Perceived Age Discrimination and Performance Among Older Workers: The Moderating Role of Job Level

We develop and test a model of how older workers’ perceived age discrimination obstructs their job performance, focusing on employee job level (managerial versus line employee) as a critical contingency. Drawing upon resource theories, we propose that the effects of age discrimination on performance are more detrimental for older workers at lower levels (frontline) than at higher levels (managerial). We tested our model using three-wave data—controlling for lagged variables at every stage—and found evidence for a moderating role of job level. Older workers in lower job levels (frontline) experienced more negative consequences from perceived age discrimination compared to those in higher job levels (managerial), resulting in lower work engagement and ultimately in lower subsequent task performance relative to baseline. However, we did not observe conclusive effects extending to proactive performance. Our model and results show that the impact of perceived age discrimination is mitigated at higher managerial job levels, highlighting the need to protect frontline older workers who are impacted more strongly by age discrimination.