Page 249 - Discrimination at Work The Psychological and Organizational Bases

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9. AGE DISCRIMINATION
younger proteges. Interestingly, when asked about the potential disadvan­
tages of mentoring someone older, the mentors in their study cited the
lack of credibility or respect that might be afforded to a younger mentor,
whereas the proteges stated concerns about the younger mentor's knowl­
edge and experience. This study suggests the importance of greater under­
standing of the mentoring relationship in relation to age and underscores
the importance of future investigations of younger employees serving as
mentors for older employees. As an example, younger employees may
have knowledge (e.g., pertaining to technology) that they can impart to
older proteges whose skills are not as up-to-date.
Upward mobility has been found to decrease with age (Lawrence, 1984;
Cox & Nkomo, 1992). Cox and Nkomo suggest this may be due to the
favoring of younger candidates because of the longer available time to
work for the organization than older candidates. Lawrence (1990) studied
managerial perceptions of career progress and concluded that "managers'
assumptions about individual attainment may be violated when, in lower
levels, promotions are too fast or too slow, and in upper levels, when man­
agers are too young or too old" (p. 81). Thus, she argues that age bias
is more likely to occur at higher levels of career progression. Shore et al.
(2003) found that employee age was negatively related to promotability,
but that this relationship was moderated by manager age such that young
managers were much more likely than old managers to favor young em­
ployees. Cleveland and Shore (1992) also found a negative relationship
between age and promotability, and showed that employees who were
older than their work group were less likely to be viewed as promotable.

EXITING THE ORGANIZATION

Although logically it seems that older workers would be less likely to
quit their jobs, research suggests that age is not a significant predictor of
voluntary turnover (Healy, Lehman, McDaniel, 1995). Cohen (1993) found
that unlike for younger workers, commitment is not a good predictor of
turnover for older workers and suggested that this may occur because,
even when older employees have low organizational commitment, they
may not quit because of structural bonds (e.g., benefits), few employment
alternatives, and a desire for stability.
Downsizing and restructuring continue to be popular business strate­
gies for improving firm performance (Cascio, 2002). The emphasis on cost
reduction results in older workers being targeted in downsizing efforts,
as they typically represent greater costs to the organization. For example,
in Marks v. Loral (1997), the court ruled that using salary as a basis for