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The purpose of this paper is to explore the Brazilian managers’ attitudes toward older workers, and how those attitudes explain HRM decisions in hypothetical scenarios.

Brazilian managers (n=201) reported their attitudes toward older workers and their decisions in scenarios involving an older vs a younger applicant/worker.

In spite of expressing positive attitudes toward older workers, a significant number of managers chose a younger one even when the older worker is described as more productive. To build a better understanding of how attitudes predict decisions, it is necessary to identify attitudinal profiles and the interplay between attitudinal dimensions, rather than simply studying each dimension separately. Attitudinal profiling also shows that some managers discriminate against younger workers, a finding, that is, ignored when (only) regressions are taken into account. The managers’ attitudes and behavioral intentions relate with their age. Evidence does not support the double jeopardy effect against older women workers.

The sample is small. The scenarios cover a reduced number of HRM decisions. The data about attitudes and decisions were collected simultaneously from a single source. The findings may be influenced by idiosyncrasies of the context. Future studies should also consider real situations, not hypothetical ones.

Efforts must be made (e.g. via training and development) to raise managers’ awareness about the consequences of ageism in organizations.

Empirical studies about managers’ perceptions/attitudes toward older workers are scarce. Studies in the Brazilian context are even scarcer.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the perception of HRM practices and the retirement decision of older workers with a low occupational status in the creative industry in the Netherlands using social identity theory.

In total, 30 semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted by telephone. The sample consisted of workers with a low occupational status, aged 50 or above, in the creative industry in the Netherlands, all member of the trade union of this industry.

The relationship between HRM practices and retirement decisions is complex and contradictory. In line with social identity theory, it was found that HRM practices designed for older workers were perceived as a stamp that they belonged to a devalued social group. However, they do want organizations to accommodate their needs, but in a way that they do not feel to require special attention.

The findings show that older workers want organizations to adapt the workplace to their needs, but that the provision of age-specific practices could prevent them from constructing a positive social identity. HR practices can only make older workers extend their working lives if they are provided to all workers regardless occupational status or age.

The purpose of this study is to investigate if a supportive psychological climate specifically aimed at older workers (i.e. employee perceptions that the organization supports and activates older workers) will result in higher levels of older workers' vitality and dedication mediated through increased levels of older workers' perceived organizational support (POS).

The authors conducted a two-wave survey study among 209 older university employees (aged above 45 years) using structural equation modeling.

The results revealed that a change in supportive psychological climate is positively associated with a change in vitality and dedication, which was mediated by a change in POS.

Since workforces are aging around the world, one of the most pressing challenges for human resource managers is to find effective strategies to encourage older workers to remain engaged and active members of the workforce for as long as possible. In this study, the authors demonstrate that a supportive psychological climate for older workers is particular important in this regard.

The main contribution of this study is that it identifies the important role of a supportive psychological climate for older workers in predicting older workers engagement i.e. vitality and dedication, while also shedding light on the underlying mechanisms involved.

The purpose of this paper is to pinpoint some key variables that help shape the notion of older workers as a source of organizational wisdom capital.

Toward that end, the paper reviews a selective bibliography in order to support its arguments.

The evidence garnered throughout this paper – fundamentally through different lens of analysis – suggests that older workers may be considered as valuable assets. Furthermore, a sizeable number of members of this cohort continue, even in the latter stages of their careers, to be willing, well-equipped, and able to enhance, if properly utilized, companies to achieve other patterns of performance. Accordingly, it is advocated here that their knowledge and expertise constitutes an authentic source of organizational wisdom capital that deserves careful attention from organizations to maintain by means of suitable incentives and training.

This paper highlights other aspects that should not be disdained by organizations such as career-ending, work characteristics, and mastery-avoidance goals. Thus, companies that are interested in keeping older talents must be attuned to their wishes and aspirations, as well as being proactive by offering tailor-made job-products to them.

Given the trend of aging workforce, it is likely that organizations will be increasingly impacted by societal demands and public policies toward benefiting and respecting older talents.

This paper advocates that older workers are usually living memories of organizational life. Rather, they tend to keep in their minds those failures and successful ideas, projects, initiatives, and leaderships, which added or not value throughout their trajectories, as well as things that worked out or not. Fundamentally, they are able to provide answers to vital questions.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the transitional employment (TE) aspirations and training and development needs of older and younger workers at risk of early retirement due to limited education and/or employment in blue‐collar (BC) occupations.

A computer‐based methodology is used to evaluate the demographic effects of gender, education level, and occupation group on aspirations pertaining to TE and training and development in a sample of over 1,000 local government employees.

Older BC, secondary school‐educated and younger workers are less interested in TE than older workers with higher levels of education or from white‐collar backgrounds. The early retirement risk factors of BC work and secondary school education had a more limited effect on perceived training and development needs for older workers. However, for younger workers, these risk factors provided the impetus to undertake training to move into less physically demanding or more challenging roles as their careers progressed.

Via the identification of education level and occupation types groups' TE aspirations and perceptions of preparatory training and development within younger and older cohorts, long‐term strategies to develop and retain staff may be formulated.

Past studies of TE have rarely included younger workers or older workers at risk of early retirement. Preparatory training and development for TE roles has not been considered in the literature.

The purpose of this paper is to identify what work-related factors influence the continued participation of older workers in the workforce.

A systematic quantitative literature review of the workforce participation literature identified 27 publications from 1995 to 2016 that examined the impact of work-related factors on older workers’ intention to continue working.

Results show that work demands, learning and development opportunities, job autonomy, recognition and respect, mentoring opportunities, supportive organisational climate and social support were significant factors that predicted older workers’ workforce participation decisions. Interestingly, less evidence was found to support flexible work arrangements or salary as inducers of workforce participation. Results also show an overrepresentation of cross-sectional studies involving participants from western countries employed in healthcare and social assistance sectors.

Organisations should adjust their policies and practices to accommodate the needs of older workers, focusing specifically on increasing factors that encourage participation and removing obstacles to participation.

Increasing the participation rates of older workers is a key goal for governments and organisations worldwide. This research identifies some specific factors that are likely to encourage continued participation.

A systematic evaluation of the extant research draws new conclusions and insights as to what work factors are more likely to influence the participation decisions of older workers.

Little is known about the motivation for older workers to work and to remain active in the labor market. Research on age and motivation is limited and, moreover, conceptually diverse. This paper aims to address age‐related factors that influence the work motivation of older workers. More specifically, it seeks to examine how various conceptualizations of the age factor affect the direction and termination of the motivation to continue to work of older workers.

A literature review of age‐related factors and motivation to continue to work is the approach taken in the paper.

Results from 24 empirical and nine conceptual studies indicate that most age‐related factors can have a negative impact on the motivation to continue to work of older people. These findings suggest that age‐related factors are important in understanding older workers' motivation to continue to work and that further research is needed to more fully understand the underlying processes that govern how these age‐related factors influence the motivation to continue to work.

Based on the aforementioned findings, the paper was able to formulate a research agenda for future research, such as: a need for a meta‐analysis on age and motivation to determine the actual effect sizes, and additional theoretical attention to the underlying age‐related processes.

Age‐related factors identified in this study, such as declining health and career plateaus, should be addressed by HRM policies. HRM practices that could motivate older workers to continue to work include ergonomic adjustments and continuous career development.

Research on age and motivation is limited and conceptually diverse. This paper is one of the first studies to explore the relations between different conceptualizations of age and motivation.

Advancing knowledge about effectively managing the ageing workforce and ensuring economic sustainability for a growing retired cohort is a recognised priority for organisational health researchers, employers and governments. The purpose of this paper is to test social perceptions that older workers' cognitive performance and job attitudes compare adversely to their younger colleagues.

The research assessed samples of older and younger workers in objective tests of cognitive abilities and subjective job attitudes. An opportunity sampling method was employed to recruit a heterogeneous group of participants in Australia (n=172).

No significant differences in cognitive ability between the groups were identified; older workers were as cognitively skilled for their job as their younger colleagues. No significant group difference for perceptions of social support, job commitment, job satisfaction or turnover intentions was identified.

The cross‐sectional research design adopted by this research prevented a more detailed examination of the data in terms of causal relationships. While the cognitive testing provided objective rather than subjective data and, therefore, is not as susceptible to response biases such as common method variance, the small sample who undertook the cognitive testing is acknowledged as a research limitation.

This research has implications for the reduction in unemployment of older workers and directly addresses the social issues of an ageing labour force.

The paper demonstrates that stereotypical assumptions concerning inadequate performance and low job commitment commonly attributed to older workers are not in fact indicative of all ageing employees.

Demographic changes involving a worldwide ageing population and later retirements produce a gradual ageing of the workforce and major concerns about how ageing may influence the workplace. This paper aims to provide evidence relating to older workers in healthcare settings in Australia.

Using a secondary quantitative dataset, the authors sub-sampled a group of workers in the healthcare sector. We used linear regression arrangement with hypotheses focused on the assessment of the significance of interaction or moderation effects relating to job characteristics and age on employee satisfaction.

The authors note that older workers' job satisfaction is negatively influenced by poor perceptions of job security and autonomy in how their work is carried out. Ensuring that older workers stay in the healthcare workforce is imperative as the work force ages. This paper shows that managing their job security and offering them work autonomy enhance their job satisfaction.

The use of a secondary and cross-sectional dataset has some limitations relating to endogeneity, although these have been managed and assessed. The paper is based on a representative sample of Australian workers, and is thus generalisable within the Australian context, and will be informative elsewhere.

The focus on elements of flexibility for older workers (enhanced autonomy) and clearer job security elements is of practical relevance in the management of older workers.

As the overall population ages, supporting older workers in their careers will be of increasing importance. In sectors with a disproportionate share of older workers, like health care, this imperative will come sooner, and the benefits of getting arrangements right be will higher.

No other paper has explored these specific relationships empirically that the authors are aware of. This work is original in terms of its assessment of questions of what second-order effects exist in predicting employee satisfaction among older workers.

The purpose of this research is to find out to what extent older workers make use of ICT and to what extent this influences their job performance.

Workers of various age groups are surveyed in two sectors: printing industry and wholesale trade. The use of (various types of) ICT is compared for a number of age groups, controlling the influence of other explanatory variables and correcting the fact that older users are a selective group. In the next step, the use of ICT is one of the factors explaining performance.

The results show that, compared with younger workers, older workers make less use of ICT in their job, use less complicated applications and have more difficulties in using ICT. This is to their disadvantage as the use of ICT and particularly the level of use appear to affect performance positively.

The research is concentrated on two specific sectors which are forerunners in the field of ICT. A generalization of the results is therefore most applicable to industries and jobs in which ICT plays an important role.

The results suggest that company policies can be of help in dealing with the problem. However, the provision of formal training in ICT has no significant effect.

Contrary to what is often done in this type of study, the level on which ICT is used is taken into account. Moreover, direct indicators for performance are used instead of wages. Particularly for older workers wages may not reflect productivity.