Minding the Intergenerational Gap: The Role of Age on Knowledge Hiding and Constructive/Destructive Behaviors

Abstract

Given employee’s increased time in the workforce and average lifespans, intergenerational workplaces are more prevalent, and many benefits of age-diverse workplaces have been substantiated (e.g., increased creativity, Backes-Gellner et al., 2011; increased decision-making capabilities, Wegge et al., 2008). Knowledge management research has considered knowledge sharing within intergenerational teams, suggesting that age may be an important factor to how employees share knowledge (Fasbender et al., 2021), but not explicitly knowledge hiding. There has yet to be a study to consider the relationship between intergenerational contact and knowledge hiding even as age influences many other workplace processes. Survey data collected through Cloud Research’s Connect from 401 working employees were analyzed using path analysis. Older employees were found to engage in more evasive hiding and rationalized hiding. However, when older workers are in environments with intergenerational contact, evasive hiding and rationalized hiding was less likely. Further, employees that engage in rationalized hiding were more likely to consider constructive behaviors like loyalty or considerate voice, while those who play dumb/hide evasively are more likely to utilize destructive behaviors like assertive voice, neglect, and employee exit. Mediations provide further context to how age impacts these behaviors showing how age influences constructive/destructive behaviors through differing facets of knowledge hiding. Theoretically, these relationships could be motivated by lifespan development and social exchange processes, which future research should explore.