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Work Attitudes and Decisions

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RESEARCH REPORTSWork Attitudes and Decisions as a Function of Manager Age andEmployee AgeLynn M. ShoreGeorgia State UniversityJeanette N. ClevelandPennsylvania State UniversityCaren B. GoldbergGeorge Washington UniversityResearch has shown the importance of employee age relative to coworker age in determining attitudes,performance, and career-related opportunities. The authors used chronological and subjective measuresof employee and manager age to determine whether employee age relative to the manager has an impacton these same outcome variables. One hundred eighty-five managers and 290 employees completedsurveys. The strongest and most consistent age effects were observed for interactions between employeeand manager chronological age. Both the magnitude and pattern of the employee–manager age interac-tions varied by self- and manager-rated outcome measures of work attitudes, performance and promot-ability assessments, and developmental experiences. Results are discussed in light of the relationaldemography and career timetable literatures.Traditionally, managers were likely to be older and more expe-rienced than most of the individuals they supervised. It is nowincreasingly common (e.g., because of reorganizations and merg-ers) to find older workers reporting to younger managers. Al-though there has been much research on the simple relationshipbetween employee age and important work decisions and out-comes (Rhodes, 1983; Waldman & Avolio, 1986), more recentresearch suggests that it is important to consider contextual influ-ences, such as the ages of others in the employee’s work environ-ment (Murphy & Cleveland, 1995). Several previous studies (e.g.,Cleveland & Shore, 1992; Cleveland, Shore, & Murphy, 1997;Ferris, Judge, Chachere, & Liden, 1991) have shown that workattitudes and evaluations of older and younger workers are affectedby the ages of their coworkers. The present study extends that lineof research by examining the effects of another important aspect ofthe work environment—the manager’s age.Two distinct conceptualizations have emerged in the literaturethat provide a basis for making predictions about the influence ofmanager age relative to employee age in the work context, includ-ing relational demography (Riordan & Shore, 1997; Tsui, Xin, &Egan, 1995) and Lawrence’s (1988) career timetable. Below, wedescribe both theoretical approaches and their implications formaking predictions about the role of manager age.Relational Demography as a Theoretical Underpinning ofEmployee–Manager RelationshipsOrganizational demography research investigates the relation-ship between demographic variables and organizational outcomes(Lawrence, 1988). Studies of relational demography, which usecomparisons of demographic characteristics of individuals to pre-dict outcomes at the individual level of analysis (Ferris et al., 1991;Perry, Kulik, & Zhou, 1999), are particularly relevant to thepresent research. The logic behind relational demography is basedon the similarity–attraction paradigm (Byrne, 1971; Riordan &Shore, 1997). This research proposes that the greater the similaritybetween an individual and members of his or her work unit, themore attracted the individual is to the members of the unit. As aresult, the individual will have more positive work attitudes andexperiences. Conversely, when the individual is dissimilar frommembers of the unit in terms of salient demographic characteristics(e.g., age), the person is likely to have more negative workexperiences.Relatively little research in relational demography has focusedon manager–employee dyads. However, Tsui et al. (1995) sug-gested that similarities and differences in employee–manager at-tributes, such as age, are important in understanding leader–subordinate relationships, as they serve as the basis for (a) forminginterpersonal attraction and (b) inferring managerial perceptions ofemployee performance and employee perceptions of managerialsupportiveness. Thus, the effect of employee age on managers’perceptions of their employees may depend in part on the man-ager’s age.Leader–member exchange research (Graen & Scandura, 1987;Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995) also suggests that manager–employeeage differences may lead to a poor quality exchange relationshipLynn M. Shore, Department of Management, Georgia State University;Jeanette N. Cleveland, Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania StateUniversity; Caren B. Goldberg, Department of Management Science,George Washington University.Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Lynn M.Shore, Department of Management, 35 Broad Street, P.O. Box 4014,Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia30302-4014. E-mail: [email protected] of Applied Psychology Copyright 2003 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.2003, Vol. 88, No. 3, 529–537 0021-9010/03/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0021-9010.88.3.529529because of the manager’s expectation of supervision problems. Inturn, low-quality exchange relationships are expected to result inhigher turnover, lower employee performance ratings, and lowersatisfaction and commitment levels (Graen & Uhl-Bien). Liden,Wayne, and Stillwell (1993) provided evidence that perceiveddemographic similarity of superiors and subordinates is positivelyassociated with leader–member exchange quality. This finding,coupled with other studies that have linked demographic similaritywith superiors’ rating of employees’ performance (Antoinette,1992; Judge & Ferris, 1993; Lagace, 1990; Tsui & O’Reilly,1989), suggests that manager–employee age differences may be animportant predictor of work attitudes and behaviors. In particular,relational demography theory predicts that employees who aresimilar in age to their managers will have more positive workattitudes and experiences than will employees who are dissimilarin age to their managers.Career Timetables as a Theoretical Underpinning ofEmployee–Manager RelationshipsWhereas relational demography proposes a symmetrical match-ing process in which matches result in more favorable outcomesthan do mismatches, findings of other researchers (Perry &Bourhis, 1996) suggest that a symmetrical matching process maynot operate for age. Lawrence (1987, 1988) proposed the notion ofcareer timetables. Her research suggests that there are clear normsregarding where one should be on the organizational chart at agiven age. Individuals who are promoted at a rate


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