Generational ageism, a relational process: How generational stereotypes affect employee experiences of generational ageism in implicit ways.
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2025-06-20
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en
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Generational labels like “OK Boomer” or “Lazy Millennial” are increasingly common in media, everyday conversation, and workplace discourse. While ageism has received significant scholarly attention, bias based on perceived generational cohort (generational ageism) remains comparatively underexplored. This qualitative case study of an assistant department at an international law firm explores how generational stereotypes affect employee experiences in subtle, often implicit ways. Despite assistants' explicit rejection of generational framings or denial of generational discrimination, their narratives revealed embedded assumptions that influenced how they perceived and treated their colleagues and themselves. By adopting frameworks of relational ageism theory and generational identity theory, this thesis argues that generational ageism is not an obvious or linear process but a relational, cyclical one, emerging through personal experience, internalization, social interactions, organizational dynamics, and media narratives. Positioned at the intersection organizational studies age studies, and broader social sciences, this research offers a nuanced perspective on how generational stereotypes, even when unacknowledged, can subtly affect experiences of age-based inequalities in current organizational life.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen