Justifications for ratings of old and young job applicants: An exploratorycontent analysis

This study explored the content of 324 managers' written statements justify ing their ratings of a hypothetical older or younger job applicant's interp ersonal skills, economic worth, and likelihood of being interviewed for an upper level clerical position. Age-related concerns were more often elicite d in rating the older applicant than the younger applicant, and importantly , most of these concerns were related to economic issues. Implications for these findings for research and practice are discussed.