A decade or so ago I earned an MBA in a highly ranked “executive” style program. The students in the program mostly worked at their regular jobs while attending school, but occasionally we would be joined by someone from the full time program. There were obvious and striking differences in decision making and rationalizations between the visiting full time students and those who were still working.In the July issue of Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Dutch researchers Henkens, van Solinge, & Cozijnsen compare the decision making strategies of MBA students and business managers regarding early retirement decisions. They find that, at least in Europe, decisions aren’t always as black and white as professors teach:
Let Go or Retain? A Comparative Study of the Attitudes of Business Students and Managers About the Retirement of Older Workers
ABSTRACT: This study’s central research question is: “How do managers evaluate the desirability of early retirement of their employees, and under what circumstances and for what types of workers are they in favor of delay?” We sought to compare managers’ and business students’ decision making regarding older workers. We examined the extent to which student samples are appropriate to study organizational behavior. An identical factorial survey was carried out among 26 managers and 25 business school students. The results revealed that business students concentrate on performance-related individual characteristics when making selection decisions, whereas managers also recognize contextual factors (need for downsizing, tight labor market) and older workers’ attitudes toward retirement.
