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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Older and younger job seekers’ attention
towards metastereotypes in job ads
Aylin Koc¸akID
1
*, Nicolas Dirix
2
, Wouter Duyck
2
, Maaike Schellaert
1
, Eva DerousID
1
1Department of Work, Organization and Society, Vocational and Personnel Psychology Lab, Ghent
University, Ghent, Belgium, 2Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
*aylin.kocak@ugent.be
Abstract
Building on social identity theory and cognitive models on information processing, the pres-
ent paper considered whether and how stereotyped information in job ads impairs older/
younger job seekers’ job attraction. Two eye-tracking experiments with older (Study 1) and
younger job seekers (Study 2) investigated effects of negatively metastereotyped personal-
ity requirements (i.e., traits) on job attraction and whether attention to and memory for nega-
tive information mediated these effects. Within-participants analyses showed for both older
and younger job seekers that job attraction was lower when ads included negative metaste-
reotypes and that more attention was allocated towards these negative metastereotypes.
Older, but not younger job seekers, also better recalled these negative metastereotypes
compared to not negative metastereotypes. The effect of metastereotypes on job attraction
was not mediated by attention or recall of information. Organizations should therefore avoid
negative metastereotypes in job ads that may capture older/younger job seekers’ attention
and lower job attraction.
Introduction
Despite an ongoing ‘war for talent’ [1,2], qualified older and younger job seekers still experi-
ence more difficulties entering the labor market compared to their prime-aged counterparts.
Indeed, recent studies report hiring discrimination against older and younger candidates [3–
5]. Whereas research preliminary focuses on this age discrimination in hiring (i.e., select-out),
job seekers’ self-select out of application procedures is considered to a smaller extent. That is,
job seekers might refrain from applying on the basis of stigmatizing information in job adver-
tisements [6,7]. The present study investigates effects of stigmatizing information in job ads
on older and younger job seekers’ job attraction and hence focuses on job seekers’ own atti-
tudes and experiences [8,9]. Based on social identity theory, for instance, it is expected that
job ads can attract job seekers when the content of job ads indicates a fit between the organiza-
tion and job seekers’ own social identity [10], that is, the identity that refers to one’s social
group (e.g., being female, being older, being younger). If job ads contain age-related cues, this
might differently attract older or younger job seekers. However, information in job ads might
also capture job seekers’ attention in a negative way and lower their attraction to the advertised
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OPEN ACCESS
Citation: Koc¸ak A, Dirix N, Duyck W, Schellaert M,
Derous E (2024) Older and younger job seekers’
attention towards metastereotypes in job ads.
PLoS ONE 19(10): e0312323. https://doi.org/
10.1371/journal.pone.0312323
Editor: Pieter-Paul Verhaeghe, Vrije Universiteit
Brussel, BELGIUM
Received: May 6, 2024
Accepted: September 20, 2024
Published: October 30, 2024
Copyright: ©2024 Koc¸ak et al. This is an open
access article distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License, which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original
author and source are credited.
Data Availability Statement: All relevant data are
available on OSF: https://osf.io/q4z6y/.
Funding: This study, granted to Eva Derous (ED,
promotor), was financed by the Ghent University
Special Research Fund (BOF - UGent; https://www.
ugent.be/en/research/funding/bof) with code
BOF24Y2017001201. The funder played no role in
the study design, data collection and analysis,
decision to publish, or preparation of this
manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors have declared
that no competing interests exist.
job. Surprisingly, this has been investigated to a lesser extent and is considered here. Imagine,
for instance, a job ad that includes ‘flexible’ in the personality requirements section. Older job
seekers might attribute more attention to those traits in job ads that they think others (like
recruiters) have negative stereotypes about. When reading ‘we are looking for flexible candi-
dates’, older job seekers might believe that others think that older workers are not flexible. Sim-
ilarly, younger job seekers’ attention might be captured by traits such as ‘punctual’, when they
believe that others think younger workers are not punctual. These negative stereotypes that
group members think out-group members hold about them, or ‘metastereotypes’ [11], might
negatively affect job seekers’ job attraction [6,7] by signaling that the job/organization will not
fit their social identity. Therefore, as a first goal, we investigated whether negatively metaste-
reotyped personality requirements (i.e., traits) in job ads are less attractive for older and youn-
ger job seekers than not negatively metastereotyped personality requirements.
While Wille and Derous [6,7] showed that negative metastereotypes in job ads lower ethnic
minority and female job seekers’ attraction, we considered older and younger job seekers and
additionally investigated the underlying attentional processes that have–to the best of our
knowledge–not been considered before. Typically, negative and threatening information cap-
tures a reader’s early attention more [12] and is better recalled [13] than non-threatening
information. Hence and based on social identity theory [10], we investigated whether nega-
tively metastereotyped personality requirements in job ads might capture job seekers’ attention
more and whether they are recalled better than not negatively metastereotyped personality
requirements in job ads. As a second goal, and answering a call for more research on underly-
ing mechanisms [6], we not only investigated whether, but also how negative metastereotypes
in job ads affect older/younger job seekers’ job attraction by investigating whether this effect is
mediated by job seekers’ attention and recall. In two eye-tracking experiments, we studied
visual attention patterns towards (not) negatively metastereotyped personality requirements in
job ads for older (i.e., aged 50–65; Study 1) and younger job seekers (i.e., aged 18–30; Study 2).
Below we first discuss effects of metastereotyped information on job seekers’ job attraction,
followed by a discussion on the underlying cognitive mechanisms.
Metastereotypes in job ads
Stereotypes are defined as beliefs about the characteristics of members of a certain group [14].
Age stereotypes, for example, include the idea that younger people are typically more irrespon-
sible and lazy, while older people are typically less flexible and less agreeable [15–17]. Interest-
ingly, older and younger people might be aware of these negative age stereotypes and might
believe that other people hold these about their own age group. This is referred to as metaste-
reotypes, or “beliefs regarding the stereotype that out-group members hold about his or her
own group” [11, p. 917]. For instance, research showed that older workers believed that youn-
ger workers find them stubborn, while younger workers believed that older workers find them
irresponsible [17]. Note that these cognitions can shape individuals’ attitudes towards and
interactions with out-group members, regardless of whether they are true or not.
During recruitment procedures, job seekers can activate negative age-related metastereo-
types about information in job ads, for instance, the personality requirements, which can
make job seekers’ social category (in this case: age group) more salient. Hence, one may
become more aware of the social age group one belongs to (e.g., older job seekers/younger job
seekers) and one may perceive oneself more in terms of their social identity (i.e., their social
group and related stereotypes), instead of their personal identity (i.e., their own skills, person-
ality, etc. . .). This social identity [10] is important for job seekers during the recruitment pro-
cess. When reading job ads, job seekers use the limited information in job ads as cues to
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evaluate whether the job will fit their social identity, which may hence affect job attraction
[18]. Indeed, according to the symbolic attraction theory [18], information that triggers job
seekers’ social identity activates a process of making ‘symbolic inferences’ in which job seekers
determine whether the job will either fit their social identity or threaten it. Subsequently, job
seekers’ job attraction will be higher or lower, respectively.
Thus, when job ads activate age-related metastereotypes that are negative in nature, this
might pose a threat to older and younger job seekers’ social age identity [19] and impact
whether they intent to apply for the job [20]. Research indeed showed that negative metaste-
reotypes in job ads lowered job attraction compared to job ads without negative metastereo-
types for female job seekers [7] and ethnic minority job seekers [6]. Similarly, for older and
younger job seekers who were shown to each hold specific negative age metastereotypes related
to their own age group [17], we expected based on the social identity theory [10] that:
Hypothesis 1. Job seekers’ job attraction is lower for job ads with negatively metastereotyped
traits than for those without negatively metastereotyped traits.
Early attention bias
Research showed that people have a vigilance for cues that are negative or threatening [21],
meaning that early in one’s cognitive processing of information, there might be an attention/
detection bias towards negative, threatening information [i.e., ‘early attention’; 22]. Evidence
for this attention bias–stemming from the historic survival value of threatening information
[23]–was shown for different types of threatening cues, such as: pictures of death/suffering
[21], pain cues [24], angry faces [25,26], threatening animals [27,28], and even visual stimuli
that signal an aversive white noise [29]. Interestingly, vigilance for negative information has
also been shown for threats to one’s social identity, for instance for words that activated sexism
for women [12]. Since research showed that negative age-related metastereotypes might
threaten job seekers’ social age identity [19,30], the present study aimed to investigate whether
this attention bias towards social identity threatening words might occur among older/youn-
ger job seekers in a recruitment context.
Early attention to metastereotypes in job ads
Studies have reported that stigmatizing information (e.g., facial stigma) has an attention-grab-
bing effect for recruiters during the interview stage and can hence hurt candidates’ chances
[31,32]. In the current study, we investigated whether job seekers’ attention towards stereo-
typed cues in stages prior to the interview stage, namely the recruitment stage in which job
seekers read job ads, can hinder their chances through self-selection processes [6,7,33]. That
is, negatively metastereotyped traits portrayed in job ads might act as cues that pose a threat to
job seekers’ social identity and capture job seekers’ attention in a negative way, which may
lower job attraction. Indeed, previous studies support this signaling purpose of cues during
recruitment [6,7,34,35] but did not directly measure the cognitive, attention processes that
underlie these effects [6]. Studies did touch on the idea the amount of attention that certain
job ad components receive affects attitudes towards the job (ad). For instance, Barber and
Roehling [36] employed a thinking-aloud interview method to investigate how applicants pro-
cess job ad information while reading job ads and how this effected their decisions to apply for
the job ad. Such self-report may of course induce demand characteristics, decrease external
validity, and participants may also not always be aware of their unconscious mental processes.
More recently, Pfiffelman et al. [37] used eye-tracking methodology to investigate job seekers’
attentional patterns towards information in job ads that is perceived as negative, as well as the
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consequential effect on attitudes towards the job. More specifically, they found that personal-
ized LinkedIn job ads (i.e., including job seeker’s name and LinkedIn picture) captured job
seekers’ attention, which negatively affected attitudes towards the job ad through perceived
intrusiveness of job ad information. In line with these studies, we expect that visual attention
to negative job ad information may be associated with more negative attitudes towards the job.
Hence, we expected more visual attention towards negative/threatening information in the job
ad to lower job attraction for job seekers. Taken together, we expected for older and younger
job seekers:
Hypothesis 2. Job seekers will allocate more early attention towards negatively metastereo-
typed traits in job ads compared to not negatively metastereotyped traits, which will hence
lower job attraction for job ads with negatively metastereotyped traits.
Information recall
Stereotyped cues that pose a threat to one’s social identity might not only capture individuals’
attention, they might also impair one’s cognitive functioning [38], like working memory. For
instance, information recall levels of older-aged people [39] as well as younger-aged people
[40] can be impaired when confronted with cues that activate negative age stereotypes (i.e.,
task instructions or explicit statements that imply that older/younger people tend to perform
worse). Building on self-regulation theory [41], dealing with negatively stereotyped informa-
tion requires more self-regulating processes and hence may deplete cognitive resources that
are needed for working memory tasks, such as information recall (i.e., of new, non-threatening
information; [42] For instance, Johns et al. [43] found that inducing gender-threatening cues
to the experimental lab setting decreased women’s performance on a reading-span task in
which female participants were presented with (non-threatening) words that they were asked
to recall. In a study of Buijsrogge et al. [32] in a job interview context, interviewers’ recall of
general, non-threatening interview content (e.g., candidate information like work experiences)
was impaired when interviewers were presented with candidates with visual stigma (like a
port-wine stain). In the present study, we investigated recall of not only the neutral/non-
threatening job ad information, but also the threatening information in job ads (i.e., the nega-
tively metastereotyped traits) itself. That way, we aimed to directly compare job seekers’ mem-
ory for stereotyped versus non-stereotyped information in job ads. Similarly, Kanar et al. [13]
showed that negative information about the job/organization (i.e., transferred through word
of mouth or a business press articles) was better recalled by job seekers than positive informa-
tion during the pre-hiring stage.
Kanar et al. [13] did not consider the effects of the discrepancy in information recall
between negative and positive job information on attitudes towards the organization, such as
attraction. However, according to the memory-for-facts model [44], information that individ-
uals can recall (e.g., about advertisements) does affect their attitudes. Yet, over the years, schol-
ars found that the relationship between information recall and attitudes might depend on the
exact reading or processing task and should therefore be investigated in a multitude of con-
texts/situations to further establish the boundary conditions of this relationship [45–49].
Addressing this call, the present study studied the relationship between recall and job attrac-
tion in the context of job advertisements. While studies have indeed linked working memory
processing of job ad information to job seekers’ attitudes to the organization [8], this has been
done in a more indirect way. For instance, job ad information with a higher level of specificity
led to higher attraction to the organization, because more specific information is assumed to
generate a more elaborate cognitive processing [50]. However, this assumption regarding
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underlying working memory processes was not empirically tested. The present study aims to
investigate information processing in job ads in a more direct way, through measuring older/
younger job seekers’ recall of negatively metastereotyped personality requirements in job ads.
We hence expected for older and younger job seekers:
Hypothesis 3. Job seekers will better recall negatively metastereotyped traits in job ads com-
pared to not negatively metastereotyped traits, which will hence lower job attraction for job
ads with negatively metastereotyped traits.
From early attention to recall to job attraction
While we expect that negative metastereotypes will receive more early attention and will be
better recalled by job seekers, it is also expected that more attention towards negative metaste-
reotypes will be related to a better recall of those negative metastereotypes. That is, building on
Baddeley and Hitch [51]’s working memory model, ample evidence has shown that more
visual attention to a certain location leads to a better transfer of information on that location
into the working memory [52–54]. Negatively metastereotyped traits in job ads that are
expected to capture older/younger job seekers’ early visual attention more, might therefore
also be better recalled by older/younger job seekers than not negatively metastereotyped traits
in job ads. Taken together, since both attention and recall are expected to be mediators in the
relationship between type of traits (negatively metastereotyped or not) and job attraction and
attention is expected to–in its turn–affect recall, we expected the following serial mediation
model to explain why negatively metastereotyped traits lower job attraction for older and
younger job seekers:
Hypothesis 4. Job seekers will allocate more early attention towards negatively metastereo-
typed traits in job ads compared to not negatively metastereotyped traits, which will hence
increase recall of negatively metastereotyped traits in job ads and in turn, lower job attrac-
tion for job ads with negatively metastereotyped traits.
To test the hypotheses we conducted two eye-tracking experiments. While different meth-
ods and tasks can be used to measure one’s attention to stimuli [e.g., attentional search task;
Posner cueing tasks and modifications; 29], the current study measured participants’ eye-
movements by means of eye-tracking technology, which is often used in a marketing context
to study people’s visual attention towards information in advertisements, as well as in more
fundamental research on reading tasks [55,56]. In eye-movement research, a distinction is
made between fixations (i.e., when the eyes remain stationary) and saccades (i.e., the fast
movement from one fixation point to the next). During the fixations, information from the
visual field is extracted, so a tight link between fixations and the locus of attention is presumed
[56,57]. An important advantage of eye-tracking is that it allows for a detailed spatial and tem-
poral measurement of eye-movements, while people perform tasks that are highly similar to
their daily life counterparts (e.g., reading job ads), so that the ecological validity of the method
is high. Since research showed that both older and younger people might experience threat
when being confronted with negative cues and hence experience consequences for their cogni-
tive processing [39,40], we tested identical paths for both older (Study 1) and younger (Study
2) job seekers. However, as the content of the metastereotypes differs for older and younger
job seekers [17], we conducted two separate experiments in which we used negative metaste-
reotypes that are specific for either older or younger job workers, as further explained in Stud-
ies 1 and 2. Fig 1 presents diagrams with the hypotheses of Study 1 and Study 2.
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Study 1
Study 1 investigated whether older job seekers allocate more early attention to, better recall
and are less attracted to negatively metastereotyped traits in job ads, compared to not nega-
tively metastereotyped requirements as well as mediating effects of attention and recall. Older
participants were aged 50–65 years, based on McCarthy et al. [58] who found that managers
typically consider someone an ‘older’ worker when they are aged 50 or older and research that
established that people older than 50 experience specific metastereotypes and discrimination
from that age on [17,59].
Method of Study 1
Participants. A total of 54 older job seekers (ranging from 50 until 65 years old, M
age
=
54.74 years, SD
age
= 3.43; 66.7% women; 100% White/Caucasian ethnicity) were recruited
(between September 1
st
2020 and August 31
st
2021) via professional networks (i.e., via official
social media accounts of the research consortium) and snowballing method. Participants
received financial compensation (i.e., €10) for their participation in the study.
Design and measures. An eye-tracking experiment was conducted that featured a two-
condition within-participants design, in which personality requirements in job ads (trait: neg-
ative metastereotypes vs. not negative metastereotypes; see paragraph ‘Stimuli’ for examples)
were manipulated and job attraction, attention and recall were the outcome variables. Job
attraction was measured after each job ad with three items based on Van Hooft et al. [60], e.g.,
“I am attracted to the advertised job”, on 5-point Likert scale with 1 = strongly disagree to 5 =
strongly agree. Cronbach’s alpha for the items ranged from .94 to .97 in the condition with neg-
ative metastereotype (M
cronbach’s alpha
= .96) and .88 to .97 in the condition without negative
metastereotype (M
cronbach’s alpha
= .94). In order to measure early visual attention to traits in
job ads, compared to early visual attention to other job ad information, we divided study mate-
rials (i.e., job ads) into seven interest areas and investigated visual attention towards each of
Fig 1. Diagram of Hypotheses 1–4. Note. H1 (striped line) investigates the effect of Trait on Job Attraction (total
effect). H2 (thin lines) investigates the effect of Trait on Job Attraction via Attention (first mediation). H3 (dotted
lines) investigates the effect of Trait on Job Attraction via Recall (second mediation). H4 (bold lines) investigates the
effect of Trait on Job Attraction via Attention and Recall (serial mediation).
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these areas by means of eye-tracking (i.e., eye fixations, see below). More specifically, to mea-
sure participants’ early attention to the profiles, we measured their first run dwell time [22],
i.e., the sum of the duration (in milliseconds) of all fixations within the interest area of the pro-
file during participants’ first pass through the job ad, and compared that to their first run dwell
time to the other interest areas. In order to account for job seekers’ visual attention towards
the profiles, as well as to the other interest areas of the job ad, we calculated the difference
between participants’ first run dwell time to the interest area of the profiles and the average of
their first run dwell time to all other interest areas and used this difference score as our early
visual attention measure.
To measure recall of the traits, we built on Kanar et al. [13]. After reading and rating the job
ads, participants were asked to write down the traits that they were able to recall from the pro-
files in the ads in a two-minute window. Next, manipulation checks were administered to
ascertain that our manipulations of the content of the traits and their metastereotyped connota-
tion were perceived as intended. Example items are “Does the person profile show that they
were looking for an agreeable or conscientious person? [choose one option]”, and “To what
extent do you believe that younger workers think that older workers are [obedient / flexible /
friendly / patient / compliant]?”, with 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. Finally, demo-
graphic question regarding participants’ age (in years) and gender (0 = male; 1 = female,
2 = other) were completed.
Stimuli. Study materials were fictional job advertisements. Building on Hilberink-Schul-
pen et al. [61], we distinguished the following sections in the job ads (see Fig 2): picture, logo,
title, company information, profile with personality requirements (i.e., traits), job offer and
contact information. Manipulations were situated in the profile section; profiles contained
HEXACO-traits [62,63] that older job seekers held either negative or no negative metastereo-
types about. These negatively metastereotyped and not negatively metastereotyped traits for
older people were developed and pilot tested in a previous study of this research project [20].
A more detailed description of the procedure and results of this pilot study can be retrieved
from the first author. Results of the pilot study showed that older job seekers hold a negative
metastereotypes about the HEXACO-trait Agreeableness, and no negative metastereotype
about the HEXACO-trait Conscientiousness. Subsequently, the pilot study revealed the most
negatively metastereotyped adjectives “obedient”, “flexible”, “friendly”, “patient”, and “compli-
ant”, which represent the condition with a negative metastereotyped connotation (Agreeable-
ness) and the least negatively metastereotyped adjectives “punctual”, “perfectionistic”,
“orderly”, “disciplined”, and “dutiful”, which represent the condition without a negative
metastereotype (Conscientiousness). The (not) negatively metastereotyped personality
requirement was supplemented with other requirements that were held constant across job
ads (i.e., required language proficiency and relevant educational degree for the advertised job).
No organization name or type of organization/industry was mentioned (“Company A”,“Com-
pany B”), as research has suggested that organizational familiarity might affect job seekers’
application intention [64]. Similarly, no job characteristics were mentioned as those character-
istics might differentially attract older job seekers [65]. A short company description of the
company was held constant across job ads, as well as the offer and contact information. The
logo was adjusted based on the letter of the company “A” for company A, “B” for company B
etc. (see Fig 2).
Procedure and experimental apparatus. Study 1 was approved (through written consent)
by the Ethical Commission of Ghent University in accordance with the Helsinki declaration
[Special Ethical Protocol no 2020/77]. At the start of the experiment, participants signed an
informed consent (i.e., written consent) and were positioned in front of the eye-tracker. They
placed their head in a chin- and headrest to minimize head movements. Once seated, they
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performed a 9-point calibration procedure. After a successful calibration, participants were
instructed to carefully read and evaluate the presented job advertisements. They were also
instructed to imagine that the parts of the job ads that were not displayed would suit their
interest/qualifications. A total of ten job ads (five for each experimental condition) were pre-
sented to participants in a randomized order. After each job ad, participants answered the
three items regarding job attraction on the computer screen. On completion of reading all job
ads, participants moved away from the eye-tracker and completed the recall question and
additional manipulation checks/demographical questions through an online survey on a dif-
ferent computer. Participants’ eye-movements and fixations were measured by means of the
Eyelink 1000 (SR Research, Canada; see Table 1) with a spatial resolution of less than 1/4
degrees of visual angle at a sampling rate of 1000Hz. Viewing was binocular, but only the right
eye was tracked; Job advertisements were presented on a 1920x1080 Beng XL2411Z LED-mon-
itor at a viewing distance of 95cm with a refresh rate of 144 Hz. Additional to the calibration at
the start of the experiment, eye-tracking accuracy was also measured during the experiment by
mean of drift checks. When eye-tracking accuracy was low (i.e., higher average error than
0.5˚), the experiment was terminated and data was not included in the analyses.
Results of Study 1
Preliminary analyses. Table 2 shows descriptives, reliabilities, and correlations among
study variables. First, manipulations were successful. Generalized Estimating Equation analysis
(SPSS, v26) showed that older participants perceived those traits referring to Conscientious-
ness significantly more as Conscientiousness (75.9%) than Agreeableness (24.1%), compared
to the traits referring to Agreeableness, which were perceived significantly more as Agreeable-
ness (96%) than Conscientiousness (4%), b= 4.34, SE = 0.37, Wald χ
2
(1) = 133.00, p<.001.
Further, results from a repeated measures anova on all adjectives used in the job ads showed
that participants believed that younger people find older workers more conscientious
(M= 3.80, SD = 0.59) than agreeable (M= 2.92, SD = 0.62), F(1, 53) = 91.94, p<.001, η
p2
=
.63. Finally, since word frequency might affect how words are processed, i.e., frequency effect;
Cop et al. [66], and fixation times, we first investigated word frequency of our stimuli based on
Keuleers et al. [67]’s database. No significant difference in word frequency was observed
between the condition of negative metastereotypes (M= 3.42, SD = 0.59) and not negative
metastereotypes (M= 3.00, SD = 0.59), t(8) = 1.08, p= .31, Cohen’s d= .62. This ensures that
viewing time differences reflect attention, and not word-level frequency effects.
Hypothesis testing. A within-participant mediation analysis through path analysis [68]
using the MEMORE macro [V2.1; 69] was performed to test Hypotheses 1 to 4. This allowed
Table 1. Description and performance estimates of EyeLink 1000 tower and desktop mount.
EyeLink 1000 Tower Mount performance
estimates
EyeLink 1000 Desktop Mount performance
estimates
Measure
Max. Sampling
Rate
2000 Hz (Monocular) 2000 Hz (Monocular)
Tracking
principle
Pupil with Corneal Reflection Pupil with Corneal Reflection
Accuracy Down to 0.15˚; 0.25˚ – 0.5˚ typical Down to 0.15˚; 0.25˚ – 0.5˚ typical
Resolution 0.01˚ RMS, micro-saccade resolution of
0.05˚
0.01˚ RMS, micro-saccade resolution of 0.05˚
Sample Delay M<1.34 msec, SD <.2 msec M<1.34 msec, SD <.2 msec
Real-Time data 1.4 msec (SD <0.2 msec) @ 2000 Hz 1.4 msec (SD <0.2 msec) @ 2000 Hz
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us to test the serial mediation model with attention and recall as mediators and report differ-
ence scores between the condition with and without negative metastereotype. Results are dis-
played in Fig 3.
Table 2. Descriptives, internal consistency and correlations of study variables.
Study 1 Study 2
M SD M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1. Job Attraction
a
negative MS
b
3.00 0.61 2.88 0.48 (.96)/(.88) .41 -.23 -.16 .02 -.19 .04 -.12
2. Job Attraction not negative MS
b
3.36 0.64 3.22 0.51 .68** (.94)/(.91) .20 .15 .23 .20 .35*-.14
3. Early attention
c
negative MS
b
1316.06 1268.72 1190.59 919.35 -.09 .10 (—) .54** .27 .07 -.00 .10
4. Early attention
c
not negative MS
b
935.36 1082.28 671.88 540.56 -.09 .09 .70** (—) .28 .13 .04 .06
5. Recall
d
negative MS
b
2.15 0.94 1.55 1.00 -.16 -.03 .01 .04 (—) .28 .15 .07
6. Recall
d
not negative MS
b
1.59 1.08 1.81 1.05 -.23 -.26 -.09 -.10 .13 (—) .18 -.09
7. Gender
e, f
0.67 0.47 0.67 0.47 .33*.17 .08 .25 .26 .09 (—) -.41**
8. Age
g
54.74 3.43 23.67 2.49 -.09 .00 -.00 .02 -.00 -.25 -.13 (—)
Note. Results for Study 1 are displayed under the diagonal (N= 54); Results for Study 2 are displayed above the diagonal (N= 49). Results on the diagonal represent
Cronbach’s alfa for older and younger job seekers, respectively (α
old
/α
young
).
a
Job Attraction = measured on 5-point Likert scale with 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree.
b
MS = Metastereotype.
c
Attention = the sum of the duration (in milliseconds) of all fixations within the interest area of the profile during participants’ first pass through the job ad, compared
to sum of the duration (in milliseconds) of all fixations within the other interest areas.
d
Recall: amount of remembered traits in two-minute window.
e
Spearman correlation.
f
Gender: 0 = male; 1 = female.
g
Age: all job seekers were aged 50–65 years in Study 1 and all job seekers were aged 18–30 years for Study 2.
*p<.05
**p<.01
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0312323.t002
Fig 3. Serial mediation models for older job seekers (Study 1) and younger job seekers (Study 2). Note.N
Study 1
= 54; N
Study 2
= 49;
Unstandardized coefficients are reported. The coefficients in parentheses represent the total effect of trait on job attraction, i.e., the direct
and indirect effects.
a
Trait 0 = not negatively metastereotyped trait, 1 = negatively metastereotyped trait.
b
Attention
:
the sum of the
duration (in milliseconds) of all fixations within the interest area of the profile during participants’ first pass through the job ad, compared
to sum of the duration (in milliseconds) of all fixations within the other interest areas.
c
Recall: amount of remembered traits in two-minute
window.
d
Job Attraction = measured on 5-point Likert scale with 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree.*p<.05. **p<.01.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0312323.g003
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First, results showed that older job seekers were significantly less attracted to jobs when the
job ad included negatively metastereotyped traits compared to when they included not nega-
tively metastereotyped traits, b= -0.36, SE = 0.07, t(53) = -5.30, p<.001, supporting Hypothe-
sis 1.
Next, Hypothesis 2 expected that early attention mediates the relationship between type of
trait and job attraction for older job seekers. Although older job seekers indeed allocated
40.7% more early attention to negatively metastereotyped traits in job ads compared to not
negatively metastereotyped traits, b= 380.70, SE = 129.47, t(53) = 2.94, p<.001, early atten-
tion towards negatively metastereotyped traits in job ads did not significantly relate to lower
job attraction, b= 0.00, SE = 0.00, t(49) = -0.20, p= .84. Moreover, the indirect effect of type of
trait on job attraction through early attention was not significant, b= -0.01, bootstrapped
SE = 0.03, bootstrapped 95% CI = [-0.06, 0.06]. Hence, Hypothesis 2 could not be supported
for older job seekers.
Further, Hypothesis 3 predicted that recall would mediate the relationship between type of
trait and job attraction. Results showed that, in line with expectations, older job seekers indeed
better recalled negatively metastereotyped traits in job ads compared to not negatively metaste-
reotyped traits, b= 0.58, SE = 0.20, t(51) = 2.85, p= .01. However, better recall of negatively
metastereotyped traits in job ads was not significantly related with lower job attraction, b=
-0.06, SE = 0.05, t(49) = -1.11, p= .27 and the indirect effect of type of trait on job attraction
through recall was also not significant, b= -0.03, bootstrapped SE = 0.03, bootstrapped 95% CI
= [-0.11, 0.01]. Hypothesis 3 could therefore not be supported for older job seekers.
Finally, the serial mediation as predicted by Hypothesis 4 could not be supported for older
job seekers. That is, more early attention to negatively metastereotyped traits in job ads was
not significantly related with better recall, b= 0.00, SE = 0.00, t(51) = -0.27, p= .79 and the
indirect effect of type of trait on job attraction through attention and recall was also not signifi-
cant, b= 0.00, bootstrapped SE = 0.00, bootstrapped 95% CI = [-0.01, 0.01].
Discussion of Study 1
In line with predictions from social identity theory [10], older job seekers were less attracted to
jobs when job ads contained negatively metastereotyped traits, signaling that the job does not fit
with their own age-identity. Older job seekers indeed allocated more early visual attention
towards negative metastereotypes in job ads [12] and better recalled the negative metastereo-
types compared to the not negative metastereotypes [13]. Attention to and recall of negatively
metastereotyped traits in job ads were, however, not related to older job seekers’ job attraction.
We measured job seekers’ early attention to investigate a vigilance for negative metastereotypes
in job ads, yet future research might test whether an early attention bias towards negative
metastereotypes in job ads is followed by a different attentional pattern in later stages (e.g.,
avoidance) and is hence not positively related to working memory and job attraction. Contrary
to previous expectations rooted in Baddeley and Hitch [51]’s working memory model [e.g., 52–
54], more attention to the negative metastereotypes did not increase recall of negative metaste-
reotypes and no mediating effects of either attention or recall were found. Additional, emo-
tional-motivational processes (see general discussion) might explain why no effects were found
[e.g., 70] and need to be considered in future research. We proceeded testing Hypotheses 1 until
4 for younger job seekers, using (not) negatively metastereotyped traits for younger people.
Study 2
Study 2 investigated the same hypotheses as Study 1 and tested whether younger job seekers
are less attracted to, allocate more early attention to and can better recall negatively
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metastereotyped traits in job, compared to not negatively metastereotyped traits, as well as the
mediating mechanisms of attention and recall. Participants were all aged 18–30 years, based
on Arnett [71]’s life stage transition to young adulthood that is situated around the age of 30y
and Finkelstein et al. [17] who found specific metastereotypes for people younger than 30
years. The method that was used in Study 2 was identical to the method employed in Study 1,
unless explicitly stated otherwise.
Method of Study 2
Participants. A total of 49 younger job seekers (ranging from 18 until 30 years old, M
age
=
23.67 years, SD
age
= 2.50; 67.3% women, 100% White/Caucasian ethnicity) were recruited
(between September 1
st
2020 and August 31
st
2021) through the professional network of the
researchers (e.g., social media accounts of the research consortium) and snowballing method.
Participants received financial compensation (€10) for their participation in the study.
Design and measures. We conducted an eye-tracking experiment among younger job
seekers that, identically to Study 1, featured a two-condition within-participants design, in
which traits in job ads (trait: negative metastereotypes vs. not negative metastereotypes) were
manipulated and job attraction, attention and recall were outcome variables. Identical mea-
sures were used for job attraction [i.e., three items based on Van Hooft et al. [60], Cronbach’s
alpha for the items ranged from .84 to .91 in the condition with negative metastereotype
(M
cronbach’s alpha
= .88) and .89 until .95 in the condition without negative metastereotype
(M
cronbach’s alpha
= .91)], visual attention [i.e., difference in first run dwell time to the interest
area and to the other interest areas; 22], recall [i.e., recalled requirements in two-minute win-
dow; 13], and demographical questions. Manipulation checks to test the content of the traits
and their metastereotyped connotation were completed. Example items are “Does the person
profile show that they were looking for a conscientious or open person? [choose one option]”,
and “To what extent do you believe that older workers think that younger workers are [punc-
tual / perfectionistic / orderly / disciplined / dutiful]?”, with 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly
agree.
Stimuli. Similar to Study 1, materials were fictional job advertisements but the manipula-
tion of traits in the profile section was now tailored to younger job seekers: profiles contained
traits that younger job seekers held either negative or no negative metastereotypes about. As in
Study 1, we developed and pilot tested the traits in a previous study [20]. A more detailed
description of the procedure and results of this pilot study can be retrieved from the first
author. Results showed that younger people held a negative metastereotype about the HEX-
ACO-trait Conscientiousness and no negative metastereotype about the HEXACO-trait Open-
ness to Experience. Based on the pilot study, we selected “punctual”, “disciplined”,
“deliberative”, “consistent”, and “diligent”, for the condition with negative metastereotype
(Conscientiousness) and “inventive”, “creative”, “open-minded”, “sharp-witted” and “versa-
tile” for the condition without negative metastereotype (Openness to Experience). Other
requirements were held constant across job ads, just as a short company description, the offer
and contact information. No organization name, type of organization/industry or job charac-
teristics were mentioned, and as for the logo, we used was an “A” for company A, etc. (see Fig
2).
Procedure and experimental apparatus
Study 2 was approved (through written consent) by the Ethical Commission of Ghent Univer-
sity in accordance with the Helsinki declaration [Special Ethical Protocol no 2020/77]. At the
start of the experiment, participants signed an informed consent (i.e., written consent). Both
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the procedure and the experimental apparatus of Study 2 were identical to that of Study 1 (see
above).
Results of Study 2
Preliminary analyses. Table 2 shows descriptives, reliabilities, and correlations among
study variables.
Our manipulations were successful: Generalized Estimating Equation analysis showed that
younger participants perceived those traits referring to Openness significantly more as Open-
ness (83.1%) than Conscientiousness (16.9%), compared to the traits referring to Conscien-
tiousness, which were perceived significantly more as Conscientiousness (94.5%) than
Openness (5.5%), b= 4.44, SE = 0.33, Wald χ
2
(1) = 183.76, p<.001. Further, repeated mea-
sures anova results showed that participants believed that older people find younger workers
more open (M= 3.98, SD = 0.58) than conscientious (M= 2.53, SD = 0.67), F(1, 53) = 91.94, p
<.001, η
p2
= .85. Again, no significant difference was observed in word frequency between the
condition of negative metastereotypes (M= 2.98, SD = 0.40) and not negative metastereotypes
(M= 2.71, SD = 0.89), t(8) = .61, p= .56, Cohen’s d= .69, which excludes low word-level differ-
ences between crucial conditions.
Hypothesis testing. Similar to Study 1, we performed a within-participant serial mediation
analysis through path analysis [68] with the MEMORE macro [V2.1; 69] to investigate Hypotheses
1 to 4. Results are displayed in Fig 3. First, younger job seekers were significantly less attracted to
jobs when the job ad included negatively metastereotyped traits compared to not negatively
metastereotyped traits, b= -0.34, SE = 0.08, t(48) = -4.37, p<.001, supporting Hypothesis 1.
Further, Hypothesis 2 tested the mediating effect of attention between type of trait and job
attraction. While younger job seekers indeed allocated 77.2% more early attention to nega-
tively metastereotyped traits in job ads compared to not negatively metastereotyped traits,
b= 518.71, SE = 122.82, t(48) = 4.22, p<.001, early attention towards negatively metastereo-
typed traits in job as did not significantly relate to job attraction, b= -0.00, SE = 0.00, t(44) =
-1.50, p= .14. Moreover, given that the indirect effect of type of trait on job attraction through
early attention was not significant, b= -0.09, bootstrapped SE = 0.07, bootstrapped 95% CI =
[-0.23, 0.03], Hypothesis 2 could not be supported for younger job seekers.
Further, Hypothesis 3 investigated the mediating effect of recall between type of trait and
job attraction. Contrary to our expectations, younger job seekers better recalled the not nega-
tively metastereotyped traits in job ads compared to negatively metastereotyped traits, b=
-0.58, SE = 0.21, t(46) = -2.78, p= .01. Furthermore, better recall of negatively metastereotyped
traits in job ads was not significantly related with job attraction, b= 0.10, SE = 0.06, t(44) =
1.48, p= .15. Next, as the indirect effect of type of trait on job attraction through recall was not
significant, b= -0.06, bootstrapped SE = 0.05, bootstrapped 95% CI = [-0.16, 0.03], Hypothesis
3 could not be supported for younger job seekers.
Finally, Hypothesis 4 expected a serial mediation model with attention and recall as serial
mediators between type of trait and job attraction. First, more early attention to negatively
metastereotyped traits in job ads was indeed related with better recall, b= 0.01, SE = 0.00, t(46)
= 2.58, p= .01. However, the indirect effect of type of trait on job attraction through attention
and recall was not significant for younger job seekers, b= 0.03, bootstrapped SE = 0.02, boot-
strapped 95% CI = [-0.01, 0.08], providing no support for Hypothesis 4.
Discussion of Study 2
Similar to Study 1, Study 2 results showed that younger job seekers’ job attraction was lower
for job ads with negatively metastereotyped traits, compared to job ads with not negatively
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metastereotyped personality requirements. Younger job seekers also allocated more early
attention to negatively metastereotyped personality requirements in job ads. These findings
are in line with social identity theory [10] and an attention bias towards negative/threatening
information [12]. That is, results indicate that negative metastereotypes in job ads might signal
to younger job seekers that their social age identity is threatened and hence a lack of fit with
the job. However, unlike Study 1 and findings of Kanar et al. [13], no support was found for a
better recall of negative metastereotypes in job ads in Study 2. That is, while we expected that
negatively metastereotyped traits would be better recalled, the opposite relationship was found
and not negatively metastereotyped traits were better recalled (i.e., as marked by the negative
regression coefficient in Fig 3). This indicates that the effect of negative metastereotypes on
recall might depend on age. As in Study 1, no effects of early attention and recall on job attrac-
tion were found and future research initiatives should investigate later or overall attention pat-
terns to negative metastereotypes to provide more insight. Contrary to Study 1, we did find a
small positive relationship between attention towards negative metastereotypes in job ads and
recall for younger job seekers, in line with predictions from Baddeley and Hitch [51]’s working
memory theory and earlier findings. This might be understood in light of the differential work-
ing memory performance that has been observed between older and younger people [72].
Finally, no mediating effects of attention and recall on job attraction were found, which might
be explained by job seekers’ emotions and motivation, as further discussed below.
General discussion
Compared to prime-aged people, particularly older (50-65y) and younger (18-30y) people
experience specific obstacles when trying to enter the workforce [73,74]. Despite legislation
that prohibits discrimination against people based on their age [75], studies have shown that
older and younger job seekers both experience hiring discrimination [4]. Remarkably, studies
have overlooked more subtle forms of negative age cues and how they might lead to self-select
out in the early stages of the job seeking process. Therefore, the present study investigated
whether and how negatively metastereotyped personality requirements in job ads affect older
and younger job seekers’ attraction during recruitment procedures.
Key findings
Previous studies showed that female and ethnic minority job seekers’ job attraction was lower
for job ads with negative metastereotypes [6,7]. The present study built on these results and,
as a first goal, investigated these effects among older and younger job seekers. First, results of
Study 1 and Study 2 confirmed that job attraction was lower for job ads with negatively
metastereotyped traits for both older and younger job seekers. That is, job seekers’ social age
identity might also be threatened by negative metastereotypes in job ads and might hence
influence job attraction [10,19].
Further, in terms of our second goal regarding the processes underlying the effect of nega-
tive metastereotypes in job ads on job attraction, results of two experimental eye-tracking stud-
ies showed that both older and younger job seekers allocated more early visual attention to
negative metastereotypes in job ads and provide support for the attention bias towards nega-
tive/threatening cues that has been shown in previous studies [21,24,29]. Interestingly, the
present study showed that this attention bias does not only exist for more imminent threats,
but also for information that is ego-threatening, or a threat to one’s social identity [12]. How-
ever, attention did not mediate the relationship between type of trait and job attraction, which
is not in line with expectations based on previous findings [36,37], but might be understood
in light of the vigilance-avoidance hypothesis. That is, studies have shown that a vigilance or
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attention bias towards negative information might be followed by an avoidance of that negative
information [76,77]. Hence, an early attention-bias towards negative information might not
necessarily always result in a more elaborate procession of that information.
Third, we expected that recall would be a mediator between type of trait and job attraction.
Remarkably, the expectation that negatively metastereotyped traits in job ad would be better
recalled than not negatively metastereotyped traits in job ads was only supported for older job
seekers and not for younger job seekers (where we found a significant but negative relationship
between type of trait and recall, see Fig 3), despite successful manipulation checks in both age
groups. While not in line with our expectations based on social identity theory and previous
findings [39,40], a study by Hehman and Bugental [78] showed that age stereotypes might
also threaten younger people to a lesser extent than older people and hence affect their cogni-
tive performance in a different way, because older and younger people might have different,
‘life-stage specific’ experiences. That is, younger people continuously grow older and thus
become closer to the group of the ‘prime-aged’ people. Their status in terms of age-stereotypes
will therefore improve, which might alter how they process negative age-stereotypes compared
to older people whose age-based status will not improve. Indeed, studies found that younger–
and not older–people might experience negative (meta)stereotypes more as a challenge [30,
79]. Relatedly, effects of negative age stereotypes might also play out differently for older-aged
versus younger-aged people when considering the general ageism and societal bias aimed
more at older-aged people compared to younger-aged people [5,80]. Moreover, both in Study
1 and Study 2, recall of negative metastereotypes was not related to job attraction, providing
no support for a general link between information recall and attitudes based on that informa-
tion (memory-for-factsmodel; [44]. Indeed, studies showed that the link between information
recall and attitudes depends on certain conditions, such as the exact processing task [45–49].
The present results indicate that a better recall of negatively metastereotyped information in
job ads might not lead to lower job attraction of older and younger job seekers and hence
uncovered one boundary condition of the relationship between recall and attitudes [49].
Finally, contrary to Baddeley and Hitch [51], as well as previous findings [52–54], no serial
mediating effect of attention and recall was found for older/younger job seekers. Job seekers’
higher early attention levels to and lower job attraction for negative metastereotypes in job ads
indicate that older and younger job seekers’ social identity might be threatened by negative
metastereotypes in job ads [30]. However, we did not measure alternative appraisal mecha-
nisms such as challenge/boost, nor did we measure job seekers’ emotional experiences (e.g.,
which emotions job seekers experience when reading negative metastereotypes). This suggests
that, although a tight link between fixations and visual attention is presumed [56,57], the rela-
tionship between eye-movements and memory is less straightforward and might depend on
one’s age. For instance, given that working memory generally declines with age (see further),
the lack of relationship between visual attention and memory among older job seekers might
be explained by floor effects of the memory task that specifically challenged older job seekers.
Interestingly, we know of two other studies that also found no support for the expected posi-
tive relationship between visual attention to textual information and recall [81,82]. Similar to
the relationship between attention and job attraction, the relationship between attention and
recall might be different when later attentional stages are considered, hence a vigilance-avoid-
ance pattern might explain our current findings. Moreover, the findings that differed between
older and younger job seekers were both related to recall/memory. Indeed, research has vastly
shown that individual’s working memory generally declines with age and that older partici-
pants might perform differently than younger participants on a memory task [72]. However,
while this is true for general working memory capacity, the effects of negative metastereotypes
on older and younger job seekers’ working memory were not considered before. While
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research has touched on the idea that negative versus positive cues might affect memory of
older and younger people differently [83,84], results were contradictory and scholars also did
not consider cues that are threatening for one’s social identity. We thus contribute to the litera-
ture by showing that working memory processing of social identity-threatening information
might differ between older and younger job seekers.
Contributions, limitations, and directions for future research
While age-related stereotypes might influence recruiters’ hiring decisions later in the selection
process, age stereotypes might also impair older and younger job seekers’ chances earlier, dur-
ing recruitment procedures. As a first contribution to the literature, the current study thus
considered experiences of job seekers during the early stage of the job search process, i.e.,
while reading job ads and thereby focused on demographic groups that tend to be overlooked
(i.e., older and younger job seekers). Study results show that job advertisements used as tools
to attract job seekers might also contain signals that can actually capture job seekers’ attention
in a negative way and lower their attraction to the advertised job.
Second, previous studies on the effects of negative metastereotypes in job ads have not con-
sidered the underlying mechanisms that are at play [6,7]. The present study adds to the exist-
ing literature by studying job attraction, as well as the potential mediating effects of early visual
attention and recall, hence aiming to uncover the processing of negatively metastereotyped
information compared to other information in job ads among older and younger job seekers.
In doing, the present study also adds to the literature on cognitive information processing by
testing attentional and recall mechanisms in an applied setting, namely the recruitment con-
text. For instance, studies on the attention bias towards negative information focused on nega-
tive information that poses a general/imminent threat. Results of Study 1 and Study 2 add to
the limited research that supports the attention bias for more subtle cues that pose a threat to
one’s social identity [i.e., ego-threat; 12]. Finally, in both studies, we used job advertisements
that were complete and realistic, yet manipulated with thoroughly developed and pilot tested
stimuli, adding to both the internal and ecological validity of the present study.
As in any study, limitations and directions for future research should be acknowledged..
First, in terms of the cognitive processing of job ads, negatively metastereotyped traits were
less attractive for older/younger job seekers and captured their attention. Yet, the exact mecha-
nism in which attention affects job attraction might depend on additional factors that were not
studied in the present study. For instance, job seekers’ emotional-motivational mechanisms
were not considered. Finkelstein et al. [85] suggested that negative metastereotypes might elicit
both positive emotions (e.g., pride) and negative emotions (e.g., anger, sadness) within older/
younger job seekers. Since emotions can affect people’s attention [86], memory [87,88] and
attitudes [89–91], future research could therefore consider not only the appraisal of negative
metastereotypes in job ads terms of threat, but also in terms of emotional valence (i.e., whether
negative metastereotypes elicit positive or negative emotions). Moreover, the emotional
valence of information might also affect older and younger job seekers differently. For
instance, working memory performance was mitigated by negative emotions for older, but not
for younger people [84,92]. However, study findings remain contradictory, since different
studies report no age difference in working memory reaction towards negative emotions
between older and younger people [83]. In conclusion, future research might further compare
effects of positive versus negative emotions such as anger, sadness and pride on attention,
memory and attitudes between older and younger job seekers. Hence, interactional effects
between age and emotions can be investigated. Further, not only job seekers’ emotions, also
their motivation might influence the processing of and attraction to job ads [8,50] and should
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be considered in the future. That is, while we used complete and realistic job ads, no real jobs
were at stake and results of our study might be different/stronger when job seekers were pre-
sented with an actual job tailored to their interests, since this might increase their motivation
[70].
Second, the present study investigated negative metastereotypes related to trait require-
ments in job ads. However, metastereotypes may not be restricted to trait requirements but
may also exist about skills/competences. Future research, therefore, could investigate skills/
competences that one holds (no) negative metastereotype about. Moreover, since age-metaste-
reotypes might also be positive in nature [17], potentially boosting effects of positive metaste-
reotypes in job ads might also be studied in the future. Third, future research might include
measures on the degree to which one identifies with their age group and the degree to which
one is concerned about being evaluated by the out-group, since both of these aspects might
affect metastereotype activation within job seekers [6,93]. Further, the link between attention
and recall of information and attitudes based on this information might be influenced by per-
sonal factors such as one’s self-perceptions [94]. Indeed, Finkelstein et al. [85] showed that
individuals’ core self-evaluations (i.e., CSE; the general belief in oneself) might affect how
older people react towards negative metastereotypes. Additional research is needed to investi-
gate the role of CSE or one’s self-perceptions on older and younger job seekers’ processing of
negative metastereotypes in job ads. Finally, future research might investigate the more behav-
ioral intentions to apply for the job [20] and might also include metastereotypes regarding
middle-aged workers [17].
Practical implications. Organizations rarely evaluate how job advertisements are per-
ceived by job seekers, although job ads are used to inform and attract job seekers. Results of
Study 1 and Study 2 showed that job advertisements with negatively metastereotyped informa-
tion might capture older/younger job seekers’ attention and decreases their job attraction.
Considering the importance of job attraction for application intentions and behavior [95–97],
these seemingly subtle cues in job ads might affect the composition of the applicant pool and
hence the success of recruitment [6,7]. In order to obtain an age-diverse applicant pool, orga-
nizations are advised to avoid using traits in job ads that activate negative metastereotypes
within older and younger job seekers. This might be particularly useful for those organizations
that aim to target older and younger job seekers in their recruitment strategy. Targeted recruit-
ment [98], for instance, is a recruitment strategy that organizations can use to target those spe-
cific job seekers that are currently underrepresented in the labor market or in their own
organization, e.g., older and younger job seekers. Research on targeted recruitment has over-
looked how job seekers from those underrepresented groups perceive required qualifications
in job ads [6]. Study findings indicate that when job seekers have negative metastereotypes
about those qualifications, targeted recruitment strategies can backfire, and job seekers from
underrepresented groups can be discouraged by job advertisements instead.
Organizations can use different sources of information to determine negative age-related
metastereotypes for older/younger age groups. First, organizations might do ‘sensitivity
check’. That is, older and younger employees (if needed with different ethnic backgrounds)
can be consulted and share their experiences on possible metastereotypes, for instance, by
means of methodologies such as verbal protocol analysis [36] or a cognitive interview [99].
Second, the present study and previous studies on age metastereotypes [17,85] report traits
that older and younger job seekers might have negative metastereotypes about and can be used
as a starting point for organizations. Based on these negative metastereotypes, organizations
might thoroughly evaluate job advertisements on potentially metastereotyped information.
Additionally, machine learning techniques can be used to facilitate this process [100]. More-
over, a distinction could be made between requirements that are crucial (e.g., ‘must haves’)
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and those that are less crucial (‘nice to haves’). Indeed, negative metastereotypes related to less
crucial person requirements could be eliminated and those related to crucial requirements
might benefit from a more positive or behavioral wording [30].
Further, apart from eliminating negative information in job ads that grabs job seekers’
attention, organization might also add information in job ads that signals identity safety
instead of threat. Davies et al. [101] for instance, suggest using explicit statements during test-
taking that stress that “research shows that the underrepresented group does not perform sig-
nificantly worse on tests” and could also be used in the recruitment context. Adapting the posi-
tioning and lay-out of those statements such that they capture readers’ attention more than the
negative information might also be an additional suggestion.
Finally, while most people know of the existence of age stereotypes, age metastereotypes are
a less known topic. For organizations and recruiters, the existence, content and effects of age
metastereotypes can be included in diversity trainings [102]. For job seekers, metastereotype
awareness can be provided during career counseling by job coaches.
Conclusion
Two experimental eye-tracking studies showed that negatively metastereotyped traits captured
older/job seekers attention and decreased job attractivity compared to not negatively metaste-
reotyped traits in job ads. Older but not younger job seekers also better recalled these negative
metastereotypes compared to not negative metastereotypes. These findings provides unique
insight into older/younger job seekers’ processing of negative recruitment information and
showed that subtle, but negative cues in job advertisements might have an attention-grabbing
effect and lower job attraction of certain groups of job seekers.
Author Contributions
Conceptualization: Aylin Koc¸ak, Nicolas Dirix, Wouter Duyck, Eva Derous.
Data curation: Aylin Koc¸ak, Maaike Schellaert.
Formal analysis: Aylin Koc¸ak, Nicolas Dirix, Maaike Schellaert, Eva Derous.
Funding acquisition: Wouter Duyck, Eva Derous.
Investigation: Aylin Koc¸ak, Maaike Schellaert, Eva Derous.
Methodology: Aylin Koc¸ak, Nicolas Dirix, Wouter Duyck, Maaike Schellaert, Eva Derous.
Project administration: Wouter Duyck, Eva Derous.
Resources: Nicolas Dirix, Wouter Duyck.
Software: Nicolas Dirix.
Supervision: Wouter Duyck, Eva Derous.
Visualization: Aylin Koc¸ak.
Writing – original draft: Aylin Koc¸ak, Eva Derous.
Writing – review & editing: Aylin Koc¸ak, Nicolas Dirix, Wouter Duyck, Maaike Schellaert,
Eva Derous.
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