AGE INFLUENCE ON ATTITUDES OF OFFICE WORKERS FACED WITH NEW COMPUTERIZED TECHNOLOGIES - A QUESTIONNAIRE ANALYSIS

The study of Bue and Gollac (1988) provided evidence that a significan tly lower proportion of workers aged 45 years and over make use of com puter technology compared with younger ones. The aim of the present su rvey was to explain this fact by a more intensive analysis of the olde r workers' attitude with respect to the computerization of work situat ions in relation to other individual and organizational factors. Six h undred and twenty office workers from 18 to 70 years old, either users or non-users of computerized devices, were asked to complete a questi onnaire. The questions allowed the assessment of various aspects of th e workers' current situation, such as the computer training they had r eceived, the degree of consultation they were subjected to during the computerization process, their representation of the effects of these new technologies on working conditions and employment, the rate of use of new technologies outside the work context, and the perceived usefu lness of computers for their own work. The analysis of the questionnai re revealed that as long as the step towards using computer tools, eve n minimally, has not been taken, then attitudes with respect to comput erization are on the whole not very positive and are a source of anxie ty for many workers. Age, and even more, seniority in the department, increase such negative representations. The effects of age and seniori ty were also found among users, as well as the effects of other factor s such as qualification, education level, type and rate of computer us e, and size of the firm. For the older workers, the expectation of les s positive consequences for their career, or even the fear that comput erization might be accompanied by threats to their own employment and the less clear knowledge of how computers operate, appeared to account for a significant part of the observed age and seniority differences in attitudes. Although the difference in the amount of computer traini ng between age groups was smaller than expected, the study revealed th at one third of the users never received any specific training, and th at many of those who benefited from it were trained for only a few day s. Consultation of the staff during the computerization process also a ppeared to be poor, to apply mostly to the best trained and qualified workers, and to be more highly developed in small companies. The resul ts are discussed in the light of more qualitative data recorded during the survey. They suggest the need to increase information, training a nd involvement of all personnel from the very first stages of computer ization (or other technical changes) in order to lessen fears and the feeling of disruption, which are particularly obvious among the oldest workers.