INTERGENERATIONAL KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER: ANTECEDENTS OF A DYADIC PROCESS

Abstract

The aging of skilled workforces is a major challenge for organizations. In light of the massive wave of retirements of members of the baby boomer generation, the retention of valuable organizational knowledge from older and retiring workers has been identified as an urgent need. In this study, we integrate socio-emotional selectivity theory and the theory of psychosocial development to explain how individual characteristics of older and younger employees influence the intergenerational knowledge transfer process. We propose a moderated mediation model: First, we hypothesize that older employees' focus on generativity and younger employees' focus on extrinsic growth values predict their knowledge sharing and receiving behavior. Second, we propose that the effects of work values on knowledge sharing and receiving behavior are mediated by employees' willingness to engage in intergenerational knowledge transfer. Third, we argue that the indirect effects of work values on knowledge sharing and receiving behavior are moderated by age-diversity climate , such that if age-diversity climate is more pronounced, the proposed relationships are stronger. We collected multi-source, time-lagged data from 80 intergenerational knowledge transfer dyads (i.e., older and younger employees), who were based in four German companies that operate in the financial services industry. We found support for most of our propositions. The study contributes to research on aging workforces and intergenerational interactions at the workplace by showing that the individual characteristics of both older and younger employees influence knowledge retention. Further, the study shows that contextual variables can influence intergenerational knowledge transfer processes.