers to make the best use of an older workforce.

This paper aims to bridge the gap by understanding the context of ageing consumer behaviour in the online community. Specifically, this research seeks to identify which content typologies are critical to generating high engagement levels and, consequently, online brand advocacy and to understand the underlying motivation behind consumer online engagement.

A netnographic approach was used to comprehensively analyse older consumers’ online communities on Facebook, namely, “Silversurfers”. A total of 3,991 posts were included in the study and analysed using a content analysis approach over two years, from 2020 to 2022.

Results revealed that photography is the most active media type among older consumers. This study extends the literature on content marketing, identifying 17 new content types that reflect the four motivation states of older consumers to engage with the online community: cognitive/informative oriented, affective/emotional oriented, co-creation/interactive oriented and nostalgic oriented. Moreover, this investigation stressed affective/emotional oriented and nostalgic oriented as the primary motivations for higher engagement levels.

The older population is growing, which makes the ageing market potentially huge. However, more literature needs to address it, especially in online communities. Finally, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study develops an original content typology framework in which firms can consider implementing effective content typology strategies for the older consumer segment.

Older people in Ethiopia are a vulnerable group due to the lack of governmental and societal support. The absence of national social protection and the decline in family support contributes to older adults’ vulnerability, furthering a climate of ageism. This study aims to explore the role of the Ethiopian Elders and Pensioner's National Association (EEPNA) in reframing the image of older adults and advocating for their rights.

Data were collected using multiple approaches: interviews with older adult members of EEPNA (n = 8), a focus group of older members (n = 7) and key informant interviews (n = 3). Narrative data was analyzed using thematic content analysis.

Findings revealed that EEPNA plays a pivotal role in promoting access to services and advocating for older adults’ rights, offering capacity-building programs, supporting vulnerable older adults to gain access to secure incomes and strengthening the network of older peoples’ associations. Older participants noted that the government had not ratified the National Convention for Older People, creating a considerable challenge to the association’s efforts.

Stakeholders can advocate with and on behalf of older adults to enhance the societal view of older adults in Ethiopia and to promote policies to increase their access to needed resources.

Using a strengths-based approach, this study presents the perspectives of older adult advocates who are fighting to create awareness of the needs of vulnerable older people in Ethiopia and to advance their rights.

This research highlights age-specific barriers to employment for older workers and the gap between activation policy design and implementation, focusing on difficulties in extending working life under employment support services.

This research employed a qualitative approach, utilizing semi-structured interviews to gather perspectives on extending the working lives of older adults. Eighteen experienced social workers who worked in employment support services for older workers who aged fifty-five and above participated in the study.

This study underscores the importance of comprehensively understanding the heterogeneity of individuals' circumstances and emphasizes the impact of intersectionality on the development of extending working life. It incorporates individual and familial difficulties, including considering caregiving responsibilities, health issues and housing challenges before exploring employment-related concerns. The study also highlights external factors influencing older workers' employment prospects, including employer perspectives, government support levels and public recognition of the necessity to extend working life.

This research sheds light on the impact of welfare-related stigma, which imposes obstacles and inflexibility on older workers seeking employment. It ultimately contributes to the sustainability and dynamism of the Asia–Pacific workforce while also informing regional discussions on social security and welfare services.

It uniquely employs the perspectives of social workers providing employment support services to highlight challenges and policy gaps in extending the working lives of older workers in Hong Kong. It also provides practical insights into strategies and mechanisms for extending working life across diverse social contexts.