Arie Gelderblom

ICT and older workers: no unwrinkled relationship

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to find out to what extent older workers make use of ICT and to what extent this influences their job performance.Design/methodology/approach – Workers of various age groups are surveyed in two sectors: printing industry and wholesale trade. The use of (various types of) ICT is compared for a number of age groups, controlling the influence of other explanatory variables and correcting the fact that older users are a selective group. In the next step, the use of ICT is one of the factors explaining performance.Findings – The results show that, compared with younger workers, older workers make less use of ICT in their job, use less complicated applications and have more difficulties in using ICT. This is to their disadvantage as the use of ICT and particularly the level of use appear to affect performance positively.Research limitations/implications – The research is concentrated on two specific sectors which are forerunners in the field of ICT. A generalization of ...