Age diversity management: Its beauty is in the eye of the beholder

An ageing population has led to calls for greater consideration of age in the social, economic, political and market arenas. Little is known about which age diversity policies, practices and programs are effective in which types of organizations or for what outcomes. This paper proposes and tests a positive relationship between three elements of age diversity management (diversity policies and systems, age diversity practices, and work-life programs) and one organisational outcomes namely, corporate social responsibility. It also proposes and tests for a moderating effect of the organizations’ diversity perspective (fairness, access or learning). Data were collected from 248 medium to large sized for profit organizations, private or publicly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. The results suggest the use of different policies, practices, and work-life programs for appropriate and meaningful age diversity management for different business propositions. Some aspects of age diversity management may be seen by employees as transactional such as work-life programs with an age focus; while others, such as age diversity policies and systems may provide real opportunities for substantive transformational organizational learning