The challenge of making better use of societal and economic resources to enable older workers to remain active and productive at work employs researchers, policymakers, and older persons in a variety of developed countries. While the factors involved in tackling this challenge are recognized both in terms of encouraging later life work at the individual level and in operating mechanisms at the public level (Burke et al., 2013; North, 2019), a growing body of knowledge suggests that the resources of older workers that allow them to remain employable are to a considerable extent situated at the organizational level, being subject to the availability of age-appropriate occupational conditions as well as such organizational culture and climate in their work environments (Brooke & Taylor, 2005; Chen & Gardiner, 2019; Pak et al., 2019). At the same time, the presence of age-biased norms, regulations and work arrangements in local labour markets imposes various constraints and barriers that impede the continued constructive inclusion of many older workers in the workforce (Harris et al., 2018; Hertel & Zacher, 2018).

Against this backdrop, in recent years there has also been an increased institutional and scholarly recognition of the importance of developing age-related attributes of organizational culture conveyed in organizational policies and practices and organizational climate representing desired ways of addressing the challenges related to workforce ageing (Appannah & Biggs, 2015; OECD, 2019; Truxillo et al., 2015; World Health Organization, 2015). Varied conceptualizations were developed that underlie the theoretical premise of such age-related organizational features (for a recent review see Boehm et al., 2021). However, a major area of multi-conceptuality stems from the various ways of contemporary discourse on organizational processes designed to meet workforce ageing needs, relating to alternatives of supporting an age-diverse workforce through age-inclusive practices (for example, by fostering a positive age-diversity climate; Boehm et al., 2014), focusing on older workers through age-specific practices (e.g., Armstrong-Stassen, 2008; Brooke & Taylor, 2005; Loretto & White, 2006), or facilitate ageing at work in general (e.g., Zacher and Yang, 2016). In the present study, we follow the stream of research that turns a specific spotlight to the age-related needs older workers, since in the face of increasing rates of older workers in global workforce demographics lies a central research underdevelopment that has been identified as a critical concern (Taylor et al., 2016). Moreover, the development of concepts and arguments that can contribute to the study of workplace environments considered friendly to the adequate employment of older workers, and what may cause them to be such, may indicate an opportune and significant area of contribution, which has thus far occupied rather limited research attention (Bamberger et al., 2014; Heisler & Bandow, 2018; North, 2019).

The present study therefore relies on the adoption of age-related organizational values and climates that support work in older age in view of the employability needs of older workers using the workplace age-friendliness (WAF) conceptual framework (Eppler-Hattab et al., 2020b) and its measure (Eppler-Hattab et al., 2020a). This conceptual framework entails a key organizational approach to addressing the challenges of organizational support for an older workforce aiming to better utilize its competencies in a variety of individual and organizational situations, based upon an integration of personal age-related developmental orientation drawn from the motivational theory of lifespan development (Heckhausen et al., 2010), with literature on structural platforms of human resource management practices (e.g., Huselid et al., 1997; Wright et al., 2001). This framework conceptualizes WAF in terms of age-related organizational values and attendant human resource policies and practices demonstrating supportive organizational climate that may be generated toward older workers (Boehm et al., 2021; Eppler-Hattab et al., 2020b; Vanajan et al., 2020). The fundamental presumption of this framework is that given workforce ageing and the altering perceptions of ageing and work in current organizations, age-related personal changes often require special attention towards older workers that is not covered by age-inclusive organizational approaches.

An organizational measure of the WAF concept was developed and validated in detail in Eppler-Hattab et al., (2020a), containing its four dimensions listed in the following conceptual framework section. The present study takes a step forward from these previous studies and offers a novel conceptual model for explaining WAF formation using a sample of 1,893 employee responses nested within 32 organizations from seven diverse economic sectors in Israel. The aim of the present study is to empirically examine new hypotheses regarding the joint role of organizational ageism, inter-age contact, organizational values, and certain organizational characteristics in the formation of WAF upon its dimensions.

This study centers on WAF as incorporating the extent to which an organization adopts and maintains age-related organizational values and climate in which “its older employees are able to know and feel that they are accepted and treated according to their competencies and needs” (Eppler-Hattab et al., 2020b, p. 14). The concept of WAF stands against labour market circumstances and conditions associated with age-related workplace dynamics, which in many cases lead to social devaluation and rejection of older workers (Finkelstein et al., 2015; Posthuma & Campion, 2009). The variations of individual and organizational conditions in which WAF may apply are reflected in addressing the pivotal occupational needs of older workers studied in the field of ageing and work (Truxillo et al., 2015; Wong & Tetrick, 2017). Despite being a highly diverse status category, older workers may share a wide range of preferences and considerations regarding their participation in the workforce (Heisler & Bandow, 2018). Needs of older workers are often portrayed as fulfilled by age-related workplace factors that include learning and development options, recognition and respect, mentoring opportunities, a healthy organizational climate, social support, and workplace flexibility (Chen & Gardiner, 2019).

It follows that the multiplicity of potential aspects of age-focused workplace management forces the WAF concept to be articulated within a comprehensive multidimensional construct. Frameworks in line with this understanding offer a distinction between such interrelated workplace aspects as job design, health promotion, learning and development, flexible employment, and environmental values, which may coexist and be perceived dissimilarly by organizational stakeholders (Pak et al., 2019; Eppler-Hattab et al., 2020b; Wilckens et al., 2020). As the current research framework suggests, the construct of WAF consists of four distinctive dimensions: (a) Age-friendly values – emphasizing age-related organizational values such as inclusion of older age in organizational priorities, fairness and equitability, positive approach to ageing changes, supportive relationships, and employee retention; (b) Development – fostering continuous updating and upgrading of work skills through job-related upskilling and reskilling; (c) Wellness – promoting workplace health and well-being and work-related accommodations; And (d) Flexibility – adapting employment flexibility in accordance with the work-life balance needs and preferences of older workers (for a full theoretically driven discussion of this model, see Eppler-Hattab et al. (2020b).

The construct of WAF differs from other age-related organizational constructs in two notable ways. First, as a construct designed specifically for older workers, it is distinct from age-inclusive organizational constructs such as age-diversity climate (Boehm et al., 2014) directed at all age groups. Despite the importance of addressing the extent to which employees of all ages in the organization are equitably valued, such age-inclusive approaches fail to capture the specific problems and needs of older workers in continued employment that are broadly covered in the literature (for example, occupational flexibility and job design; Chen & Gardiner, 2019). Second, other related constructs that do specifically address older workers tend to be unidimensional (e.g., Taneva & Arnold, 2018), thus failing to provide a distinction between specific areas of care for older workers for more nuanced and accurate assessments, or in addition, remain at the merely normative level of fair and nondiscriminatory treatment (such as in the Nordic age-discrimination scale; Furunes & Mykletun, 2010). Given the implications of the older organizational workforce rising in most developed countries, the lack of research covering specific diagnoses related to organizational culture outcomes towards older workers is a serious shortcoming in the literature.

Further, from an organizational point of view, WAF can be conceived as a multilevel concept, whereby employees’ personal perceptions of their organization’s age-friendliness can shape a higher level of reference to their organization. Indeed, multilevel organizational research is directed in many respects at the emergent hierarchical nature of organizational phenomena that represent common perceptions of relative priorities enacted within the organization (Zohar & Hofmann, 2012; Kozlowski & Klein, 2000). This emphasis recognizes that formal organizational policies and procedures may be applied and perceived differently across each organization, while contentment with top-management statements may suffer from social and political biases. Hence, this study is designed to examine a necessary range of employee perceptions of their organizations regarding WAF in a multilevel cross-organizational approach, with the collective level rising as common employee perceptions that unfolds an organizational concept.

Organizational and individual consequences of shaping age-inclusive workplace environments have received increasing scholarly attention in recent years (e.g., Backes-Gellner & Veen, 2013; Boehm et al., 2014; Wilckens et al., 2020). However, there is currently a lack of parallel research knowledge about the sources for the development of workplace environments that are age-inclusive in general and those that are friendly to older workers in particular (Kooij et al., 2020). This knowledge becomes critical because the meaning of WAF remains partial without considering fundamental factors, beyond influences of the external environment, that may play a role in its formation. Understanding that what may drive age-friendliness in organizations can be primarily related to values toward work in older age that have developed lagging behind deeply rooted organizational values (Brooke & Taylor, 2005; Zohar & Hofmann, 2012), the present study addresses three possible anchors of WAF, with their conceptual relationships shown graphically in Fig. 1. Building on previous research, we focus on entrenched workplace ageism and inter-age contact identified as significant cultural variables that may be involved in the formation of supportive versus discouraging workplace environments for older workers (Harris et al., 2018; Previtali et al., 2022; Truxillo et al., 2015). We adopt Ostroff et al.’s (2013) conceptual thinking on the interplay between the external environment and intra-organizational culture, and thus, workplace age-friendliness is articulated in terms of actual perceptions of work environments adapted to older age at work, while organizational ageism signifies preconceived beliefs about older age that therefore acts as an antecedent. We adopt this direction based on the premise that age-stereotypes are more ingrained than organizational climate, as they are inherent in human thinking about older age (Harris et al., 2018; Iversen et al., 2009). To this framing we adapt a basic set of organizational values derived from the model of organizational culture and climate (Ostroff et al., 2013) that bases the impact of organizational culture on organizational policies and practices and consequent organizational climate. We thus had strong reason to believe that these variables could significantly affect workplace age-friendliness.

A cumulative body of research indicates that older workers are substantially exposed to the consequences of age discrimination and workplace ageism (Harris et al., 2018; Posthuma & Campion, 2009). As a result, older workers may be at higher risk of being damaged by precarity, disparagement and inconsideration for personal well-being compared to workers of other age groups (Lain et al., 2020; North & Fiske, 2016; Roscigno et al., 2007). Misconceptions about older workers are prevalent in labour market environments both within and outside organizations (Harris et al., 2018; Posthuma & Campion, 2009). Systematic stereotyping of and discrimination against older workers that adhere to innate beliefs and expectations about ageing are at the core of the social construction of older age in working life (Iversen et al., 2009). Older workers can be perceived within this framing as a homogeneous cohort symbolized by both negative and positive stereotypes, such as poor performance, resistance to change, less motivation to learn, and higher reliability and loyalty (Ng & Feldman, 2012; Posthuma & Campion, 2009).

When such perceptions are widely shared among organizational members, they become a dominant yet not necessarily explicit mindset about older age in the workplace. Moreover, if key stakeholders in the organization espouse negative stereotypes about older workers, and if they in turn are accrued into the collective organizational consciousness, they may be crystalized as the institutionalized structural layer of ageism, which can be conceptualized as organizational ageism (Goldberg et al., 2013) or institutional ageism (Lloyd-Sherlock et al., 2016). Such form of ageism involves relying on ageist principles in formal organizational cultures, rules, and procedures, while being associated with perceptions and language that consistently depict older persons in negative terms of neediness, such as incapability, weakness, and dependency, suggesting that they possess reduced economic value and social contribution (Lloyd-Sherlock et al., 2016).

The degree of organizational ageism may vary between organizations and industries over a continuum between perceiving older workers negatively as an outdated resource and presenting them positively as a valuable asset worth the investment (Posthuma & Campion, 2009; Roscigno et al., 2007). Organizational ageism may play a role in ways in which organizations support or reject ageing and older workers, as evidenced previously (e.g., Goldberg et al., 2013; Iweins et al., 2013). Organizational ageism may accordingly affect the degree to which older workers are positioned in organizations as a resource with a sustainable advantage, and consequently the organizational motivation to maintain WAF. We therefore hypothesize that:

H1. Organizational ageism is negatively associated with WAF.

As organizations become more age-diverse, creating age-diversity climates in which workers from different age groups are equitably valued can have noteworthy implications for individual and organizational outcomes (Bamberger et al., 2014; Gordon, 2018). These developments may indicate the applicability of intergroup contact theory in age-diverse organizational settings, through which facilitating intergenerational contact under inclusive and encouraging conditions may help reduce prejudicial attitudes toward outgroup workers (Allport, 1954; Pettigrew, 1998). As intergroup contact research shows, intercultural group interactions in which reciprocal learning processes occur can lead to decreased anxiety, improved emotional connection, and increased empathy between groups, resulting in positive reassessment and behavioral change (Pettigrew et al., 2011). To reduce prejudice and stereotype threat, such processes require an optimal combination of quantity and quality of contact (Pettigrew, 1998).

Organizations with multigenerational workforce may cultivate a positive age-fabric through inter-age mechanisms of transferring knowledge and education to reduce the likelihood of adverse consequences of intergenerational encounters, enabling older and younger workers to work together constructively and productively, (Gordon, 2018; Naegele et al., 2018). Such processes may allow workers of diverse ages to respond to their mutual needs out of a better understanding, while fulfilling the preferences of older workers to work in favorable multigenerational work environments (Andrei & Parker, 2022). On this basis we hypothesize that positive and frequent organizational inter-age contact will be supportive of the development of age-inclusive workplace environments, and we therefore hypothesize that:

H2: Inter-age contact will be positively associated with WAF.

Organizational values enacted in the organization are an essential tier in the covert layers of organizational culture (Schein, 2010). Together with common assumptions and basic beliefs inherent in the intangible and profound organizational system, they serve organizational members as a unifying ideology and guiding principles through which ways to achieve common goals can be judged. The competing values framework developed by Q