When the young feel old and the old feel young: Age-differential effects of subjective age bias on employee voice behavior.

Studies have shown that older individuals often feel younger than their chronological age (i.e., subjective age bias [SAB]) and that this can affect their attitudes, behavior, and health. This research extends current theory on SAB by arguing that not only older but also younger individuals exhibit SAB and that this affects their ability to voice critical input at work. Adopting a motivated social-cognitive perspective, we develop and test an age-differential model associating SAB with voice. We argue that younger adults tend to feel older and older individuals tend to feel younger to distance themselves from negative age stereotypes. This, in turn, positively affects their self-efficacy and thus promotes voice behavior at work. Our model is supported by four studies (two survey studies, one scenario study, and one experiment: Ns = 1,724, 16-75 years), including diverse samples of working individuals and using different operationalizations of SAB and voice. Studies 1a, 1b, and 2 demonstrate that older individuals who feel younger and younger individuals who feel older are more likely to speak up with work-related suggestions and concerns because of their higher self-efficacy. Study 3 shows that by activating negative age stereotypes, younger and older employees can be prompted to feel older (vs. younger), subsequently affecting their self-efficacy and voice behavior. This study contributes to a better understanding of SAB for younger and older individuals at work and highlights important implications for increasingly age-diverse organizations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).