Understanding the Implications of Inverted Social Hierarchies for Human Resource Management: The Case of Age-Inverse Differences in Supervisor-Subordinate Relationships and Feedback Acceptance

The provision of feedback is a central function of organizational human resource management (HRM) to enhance and maintain employee performance. However, in the presence of inverted social hierarchies, for example, when younger supervisors lead significantly older subordinates, providing feedback can constitute a tricky situation. As age-inverse supervisor-subordinate relationships commonly violate status and age norms, older employees may be less likely to accept their younger supervisor’s feedback, which can lead to conflict and backlash effects. The aim of the proposed research is to investigate, with a combination of experiments and field studies, when and why performance feedback from younger supervisors is more or less likely to be accepted by older subordinates and to identify ways how younger supervisors can effectively provide feedback. First, we aim to examine whether age stereotype threat is an underlying mechanism that explains why older employees are more or less likely to accept their performance feedback. Second, we aim to identify ways how younger supervisors can promote feedback acceptance of older employees. By integrating research on social status norms and stereotype threat into the existing feedback literature, this research project aims to advance our understanding of the specific ways in which age differences in supervisor-subordinate relationships are related to feedback acceptance. The intended research with a focus on age as social status cue represents an initial step towards the development of an integrative model about the implications of inverted social hierarchies in organizations for HRM.