Age at Work: Explaining Variation in Frames and Stereotypes of Older Employees in Corporate and News Media

• In Event: ICA Plenary Interactive Paper/Poster Session II
  In Interactive Paper Session: Organizational Communication Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

Despite that the image problem of older workers is likely being reinforced by portrayals in mass and corporate media, former studies neglected the question how older employees are represented in these contexts. This study investigates frames and stereotypes in corporate and news media coverage about older workers’ employability. The data come from a content analysis of newspaper coverage and corporate media of 50 large-scale Dutch organizations, during the period 2006 – 2013, totaling 1328 items. Our results, based on multilevel modeling, reveal general support for our hypotheses: corporations attempt to avoid associations with problems related to older employees and highlight the opportunities the individual organization offers, while news media are more inclined to victimize older employees and report stereotypes. This study shows that the image problem of older workers holds in a communicative context and contributes to our understanding of the emergence of stereotypes in news and corporate media.

Authors

• Anne Cornelia Kroon, University of Amsterdam, ASCOR

• Martine van Selm, Amsterdam School of Communication Research

• Claartje L. ter Hoeven, ASCoR, U of Amsterdam