The role of age in organizational knowledge sharing: A systematic literature review

Abstract

Many organizations emphasize the importance of sharing knowledge to create a supportive learning culture. However, motivating employees to share knowledge can be challenging, especially in an age- diverse organization. The purpose of this systematic literature review is to explore recent studies that focus on age and knowledge sharing to identify gaps in the literature and guide future research directions. With the recent increase in studies exploring the influence of age on knowledge sharing, this review categorizes articles from the Web of Science, IEEE, Science Direct, and the ACM Digital Library that focus on age and knowledge sharing into key elements of process improvement: people, process, and technology. Findings from this search process reveal most studies focus on people with a secondary focus on motivation, skills, and self-efficacy, as well as processes relating to knowledge sharing. Few articles have technology as a central focus. While age undoubtedly influences people and knowledge sharing processes, more research is needed to understand the influence of other factors, including technology and other age- related concepts.