AGE-DIFFERENCES IN REACTIONS TO ERRORS IN COMPUTER-BASED WORK

The present study examined the reactions of older and younger workers to the situation of encountering an error during computer-based work. It was expected that older workers would have a stronger negative emot ional reaction to such an error due to a combination of age-related fa ctors. In both a questionnaire and an observational study among 134 of fice workers this was found to be the case. This age relationship rema ined after controlling for differences in computer experience, attitud es to new technology, education and the number of errors made by parti cipants during a typical computer-based work session. More detailed an alyses showed that in response to an error situation, older workers co mpared to younger ones stated they were significantly less likely to t ry and solve the problem entirely on their own; this was also partly s upported by the observational data. In terms of the available options for helping rectify errors, older workers reported that they were more often likely to use written documentation and rely less on asking oth er workers. The implications of the findings are discussed in terms of interventions to ameliorate the impact of errors in computer-based wo rk on an older workforce.