| Abstract: | The influences of rater age and rater age on performance evaluations of 513 exempt managers from a large manufacturing organization were examined. Two general performance criteria and six specific performance criteria were used. Results showed small but significant age influences on two of the specific performance measures, Self-Development and Interpersonal Skills. Older workers received lower ratings than younger workers on both of these dimensions. In addition, younger raters gave significantly higher ratings than older raters on Interpersonal Skills. Small but significant age interactions were found in both Interpersonal Skills ratings and Self-Development ratings. The findings were replicated in a second sample ( N =178). The influence of age on performance ratings is consistent with previous research and is compared. The extent of the influence is smaller in the present study than in previous research. |
