Generational Differences in Nursing: A Bridge Too Far? Generational Stereotypes and Self-Stereotypes

Abstract

A lot of research attention has been devoted to reveal generational differences in general and in the nursing workforce in particular. However, findings are fractured, and research is incomplete regarding methodology and theoretical background. Notwithstanding, it has been stated that generational differences are a real phenomenon, if only in the perceptions of employees and managers, suggesting that perceptions of generational differences exist, even if those differences are not always supported empirically. Adopting a social identity perspective concerning groups and self-conception and employing a cognitive mapping method (repertory grid technique, mixed methods), the present study taps into three generations nurses’ minds (Baby-boomers, Generation X and Generation Y) to reveal the perceptions or generational stereotypes that different generations of nurses hold the other generations and about the own generation. Our research reveals that perceptions of nurses’ other and own generations may direct social categorization and generational stereotypes of the in-group and outgroup(s), that some of these stereotypes can be enacted leading to self-fulfilling prophecies, and that generational stereotypes do not necessarily coincide with age-based stereotypes. We show how especially Generation Y and Baby-boomer nurses are negatively stereotyped and how nurses deal with these negative stereotypes. Generation X nurses rather seem to be positively stereotyped.