Managerial decisions on older workers’ training: A vignette study on the interplay of worker and manager characteristics

Jelle Lössbroek; Joop Schippers

doi:10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101045

Managerial decisions on older workers’ training: A vignette study on the interplay of worker and manager characteristics

Jelle Lössbroek^*, Joop Schippers

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Training could support older workers in working longer. However, their training participation is low and unequally divided, possibly reinforcing inequalities among older employees. We study managers to understand this inequality as they are key actors in deciding who receives training. We study which workers are selected, based on their employability, age and sex, depending on the country context. We use a vignette experiment among 482 managers across nine European countries. Managers gave ‘trainability scores’ to hypothetical employees indicating how likely these employees are to be selected for training. We analyse what drives their (inclined) decisions. Results: show that managers prefer training employees who are already more employable, amplifying existing inequalities among older workers. Also, ‘older older’ employees receive lower trainability scores, particularly in countries with low average retirement ages. There was no support for the ‘gendered ageism’ argument: men and women were equally penalised for their age.

Original language	English
Article number	101045
Journal	Research in Social Stratification and Mobility
Volume	97
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101045
Publication status	Published - Jun 2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 The Authors

Funding

This work was supported by the Instituut Gak-KNAW award 2021; Netspar Theme Grant 2022-02; European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013) / ERC Grant Agreement n. 340045; VSNU Digital Society Agenda; the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (reference UPS/MW/3929) and the Future of Work Hub of Utrecht University's research theme Institutions for Open Societies. No funding bodies were involved in the study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the paper; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. This work was supported by the Instituut Gak-KNAW award 2021; Netspar Theme Grant 2022-02; European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013) / ERC Grant Agreement n. 340045; VSNU Digital Society Agenda; the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (reference UPS/MW/3929) and the Future of Work Hub of Utrecht University\u2019s research theme Institutions for Open Societies. No funding bodies were involved in the study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the paper; and in the decision to submit the article for publication.

Funders	Funder number
VSNU Vereniging van Universiteiten
Future of Work Hub of Utrecht University
European Union's Seventh Framework Programme	FP/2007-2013
European Research Council	340045
Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen	UPS/MW/3929

Keywords

Inequality
Older workers
Sociology
Stereotyping and discrimination
Training and development

Access to Document

10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101045Licence: CC BY

1-s2.0-S0276562425000368-mainFinal published version, 678 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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abstract = "Training could support older workers in working longer. However, their training participation is low and unequally divided, possibly reinforcing inequalities among older employees. We study managers to understand this inequality as they are key actors in deciding who receives training. We study which workers are selected, based on their employability, age and sex, depending on the country context. We use a vignette experiment among 482 managers across nine European countries. Managers gave {\textquoteleft}trainability scores{\textquoteright} to hypothetical employees indicating how likely these employees are to be selected for training. We analyse what drives their (inclined) decisions. Results: show that managers prefer training employees who are already more employable, amplifying existing inequalities among older workers. Also, {\textquoteleft}older older{\textquoteright} employees receive lower trainability scores, particularly in countries with low average retirement ages. There was no support for the {\textquoteleft}gendered ageism{\textquoteright} argument: men and women were equally penalised for their age.",

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Managerial decisions on older workers’ training: A vignette study on the interplay of worker and manager characteristics

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

Access to Document

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