Aging, T&D - A Willingness

Aging and training and development willingness: Employee and supervisor mindsets
Author(s): ANNELIES E. M. VAN VIANEN, BETTY A. G. W. DALHOEVEN and IRENE E. DE

PATER
Source: Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 32, No. 2, Contemporary Empirical
Advancement in the Study of Aging in the Workplace (FEBRUARY 2011), pp. 226-247
Published by: Wiley
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Journal of Organizational Behavior
J. Organiz. Behav. 32, 226-247 (2011)
Published online 4 January 2011 in Wiley Online Library
(wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/job.685
Aging and training and development

willingness: Employee and supervisor
mindsets
ANNELIES E. M. VAN VIANEN1*, BETTY A. G. W. DALHOEVEN2

AND IRENE E. DE PATER1
1 University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2Gerritsen Adviesgroep, Bussum, The Netherlands
Summary In this study, we examined individual and situational factors that impact the relationship
between age and employee training and development willingness. We proposed that the
relationship between age and training and development willingness would be moderated by
employees' entity self- theory and perceived developmental support. Furthermore, we inves-
tigated supervisors' beliefs about the avoidance orientations of older employees and whether
these beliefs would moderate the relationship between employee age and training and
development willingness. The proposed moderation effects were found. Moreover, it was
shown that entity self-theory beliefs, perceived developmental support, and supervisor
avoidance orientation beliefs were related to the training and development willingness of
older subordinates. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Introduction
The proportion of older individuals in the population and the workforce is increasing in many societies
(Hedge, Borman, & Lammlein, 2006). Politics and media tend to portray this "graying" as a problem
for economic innovation. Furthermore, organizations have concerns about the alleged lower
willingness of older workers to adapt to change (Isaksson & Johansson, 2000) while the human factor,
such as employees' advanced knowledge and skills, has become the critical factor for organizations'
adaptability (Van der Heijde & Van der Heijden, 2006). In times of organizational change employees
should be willing to adopt new roles and acquire new skills in order to meet an organization's new
challenges (Pulakos, Arad, Donovan, & Plamondon, 2000). In this study, we examined the training and
development willingness of older employees in the context of an organizational change. Training and
development willingness is defined as employees' attitude toward a request from the organization to
participate in learning and training activities.
Older employees are expected to be less motivated and willing to involve themselves in additional
training and learning than younger employees (e.g., Lyon & Pollard, 1997). Surprisingly, little research
* Correspondence to: Annelies E. M. Van Vianen, Department of Psychology, Work and Organizational Psychology, University of
Amsterdam, Roetersstraat 15, 1018 WB Amsterdam, The Netherlands. E-mail: A.E.M.vanVianen@uva.nl
Received 25 November 2008

Revised 6 January 2010
Copyright © 201 1 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Accepted 16 January 2010
AGING AND TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT WILLINGNESS 227
has directly tested this assumption. Related research has, however, shown that age had a n
correlation with people's motivation when participating in a training program (Colquitt, Le
Noe, 2000). In addition, participation in continuing education as initiated by persons thems
found to be lower at older ages (Warr & Fay, 2001). The question is whether employees' willin
participate in training and development if they are asked to do so by their organization also
with age, and if so, what factors may contribute to this decline.
Many previous studies on aging in organizations have implicitly assumed that the aging fact
triggers specific motivational processes toward learning. For example, people of older ages m
that their capacities are declining due to their age, which may negatively influence their self-eff
learning which, in turn, makes them less willing to pursue learning activities (Maurer, 2001;
Barbeite, Weiss, & Lippstreu, 2008). Despite these general age-related mechanisms, older em
vary with regard to their learning attitudes (McEnrue, 1989; Robson & Hansson, 2007). Factor
these differences may pertain to individual characteristics that are already present at a young
become more influential when people progress in their careers. In the present study, we e
individual and situational factors that impact the relationship between age and employee trai
development willingness. The individual factor in this study concerned employees' implicit
theories. Situation factors concerned supervisors' support and their age-related beliefs.
Employees' implicit self-theories about the malleability of human abilities will influence
training and development willingness, because people who believe that human abilities are fix
than incremental are less oriented toward learning (Dweck & Molden, 2005). People's se
beliefs remain relatively stable over time and are unrelated to age (Heckhausen & Dweck, 199
extent to which they influence people's learning attitudes may change with age. Particularly f
with fixed abilities beliefs we expected that age would be related to training and deve
willingness, with younger workers being more willing to participate in training and developm
older ones. Younger employees will be open to learning even if they assume that human ab
fixed because they have relatively limited experiences on which they can base their (fixed)
evaluations. Moreover, since they are at the beginning of their career, they are expected to
contrast, learning is less obvious for older workers and implicit theories will, therefore, pla
significant role in their learning attitudes.
Older employees' training and development willingness will not only stem from internal for
as their personal beliefs, but also from external forces, such as the beliefs of their supervisors
research has addressed this issue by assessing employees' own perceptions about the develop
support they receive from their supervisor (Maurer, Weiss, & Barbeite, 2003). Yet, the act
related beliefs of supervisors and whether these are related to employees' training attitudes
been investigated before. In this study, we therefore examined both employees' pe
developmental support and their supervisors' age-related beliefs.
The aim of the present study was to investigate individual and situational factors that may
employees' training and development willingness as related to their age. By incorpor
individual factor that may particularly relate to the developmental attitudes of older worke
not related to age, this study extends previous research that examined only age-related cor
of older workers' learning attitudes. By including independent supervisors' age-related bel
study consolidates previous research that provided preliminary evidence of the impact of su
attitudes as being based on subordinates' reports. In the following section, we address the re
between age and training and development willingness. Next, we discuss the fundamental bel
people may hold about the flexibility of their abilities and how these relate to their attitude
learning in general and to the attitudes of older employees in particular. Finally, we will argu
age-related beliefs of supervisors are important for the training and development willingnes
employees.
Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Organiz. Behav. 32, 226-24
DOI: 10.1002/job
228 A. E. M. VAN VIANEN ETAL
Age and Training and Development Willingness
Older people tend to be more oriented toward maintaining the status quo than young
Ebner, Freund, & Baltes, 2006; Ogilvie, Rose, & Heppen, 2001), and they are expect
reluctant to engage in new skill training (Kanfer & Ackerman, 2005; Warr, 2001). One p
for the lower participation of older employees in learning and developmental activities is
experience specific constraints due to the biological changes associated with aging. Ag
linked to a decline in cognitive and intellectual abilities (Ackerman, Beier, & Bowen, 2
current society in which multitasking is the rule rather than the exception, people of mi
may feel less competent than younger adults (Li, Lindenberger, Freund, & Baltes, 2001).
may believe that older people in general are less able to learn and/or they believe that th
are no longer capable of learning new skills. One way or the other, they tend to have less
their abilities to learn new skills (Touron & Hertzog, 2004), which may reduce their t
development willingness. Although this proposition is plausible for the group of older
whole, there are of course exceptions to this general rule. Some older workers may remai
learning and development whereas others may not. These differences among older worke
to their idiosyncratic beliefs, the support they perceive from their work environment,
and behaviors of significant others (e.g., Nauta, Van Vianen, Van Der Heijden, Van Dam,
2009).
Employees' Beliefs: Fixed or Incremental Self-theory
Companies, but also literatures on aging, often refer to older workers as a specific category of people,
thereby ignoring the fact that these workers have carried their unique characteristics with them from the
time they were young. Specific types of beliefs that are central to people's learning behaviors may
already have been present at a younger age but may start to play an even greater role as individuals
become older. Such core beliefs concern the implicit self-theories that people hold. Self-theories are
beliefs about the fixedness or malleability of personal characteristics (Dweck, 2000). The first type of
beliefs has been referred to as an entity self-theory, whereas the second type of beliefs reflects an
incremental self-theory. Individuals who adhere to an entity theory assume that personal attributes such
as intelligence and personality are fixed, whereas individuals who hold an incremental theory believe
that these attributes are malleable. Research has shown that about 40 per cent of people tend to endorse
the entity theory, about 40 per cent endorse the incremental theory, and 20 per cent are undecided
(Dweck & Molden, 2005). Self-theory beliefs are, however, domain specific. Thus, one may hold a
fixed theory regarding intelligence and an incremental theory about personality (Dweck, Chiù, & Hong,
1995).
People's implicit self-theories form the core of their meaning system and direct their attributions and
actions (Dweck, 2000). In addition, self-theories orient people to different goals with incremental
theorists placing more priority on learning than entity theorists (Hong, Chiù, Dweck, Lin, & Wan,
1999). Learning in the work context is focused on the development of work related capacities and skills.
When employees believe that these capacities and skills are fixed, they will be oriented to holding their
current tasks on which they perform well in order to avoid the threat of possible failure. These
employees value competence validation rather than competence acquisition (Dweck & Molden, 2005).
In contrast, when employees believe that capacities are malleable they will be willing to learn and
Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Organiz. Behav. 32, 226-247 (2011)
DOI: 10.1002/job
invest in their further development on-the-job. Moreover, enjoyment and self-conf

incremental theorists are linked to the mastery of an activity instead of only accomplishme
The impact of self-theories on attitudes, goals, and behaviors has been mostly studied with
(Kanfer & Ackerman, 2004). It was shown, for example, that students' incremental self-th
strongly associated with pursuing learning goals and spending effort on task mastery (e.g., H
1999). As an exception, Maurer and colleagues (Maurer, Mitchell, & Barbeite, 2002; Maurer,
Pierce, Tross, & Collins, 2003) have addressed people's implicit self-theories in an orga
context. They, for instance, examined the relationship between employees' self-theory abo
malleability of intelligence and their involvement in developmental activities after having
360° feedback about their skills. They found that the more employees espoused an entity self-
intelligence the less they were involved in off-the-job development activities such as reading
attending seminars or workshops. Employees' entity self-theory was, however, not related t
job activities such as asking for feedback, working on skills on-the-job, and receiving coac
researchers attributed these unexpected results to the specific measure they had used
intelligence: An entity self-theory of intelligence is more likely related to academic learning
such as reading books (the off-the-job activities) than to on-the-job training activities and
seeking. They, therefore, called for additional research that uses self-theory measures tha
stronger conceptual link with the dependent variable. In the current study, we took note
suggestion and measured people's beliefs about their general capabilities since these are most
for training and learning activities.
The role of self-theories in the attitudes of older workers has been ignored in the literature on
This is unfortunate for two reasons. First, "self-theories give us entrée into the meaning sy
people use to construct meaning in competence-relevant situations" (Dweck & Molden, 2005
Self-theories are fundamental for one's focus on competence validation or competence acqu
According to Dweck and Molden Dweck and Molden, 2005 (2005, p. 130): "The impact
theories can be seen at the most basic attentional level in the brain activity that prepares
learn." Second, since self-theories are basic yet can be changed through specific intervention
2006), examining the role of older workers' self-theories may provide organizations a
influencing people's learning attitudes. In case an organization's older workers would refra
learning activities, this attitude could be changed by interventions directed at the underly
theories they hold.
Based on the research as presented above, a negative relationship between employees' ent
theory of capabilities and their training and development willingness can be expected. Moreo
plausible to assume that entity self-theory beliefs will also influence the expected relationshi
age and training and development willingness. This relationship will exist for entity theorists bu
incremental theorists. Older workers who believe that people's capacities are malleable will
that training can further enhance their capabilities. The training attitudes of this type of older
will not differ from those of similar younger workers. Yet, differences in training attitu
particularly exist between younger and older entity theorists in that younger entity theori
more willing to participate in training than older entity theorists.
Young adults start their career with the idea that they have to learn in their job in order to b
keep the job and build their CV. Moreover, they have rather vague ideas about their skills and
(Van Vianen, De Pater, & Preenen, 2009). Through their work experiences they gradually l
about the types of activities they find easy or difficult to master. Thus, even if a career st
believe that people's capabilities are fixed, he or she will nevertheless put effort in learning an
in order to learn more about one's own capabilities and to enhance one's experiences. Partic
training activities is a given rather than a choice for younger workers, whereas these activit
obvious for older workers. Hence, younger entity theorists will be more willing to invest in trai
DOI: 10.1002/job
230 A. E. M. VAN VIANEN ETAL.
developmental activities than their older counterparts. Consequently, largest differences in

development willingness as caused by people's implicit self-theories will be found am
workers.
This proposition can be further substantiated with trait activation theory. This theory posits
manifest in behaviors only in situations where the trait is relevant. A situation is relevant to a
provides cues for the expression of trait-relevant behavior (Tett & Guterman, 2000). In a sim
can be argued that people's implicit self-theory manifests in their training and development
when the situation asks for making choices pertaining to possible training activities. Espec
face of organizational changes when older employees are confronted with options for train
entity self-theory will be activated.
To summarize, we expected that entity theorists as opposed to incremental theorists wou
willing to put effort in training and developmental activities. Furthermore, we expected t
self-theory would influence the relationship between age and training and development
Our hypotheses were as follows:
Hypothesis 1 : Entity self-theory beliefs are negatively related to training and de

willingness.
Hypothesis 2: Entity self-theory beliefs moderate the relationship between age and training and
development willingness such that age is most strongly and negatively related to training and
development willingness for people with high-entity self-theory beliefs.
Perceived Developmental Support and Supervisors'

Age-related Beliefs
Supervisors are important for the learning attitudes of their employees. Research has shown that
supervisor support related to employees' training attitudes and developmental activities (Maurer et al.,
2002; Noe & Wilk, 1993). Supervisors can give their support in several ways. For example, they have a
direct say in people's training activities and can provide them with the time and resources that are
necessary for on-the-job or off-the-job learning. In addition, they can verbally encourage their
employees to reflect on their development and to seek for opportunities to learn new skills. In the
current study, we focused on this latter type of support and measured employees' perceived supervisor
support.
In line with earlier research we expected that employees' perceived developmental support from the
supervisor would be related to their training and development willingness. In addition, we expected that
perceived developmental support would moderate the relationship between age and training and
development willingness. Specifically, we reasoned that older employees when felt supported by their
supervisor would be as willing as younger employees to participate in learning and developmental
activities. Yet, differences in training attitudes of younger and older employees would particularly exist
under conditions of low perceived developmental support.
First, younger employees generally show more initiatives toward educational activities than older
employees (Warr & Fay, 2001). Hence, younger employees will involve in these activities despite the
low perceived developmental support, whereas older employees will be less likely do so. In addition,
young employees are faced with other types of age-related norms and expectations than older ones.
Society in general expects young people to grow and develop, and to progress in their careers. In
Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. / Organiz. Behav. 32, 226-247 (2011)
DOI: 10.1002/job
contrast, older people are confronted with societal norms and expectations that refer to set
stability, or decline in aspirations and opportunities. These stereotypical contexts are benefic
learning attitudes of young workers but detrimental for those of older workers (Maurer, W
Weiss, 2003).
The perceived lack of developmental support will impact younger and older employees dif
Older employees may perceive the little support of their supervisor as reflecting prevailing
expectations about older people and as representing the (implicit) policy of the organization
older workers. Furthermore, because older employees tend to have a lower self-efficacy rega
learning capacities (e.g., Maurer, Weiss, et al., 2003), the perceived lack of developmental su
further strengthen these lower self-efficacy beliefs. Research based on the social cognitive a
career development has evidenced that self-efficacy beliefs influence one's intentions to pur
career activities (e.g., Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994). Self-efficacy beliefs are among others
by the verbal persuasion of salient others, such as employees' supervisor (Bandura, 1986). W
verbal persuasion of their supervisor, older employees have to rely on other sources that co
their self-efficacy beliefs, such as their own recent learning experiences (performance attain
those of their older peers (vicarious experience). However, these alternative sources may be
well since people's learning experiences tend to decline with age (Hedge et al., 2006).
hypothesized the following:
Hypothesis 3: Perceived developmental support is positively related to training and dev

willingness.
Hypothesis 4 : Perceived developmental support moderates the relationship between age and training
and development willingness such that age is most strongly and negatively related to training and
development willingness for people who perceive little developmental support.
In this study, we furthermore examined supervisors' actual beliefs about older employees.
Supervisors may have stigmatizing perceptions of older employees. It is quite common in organizations
to assume that older employees seek for stability (e.g., Finkelstein, Burke, & Raju, 1995) and, thus, will
avoid activities they are not familiar with. This belief refers to the assumed learning avoidance
orientation of older employees, an orientation that has been distinguished in goal orientation theory
(Dweck, 1986; Elliott & Dweck, 1988). Goal orientation refers to the underlying goals that people
adapt and pursue in achievement and learning situations (Dweck, 1986; Dweck & Leggett, 1988).
Individuals with a learning-avoidance goal orientation strive to avoid deterioration of their current
skills rather than to master new skills (Elliot & McGregor, 2001). They seek competence validation
through the performance of tasks they already master. It has been shown that the pursuit of avoidance
goals undermines the competence experiences people need for continued growth and development
(Elliot and Dweck, 2005Elliot & Dweck, 2005). If a supervisor beliefs that older workers have a
learning avoidance orientation his/her older employees may act accordingly.
Generally, people tend to be sensitive to the expectations of others. This phenomenon has been
referred to as the Pygmalion effect, a type of self-fulfilling prophecy whereby individuals act in
accordance with the beliefs of salient others such as their teacher (in a school context) or supervisor (in
a work context). For example, if a supervisor has high expectations about the performance of a group of
employees, all else being equal, this group of employees may perform better than employees for whom
expectations are less high (e.g., Kierein & Gold, 2000). The working of this mechanism has been
ascribed to different mediating processes, such as supervisors' differential verbal feedback and subtle
supportive actions. Furthermore, it was found that the Pygmalion effect operates as strong when
expectancies are induced for whole groups as when expectancies are induced for individuals (Kierein &
Gold, 2000).
DOI: 10.1002/job
Although most research on the Pygmalion effect concerned people's performances (e

1993), this effect may also hold for other outcomes such as the developmental attitudes
employees. One medium through which supervisors' beliefs can affect the learning att
behaviors of their employees is the "input" supervisors provide. In school settings it was s
Pygmalion effect can be elicited by teachers who give more difficult material to the
assigning them challenging tasks (Harris & Rosenthal, 1985). In a similar vein, supervisor
that older workers will prefer tasks they already master may create a work environment in
older subordinates are expected to keep their current tasks rather than to take upon n
activities. Because the performance of new activities stimulates learning and developmen
Ruderman, Ohlott, & Morrow, 1994), supervisor beliefs about the avoidance orient
workers may indirectly undermine the developmental opportunities and attitudes of t
subordinates.
We expected that the relationship between age and training and development willingness would be
particularly strong for employees with a supervisor who beliefs that older workers have a
learning avoidance orientation. Supervisors' beliefs concern older employees only and thus will relate
to the training and development willingness of their older subordinates and not their younger ones.
Likewise, the developmental attitudes of younger and older employees will be more similar if
supervisors do not have such strong beliefs about the learning avoidance orientation of older
employees. We proposed
Hypothesis 5: Supervisors' beliefs about the learning avoidance orientation of older employees
moderate the relationship between age and training and development willingness such that age is
most strongly and negatively related to training and development willingness when the supervisor
beliefs that older employees have a learning avoidance orientation.
Supervisors' general beliefs about the learning avoidance orientation of older people may be related
to the actual learning avoidance orientation of their older subordinates. To explore this, we also
measured employees' avoidance orientation in this study.
Method
Research context and procedure
Data were obtained from employees and supervisors working in a medium sized public city council in
the Netherlands. The effects of an aging workforce are tangible in the public sector because about 53
per cent of the working population in the public sector in the Netherlands is older than 45 years of age
(CBS, 2008). All employees (N= 340) and supervisors ( N= 36) of the public city council were asked
to fill out a larger organizational survey with questions about their job and their organization's
practices, of which the present research was a part. The organization was facing a change, including a
transformation of the organization's structure, which could have implications for the content of
people's jobs. The top management team of this organization was concerned with the relatively high
proportion of older employees (mean age within the organization was 46.1 years) while the proportion
and entry of young employees was quite small. Organizational changes were among others needed in
order to prepare for the coming exodus of older employees. Many people in the Netherlands retire
between 55 and 65 years of age with a peak at 60 (Bruggink, 2007).
Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J . Organiz. Behav. 32, 226-247 (2011)
DOI: 10.1002/job
Participants
Those employees and supervisors who completed their surveys, sealed them in a provide
and returned them directly to the researchers. The survey response rate was 61 .2 per cent fo
and 83.3 per cent for supervisors. Respondents were 208 employees and 30 supervisors, of
supervisors could not be linked to the sample of employees. Mean number of employees per
was 7 (SD = 4.5) with a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 18 employees in one of the gr
sample of employees comprised 102 women (50.7 per cent) and 99 men. Sex of seven respon
unknown. Their mean age was 44.4 years ( SD= 10.42), mean organizational tenure was 13
(SD = 1 1.20), and mean job tenure was 6.94 years (SD = 7.30). The gender and age demogr
our sample correspond with those of the organization as a whole (47 per cent women and a
46.1). Twenty per cent of the employees had received high-school education only, 80 per
received bachelor or master's degrees. The types of jobs involved are typical for a public c
such as administrative jobs, staff positions, controllers, technical support, legal advisers, fi
and desk clerks.
The sample of supervisors comprised of 7 women and 23 men. Their mean age was 49.1 years
(SD = 6.47), mean organizational tenure was 14.21 years (SD = 10.16), and mean job tenure was 4.97
years (SD = 3.30). All supervisors had bachelor degrees.
Measures
Only measures used in the present study are described. The employee survey included questions about
demographics and items that measured entity self-theory, perceived developmental support, and
training and development willingness, and other measures that were part of a larger study on
employees' work experiences and attitudes. The supervisor survey included among other thing
questions about demographics and supervisors' beliefs about the mastery avoidance orientations of
older employees. All items were scored on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from "strongly disagree" (1
to "strongly agree" (5).
Entity self-theory : As in previous studies (e.g., Chiù, Hong, & Dweck, 1997; Hong et al., 1999), a
three-item questionnaire was used to measure participants' entity self-theory about capabilities. Th
items are "Your capabilities are something about you that you can't change very much;" " You have
certain capabilities and you really can 't do much to change it; " and "If you don yt have a specific
capability , you cannot really learn it" The higher the participants' scores, the more they believe that
capabilities are fixed. We followed the procedure of other researchers by not including items that depic
an incremental theory, because it has been shown that "incremental items are highly compelling and
more socially desirable as well" (Hong et al., 1999; p. 590). Furthermore, it has been shown tha
disagreement with entity-theory items can be taken to represent agreement with the incremental theory
(e.g., Dweck et al., 1995). The internal reliability of the scale was .72.
Perceived developmental support was measured with five items (see Nauta et al., 2009) that reflect
employees' perceptions of supervisors' positive attitudes toward and encouragement of employees'
learning and development. An example item is: "My supervisor wants me to develop myself ". The
internal reliability of the scale was .84.
Employee avoidance orientations were measured with three items derived from the original 5-item
scale as developed and used in earlier research (Elliot & McGregor, 2001; Van Yperen & Janssen
2002). Furthermore, the Dutch items were used in a study of Janssen and Prins (2007). Due to
restrictions regarding the length of our survey we selected three items that showed to have good facto
loadings in these earlier studies. Employees responded to the question "/ prefer to perform those type
Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Organic Behav. 32, 226-247 (2011)
DOI: 10.1002/job
of tasks . . "on which I have little risk to fail/' "I can easily manage " "I completely m
internal reliability of the scale was .65.
Supervisor avoidance orientation beliefs , that is, their general beliefs about th
orientation of older employees were measured with a similar set of items. Supervisors re
question: " Older employees prefer to perform those types of tasks . . "on which they h
to fail" " they can easily manage " " they completely master. " The internal reliability of
.65.
Training and development willingness was measured with five items that were deriv
Training and Development Willingness measure of Van Dam (2003). An example item i
of the organization, I am willing to do additional courses and training." The internal rel
scale was .91.
Analytical approach
We performed a confirmatory factor analysis to examine whether the employee measures were different
constructs, because employee self-reports are vulnerable to same source/common method bias
(Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Lee, & Podsakoff, 2003). The overall fit of the measurement model to the data
was estimated with LISREL 8.80 (Jöreskog & Sörbom, 1996). A four-factor model (including
employee avoidance orientations, entity theory of capacities, perceived developmental support, and
training and development willingness) was compared with a one-factor model (including all scale
items). The four-factor model yielded a better fit to the data (x2 = 218.01,/? < .001, df = 98, CFI = .95,
IFI = .95, SRMR = .06) than the one-factor solution (x2 = 900.73, p <.001, df=104, CFI = .72,
IFI = .72, SRMR = .16; Д x2 = 682.72 and Д df = 6). Thus, the data presented support for treating the
scales as separate constructs.
For testing our Hypotheses, we used hierarchical regression analysis. Because employees in our
sample can be considered as nested within work groups, the data collected within work groups were not
independent from each other. Non-interdependence among observational data violates a basic
assumption of traditional linear model analyses and results in a-error inflation (Raudenbush & Bryk,
2002). By means of multilevel analyses, it is possible to control for the dependence of data stemming
from the same groups and to keep the a-error level constant. Before testing our hypotheses we,
therefore, first estimated the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) to assess the proportion of variance
in training and development willingness explained by work group. If there is between work group
variance multilevel regression analyses are warranted. If the between work group variance is close to
zero, ordinary linear regression can be used. When testing the proposed moderation effects with
ordinary linear regression, we followed the procedure as recommended by Baron and Kenny (1986). To
avoid multicollinearity and to facilitate the interpretation of results, all independent variables were
centered before calculating the interaction terms (see also Aiken & West, 1991).
Results
Table 1 displays the means, standard deviations, and correlation coefficients among the variables of this
study. Because older employees tend to stay longer with their organization and in their job than younger
employees, significant correlations between age and tenure have been found in previous research (e.g.,
Nauta et al., 2009). Our results also show strong correlations between age, organizational tenure, and
job tenure, ranging from r = .40, p < .01 to r = .62, p < .01. In the further analyses, we will control for
organizational and job tenure because we aimed to examine relationships with age rather than tenure.
DOI: 10.1002/job
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DOI: 10.1002/job
First, we estimated the ICC to assess the proportion of variance in training and
willingness explained by work group. An intercept-only model (Hox, 2002) in a mixed m
showed that the ICC was zero. Hence, we used ordinary linear regression to test our h
Hypotheses 1^4 concern independent variables measured at the individual level o
Hypothesis 5 concerns both individual level and group level independent variables. The r
regression analyses concerning Hypotheses 1-4 are shown in Table 2, models 1 and 2. We
that entity beliefs would be negatively related to training and development willingness (
and that entity beliefs would moderate the negative relationship between age and
development willingness (Hypothesis 2). In addition, we expected that perceived d
support would be positively related to training and development willingness (Hypothe
perceived developmental support would moderate the negative relationship between age
and development willingness (Hypothesis 4). The first regression analysis with
development willingness as the dependent variable included the control variables (orga
job tenure), age, avoidance orientation, entity self-theory, and perceived development
(Table 2, Model 1). In addition, the interaction terms (age x entity theory and age
developmental support) were added in a second regression analysis (Table 2, Model 2). M
that organizational tenure was negatively related to training and development willing
t=-2A2, p < .05). Due to the high correlation between age and organizational tenure (se
age was no longer significantly related to training and development willingness after co
organizational tenure. Furthermore, it was found that entity self-theory and perceived
support were significantly related to training and development willingness. Entity be
negatively related to training and development willingness ( ß=-.26 , t=- 3.78, /?
supports Hypothesis 1. Perceived developmental support was positively related to
development willingness (ß = .38, ř = 5.83, p< .01), which supports Hypothesis 3.
Both interaction terms that were added in Model 2 were significant. The interaction of
self-theory was negatively related to training and development willingness (ß=-
p < .05). This interaction is illustrated in Figure 1. We plotted training and development
high (1 standard deviation above the mean) and low (1 standard deviation below the me
Table 2. Hierarchical regression analyses predicting training and development willingness
Variable Modell1 Model 2 1 Model 31
Individual level main effects

Organizational tenure -.20* -.23* -.19*
Job tenure -.01 .03 .02
Age -.08 -.07 -.11
Employee avoidance orientation -.07 -.05 -.05
Entity self-theory -.26** -.20** -.19**
Perceived developmental support .38** .33** .31**
Individual level interactions
Age x entity self-theory -.14* - . 1 2*
Age x perceived developmental support .14* .14*
Group level effects
Supervisor avoidance orientation beliefs -.06
Age x supervisor avoidance orientation beliefs -.14*
R2 .32 .35 .37
R change .21 .03* .02^
F
'Standardized regression co
Copyright © 2011
DOI: 10
Figure 1 . Moderating effect of entity self-theory on the relationship between age and training and
willingness
entity self-theory. Simple slope calculations showed that age was negatively related to training and
development willingness for employees with high-entity beliefs, ř(172) = - 2.31, p <.05. Age was
not related to training and development willingness for employees with low entity beliefs,
ř(172) = .51, ns. This finding supports Hypothesis 2.
Also the interaction effect of age x perceived developmental support was positively related to
training and development willingness ( ß = .14, t = 2.15, p < .05). In Figure 2, we plotted training and
development willingness at high (1 standard deviation above the mean) and low (1 standard deviation
below the mean) levels of perceived developmental support. Simple slope calculations showed that age
was not related to training and development willingness for employees who rated high on perceived
developmental support, t( 172) = .626, ns. Age was negatively related to training and development
willingness for employees who rated low on perceived developmental support, ¿(172) = -2.06 ,p < .05.
This finding supports Hypothesis 4.
Hypothesis 5 concerns the moderating influence of a group level variable. We proposed that
supervisors' beliefs about the avoidance orientation of older employees would moderate the
relationship between age and training and development willingness such that age would be most
strongly and negatively related to training and development willingness when the supervisor believes
that older employees are oriented toward learning avoidance ( Hypothesis 5). The interaction of
age x supervisor avoidance orientation beliefs was added to the regression equation (Table 2, Model 3).
The interaction term was significant (ß = - .14, t=- 2.21, p<.05), and is illustrated in Figure 3.
Simple slope calculations showed that age was negatively related to training and development
DOI: 10.1002/job
Figure 2. Moderating effect of perceived developmental support on the relationship between age
development willingness
willingness when supervisors' expectation about the learning avoidance orientation of ol

was high, ř(172) = -2.23, p < .05. Age was not related to training and development will
supervisors' expectation about the learning avoidance orientation of older emplo
¿(172) = .35, ns. This finding supports Hypothesis 5.
Figures 1-3 show that differences in training and development willingness were largest
employees, depending on their entity beliefs and perceived developmental support, an
avoidance orientation beliefs. However, the addition of the third interaction term in the fin
equation reduced the contribution of the age x entity self-theory interaction. With a sub
employees we, therefore, additionally examined the extent to which entity beli
developmental support, and supervisor perceptions contributed to the training and de
willingness of older employees. The term older employee has been operationalized differ
literature. The specific age criterion that researchers use (45, 50, or 55 years) often d
number of older people involved in the study: The lower the number the lower the age cu
Greller, & Stroh, 2002). Furthermore, the age criterion also relates to the demographic
organization or country in which a study was performed. In the Netherlands it is comm
employees of 45 years of age as older employees. Hence, we created a sample with emp
years of age (N= 102) for performing our further analyses.
Because supervisor avoidance orientation beliefs concern older employees and, indeed,
to older employees' training and development willingness, we first estimated the ICC
DOI: 10.1002/job
Figure 3. Moderating effect of supervisor avoidance orientation beliefs on the relationship betwe
training and development willingness
proportion of variance in training and development willingness explained by work gr

intercept-only model (Hox, 2002) showed that the ICC was .07, indicating difference
employees' training and development willingness among groups. Hence, we used multilevel r
analyses to examine the contribution of each of the independent variables to the trai
development willingness of older employees. Prior to analyses, all the predictor varia
centered at the group mean (see Kreft, De Leeuw, & Aiken, 1995). We tested a random interc
with training and development willingness as the dependent variable and the individual leve
(job and organizational tenure, avoidance orientation, entity self-theory, and perceived deve
support) and the group level variable (supervisor avoidance beliefs) as the independent vari
results of these analyses are shown in Table 3. In line with the earlier analyses with the tota
entity self-theory and perceived developmental support were significantly related to train
development willingness in the subsample of older employees. In addition, supervisor
orientation beliefs had a significant negative contribution to training and development w
(y = - .23, p < .05). These results show that training and development willingness of older
was lower when their supervisor had stronger beliefs about the learning avoidance orientatio
employees. Supervisor beliefs were significantly related to training and development willing
other individual level variables were taken into account, such as avoidance orientation as rep
employees themselves. Yet, we investigated whether supervisor avoidance orientation belie
related to the avoidance orientations of their older subordinates by calculating the correlation
supervisor expectation and the mean avoidance orientation of the team members. This corre
Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J Organiz. Behav. 32, 226-247
DOI: 10.1002/job
Table 3. HLM analysis predicting training and development willingness of older employee
Variable Coefficient ( ytj )

Level 1
Organizational tenure y'o -0.14
Job tenure y2 о 0.05
Employee avoidance orientation y30 -0.12
Entity self-theory y40 -0.24*
Perceived developmental support y50 0.39**
Level 2
Intercept уоо 4.11
Supervisor avoidance orientation beliefs y0 1 -0.23*
*><.01. *p < .05; N= 102.
.05 (ns), showing that there was no relationship between the avo
subordinates and their supervisor's expectation about the avoidance ori
general. Finally, we also calculated the correlation between supervisor
perceived developmental support. This correlation was -.19 (p < .06
Discussion
This study aimed to add to the literature on aging in work organizations that has notified prevalent
beliefs about the decline in learning attitudes of older workers. We sought to establish some core factors
that contribute to people's training and development willingness, particularly the training and
development willingness of older employees: An individual factor that reflects employees' beliefs
about people's malleability and situational factors that relate to employees' perceptions of supervisor
developmental support and supervisors' beliefs about the learning avoidance orientation of older
workers. We chose to focus on self-theories because people's self-theories are fundamental for their
motivational orientations and developmental behaviors. With this focus, we also took a different stance
toward older workers than has been done in most previous research where older workers were treated as
a specific group rather than as individuals who posses their unique characteristics from the time they
were young. Furthermore, to our knowledge this is the first study that included supervisors' age-related
beliefs in addition to employees' perceptions of supervisor developmental support.
Our findings showed that age was negatively related to training and development willingness. On
average, older workers were less willing to invest in learning and training if requested by the
organization than younger ones. As proposed, the strength of this relationship depended on employee
factors such as their entity self-theory and perceived developmental support. Age was negatively
related to training and development willingness for the high-entity employees and for employees who
experienced little developmental support from their supervisor. Furthermore, the relationship between
age and training and development willingness was also moderated by supervisor beliefs about the
learning avoidance orientation of older workers. This finding corresponds with theory and earlier
research on the Pygmalion effect showing that supervisor expectations are related to subordinates'
behaviors (e.g., Kierein & Gold, 2000). Finally, further analyses with a subsample of older employees
showed that supervisor beliefs about the learning avoidance orientation of older workers could explain
additional variance in training and development willingness above and beyond entity self-theory and
perceived developmental support.
Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J . Organiz. Behav. 32, 226-247 (2011)
DOI: 10.1002/job
Theoretical implications and future research
Our findings have some implications for theory and offers important avenues for future resear
study, we have focused on training and development willingness as the dependent variabl
and development willingness refers to employees' response toward a request from the organ
participate in learning and training activities. This measure instead of a broader construc
general learning motivation was chosen, because organizations are specifically interested in
employees' actual responses in times of an organizational change. And, since this measure
behavioral intention (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980) it is the most proximal indicator of actual b
However, future studies, and preferably longitudinal ones, should also include the actual
activities of older workers over time.
The fact that we measured training and development willingness rather than a more general attitude
toward learning may also explain why employees' self-theory was more of influence than their
avoidance orientation. In line with earlier studies, we found that entity theory and avoidance orientation
were significantly related (Dweck, 2000) but entity theory could explain most of the variance in training
and development willingness. Apparently, although older people prefer to perform tasks they
completely master they may not necessarily respond negatively to organization's request to follow a
training program. They may, however, refuse to participate in training activities if they believe that such
an effort is useless since their fixed capabilities may lead to less success on the training. Hence, people's
implicit self-theory may both influence their motivational orientation and their specific cognitions
about the utility of prospective behaviors.
Furthermore, entity beliefs may negatively impact upon people's expectations of training success
through their negative effect on self-efficacy beliefs. The literature on aging suggests that the self-
efficacy beliefs of older workers with regard to training are particularly caused by age-related beliefs,
such as the alleged age-related decline in specific capacities (Hedge et al., 2006). However, these self-
efficacy beliefs might be rooted more deeply in people's basic self-theory beliefs. From a theoretical
perspective this might imply that self-efficacy beliefs are influenced by a source additional to the ones
that were proposed in Bandura's (1986) Social Cognitive Theory (performance attainment, vicarious
experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological arousal).
The present study has examined only two of these sources, namely self-theory beliefs and perceived
support (through verbal persuasion). Also, this study has directly measured training and employability
willingness rather than self-efficacy in training and development. Future studies could further
investigate to what extent older workers' self-efficacy beliefs and subsequent training and development
willingness are influenced by age-related sources, such as prevailing age-stereotypes and norms, or by
non-age-related sources, such as the five sources as mentioned above. Moreover, possible links between
implicit self-theories and age-specific beliefs could be further examined (see also Levy, Stroessner, &
Dweck, 1998). Most optimally, this should be done longitudinally because also age-related stereotypes
might already be present at younger ages, particularly if individuals adhere to entity types of beliefs.
The construct of age actually is quite ambiguous since its meaning does not always correspond with
chronological age (Cleveland & McFarlane Shore, 1992). As has been evidenced in this study, people
of similar age differ in their core beliefs. It is possible that "older" employees may not define
themselves as such if they have an incremental self-theory, whereas employees of similar age may feel
old as induced by their entity self-theory. Hence, future studies could examine the role of subjective age
as a mediator between people's self-theory and their self-efficacy and willingness to pursue training and
developmental activities.
Most importantly, more research is needed that scrutinizes the processes through which supervisors'
beliefs affect the developmental attitudes of older subordinates. There was no relationship between
supervisor avoidance orientation beliefs and the avoidance orientations of their older subordinates.
DOI: 10.1002/job
242 A. E. M. VAN VIANEN ET AL.
Moreover, the negative relationship between supervisor avoidance orientation beliefs

perceived developmental support was rather low. Hence, supervisors' beliefs seem to
subordinates' developmental attitudes in a more obscured and indirect way. Subordin
supported by their supervisor in that they are verbally encouraged to develop thems
provided with the resources to participate in training programs. At the same time the
opportunities to learn and develop on-the-job. On-the-job experiences are the most po
employee learning and development (e.g., Watkins & Marsick, 1992). Especially c
experiences are found to be related to on-the-job learning and development (e.g., McC
1994). Supervisors may assign challenging activities to those subordinates they trust to
(Hersey & Blanchard, 1993) and able (Bauer & Green, 1996) to perform well. Super
regarding older people's lower willingness together with prevailing ideas about their lo
may withhold them to assign developmental tasks to their older subordinates. This p
ultimately lead to lower flexibility of older employees.
Study limitations
Although this study had several strengths and our findings supported and extended exist
also had some weaknesses that merit discussion. When considering the generalizability
we should first note that our study sample was reduced because of non-response which m
a lack of representativeness and, thus, low generalizability to other similar types of org
however, believe that possible non-response effects will be low, because the demograph
of our final sample corresponded with that of the organization as a whole. The general
results to other types of organizations, such as profit organizations, should be establ
research. We assume that the relationships as shown in this study will be found in o
industry as well, although organizational factors, such as an organization's employabilit
culture may weaken or strengthen these relationships (Nauta et al., 2009).
Second, because of the use of same-source data as derived from employees we canno
rule out the possibility that the relationships among the employee variables were some
Yet, as recommended by Podsakoff and colleagues (2003), we found support that the
(in)dependent variables were different constructs. Moreover, the zero-order correlati
same-source variables varied and were generally modest (average r = 22). Additio
multiple source measures in this study by combining employee self-reports with super
which also mitigates concerns about self-report bias and self-generated validity.
Third, the reliabilities of the scales that measured supervisors' avoidance orientatio
employees' own avoidance orientation were rather low. These low reliabilities,
measurement errors, may have attenuated or in other ways biased our regression estima
& West, 1991, p. 139-155). For example, the modest correlations with employe
orientations as found in this study might actually be higher. Particularly, the correl
employee avoidance orientations and their training and development willingness was
would expect. The same might be true for the correlations with supervisor beliefs abou
orientations of older employees. Consequently, our findings should be interpreted wi
should be cross-validated in other samples before they can be generalized.
A fourth limitation relates to the logic underlying our hypotheses. Some of our ration
description of processes that we did not measure in our study. For instance, we
supervisor beliefs about the avoidance orientations of older employees could inf
subordinates' training and development willingness indirectly through, for example, the
DOI: 10.1002/job
tasks. Whereas our hypothesis was supported, we did not explicitly test the role of supervi
behaviors.
Finally, this study was a cross-sectional one, which puts constraints on establishing causal
relationships between dependent and independent variables. Longitudinal studies on aging are sparse
and the time period that was included in these studies was relatively short, ranging from 1 to 5 years (Ng
& Feldman, 2008). Although we, as other researchers, would prefer a longitudinal design covering a
longer period of time, the current urgency of the aging problem in organizations seems to justify the use
of a cross-sectional design. Moreover, our data do not provide any indication that the direction of
relationships would be different from what we proposed. Theory and research suggest that internal
cognitions and environmental support influence behavioral attitudes (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980).
Practical implications
The aging workforce calls upon measures and programs to preclude the prospective loss of human
capital. Organizations use (implicit) rules about age limits for career tracks, which put constraints on
the professional development of older employees (Heckhausen, 2005). These corporate rules may stem
from traditional career theories that describe careers as a sequence of stages that ultimately end in
stages of establishment and maintenance that are projected around the age of 45 (Schein, 1978; Van
Vianen et al., 2009). After this critical period, employers tend to provide less development and learning
resources on the assumption that their older employees are no longer interested in learning (Maurer,
2001). A work environment and HRM practices that support continuous learning and development is
yet necessary for maximizing the flexibility of employees.
First, organizations could try to change people's impeding beliefs. Although people tend to hold one
self-theory over the other, self-theories can also be induced by environmental influences. Both
experimental research (e.g., Niiya, Crocker, & Bartmess, 2004) and research in more realistic settings
(Martocchio, 1994) have shown that people's self-theories can be primed or taught. Employees who
received instructions that oriented them toward an entity theory responded more negatively in a
computer-training course than those who were primed with an incremental orientation (Martocchio,
1994). In addition, studies with adolescents have shown that self-theories can be changed through
specific interventions (Good, Aronson, & Inzlicht, 2003). Hence, organizations could develop
intervention programs to influence and change employees' entity self-theories. Given the option that
people's early beliefs tend to play a role across the life span (Kanfer & Ackerman, 2004), employees at
young ages should be encouraged to adopt an incremental mindset that hopefully produces lasting
effects for their developmental orientations in the future.
Although not yet studied in the context of aging, pursuing an incremental self-theory may lessen the
development of age-stereotypes in organizations or may buffer against the negative effects of these
stereotypes (e.g., Aronson, Fried, & Good, 2002). Moreover, the provision of information that fosters
an incremental theory of capacities may also set the floor for a lower resistance to organizational
changes.
Second, organizations' first line supervisors should be made aware that both their explicit and
implicit behaviors influence workers' developmental attitudes. Verbal persuasion and the allocation of
learning facilities will encourage older workers to involve in learning activities, but these supportive
signals should be further embedded in their daily supervisory practices in order to become really
effective. For example, rather than creating a comfortable work environment in which older workers
are allowed to validate their extant competence, supervisors could challenge older workers to validate
their developmental capacities. They could do this through assigning them tasks and roles that are
different from their current ones, yet not too different. These types of supervisory behaviors are strong
DOI: 10.1002/job
signals of organizational trust in older workers' capacities to learn. Furthermore, t

workers' expectations about the utility of their learning efforts. As the results of this s
particularly the entity-theorists among supervisors' employees are in need
developmental support from their supervisor. Supervisors should, therefore, try to id
theorists amongst their employees. Organizational HRM programs in turn should mo
supportive behaviors toward their older workers, such that these behaviors are ackno
be rewarded. Moreover, HR professionals should facilitate managers with instruction
creating a learning climate.
Above, we have provided some concrete suggestions for organizations of how to e
learning and development of employees in general and older employees in particular.
organizations' options to affect employees' developmental attitudes particularly thr
behaviors that manifest the mindset that one is never too old to learn although it is wise
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express their appreciation to Tim Theeboom for his assista
the data.
Author biographies
Annelies E. M. van Vianen is full professor Organizational Psychology at the

Amsterdam. Her research interests are career development, aging, organizational cu
environment fit, and intelligence. Her work has been published in journals su
Psychology , Academy of Management Journal , Intelligence , and International Jour
and Assessment.
Betty A. G. W Dalhoeven is consultant and researcher at Gerritsen Adviesgroep, a Dutch consultancy

specialized in Human Resources development. Her research and activities as a consultant concern the
employability and development of older workers in organizations, and organizational change.
Irene E. De Pater is an assistant professor Work and Organizational Psychology at the University of
Amsterdam. Her research mainly focuses on career development, employability, job challenge, and
aging. She has published in journals such as Personnel Psychology , Group and Organization Manage-
ment , and Journal of Managerial Psychology.
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Aging and training and development willingness: Employee and supervisor mindsets

Author(s): ANNELIES E. M. VAN VIANEN, BETTY A. G. W. DALHOEVEN and IRENE E. DE

Aging and training and development

ANNELIES E. M. VAN VIANEN1*, BETTY A. G. W. DALHOEVEN2

Received 25 November 2008

Age and Training and Development Willingness

Employees' Beliefs: Fixed or Incremental Self-theory

invest in their further development on-the-job. Moreover, enjoyment and self-conf

developmental activities than their older counterparts. Consequently, largest differences in

Hypothesis 1 : Entity self-theory beliefs are negatively related to training and de

Perceived Developmental Support and Supervisors'

Hypothesis 3: Perceived developmental support is positively related to training and dev

Although most research on the Pygmalion effect concerned people's performances (e

Research context and procedure

SONOO'hÔ'ONOM TtoqrnÔv4qôo(N ЗН IdId Y

Table 2. Hierarchical regression analyses predicting training and development willingness

Variable Modell1 Model 2 1 Model 31

Individual level main effects

willingness when supervisors' expectation about the learning avoidance orientation of ol

proportion of variance in training and development willingness explained by work gr

Variable Coefficient ( ytj )

Theoretical implications and future research

Moreover, the negative relationship between supervisor avoidance orientation beliefs

signals of organizational trust in older workers' capacities to learn. Furthermore, t

Annelies E. M. van Vianen is full professor Organizational Psychology at the

Betty A. G. W Dalhoeven is consultant and researcher at Gerritsen Adviesgroep, a Dutch consultancy

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