Age Metastereotyping and Cross-Age Workplace Interactions: A Meta View of Age Stereotypes at Work

This paper advances the argument that fully understanding the dynamics of an increasingly age-diverse workforce requires the consideration not only of age stereotypes, but also of the stereotypes that older, younger, and middle-aged workers believe that others hold about their group. The activation of these age metastereotypes plays a key, yet under explored, role in shaping age-diverse interpersonal interactions at work. A review of relevant social and organizational literatures precedes the presentation of a conceptual model describing individual and contextual influences on metastereotypes in specific moments (activation) and at a chronic level (consciousness) and their implications for affect and behavior. Together, this review and model is intended to spark and guide future scholarship on age metastereotypes.