THE RELATIONSHIPS OF AGE WITH JOB ATTITUDES: A META-ANALYSIS
THOMAS W. H. NG,
DANIEL C. FELDMAN,
THOMAS W. H. NG
School of Business and Economics The University of Hong Kong
Search for more papers by this authorDANIEL C. FELDMAN
University of Georgia Terry College of Business
Search for more papers by this authorTHOMAS W. H. NG,
DANIEL C. FELDMAN,
THOMAS W. H. NG
School of Business and Economics The University of Hong Kong
Search for more papers by this authorDANIEL C. FELDMAN
University of Georgia Terry College of Business
Search for more papers by this author and requests for reprints should be addressed to Thomas W. H. Ng, School of Business and Economics, The University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong; [email protected].
Abstract
Although organizational research on age has largely focused on the age–performance relationship, the relationships between age and job attitudes have received less attention. Guided by socioemotional selectivity theory, this paper provides a comprehensive meta-analysis of the relationships of chronological age with the 35 job attitudes most frequently studied as its correlates. Results of meta-analyses from more than 800 articles indicate that the relationships between chronological age and favorable attitudes (and/or to less unfavorable attitudes) toward work tasks, colleagues and supervisors, and organizations are generally significant and weak to moderate in strength. Moderator analyses also revealed that organizational tenure, race, gender, education level, and publication year of study moderate the relationships between age and job attitudes. Based on these findings, we make recommendations for future theory development and empirical research on age in organizational settings. We also discuss the implications of our findings for practice.
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