Attitudes towards older workers and their potential consequences: the perspective of university students

Abstract

We aim to understand (a) if the penta-dimensional structure of the measurement instrument of the managers’ attitudes towards older workers developed by Rego, Vitória, Cunha, and Tupinambá (2013) is replicated in a sample of university students and (b) if those attitudes explain the students’ decisions in scenarios similar to those presented to managers. The sample involved 278 students. Main results are as follows: (a) the penta-dimensional structure emerging from samples of Portuguese and Brazilian managers (Rego et al., 2013) is replicated in the sample of students; (b) although students recognize positive qualities in older workers, they also show discriminatory attitudes toward those workers, and this negative attitude is stronger than the one emerging from managers’ samples. This evidence suggests that there is need to raise the awareness of the students (i.e., the future professionals and leaders) for the nature and consequences of attitudes towards older workers.