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Information and Communication Technologies in Organizations and Society pp 177–190Cite as

How Subjective Age and Age Similarity Foster Organizational Knowledge Sharing: A Conceptual Framework

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Information Systems and Organisation ((LNISO,volume 15))

Abstract

The demographic changes occurring in the workforce and the risk of losing critical knowledge when older workers make the transition to retirement have turned knowledge sharing into a crucial asset for companies aiming to remain competitive. However, a failure to consider how individual or situational characteristics influence knowledge sharing has led to inconclusive research outcomes and pointed up the need for new lines of enquiry. In this paper, we review the literature on knowledge sharing, examining the influence of subjective age (how young or old people perceive themselves to be) and age-similarity within the work context. In conclusion, we propose a conceptual framework that highlights how subjective age and age similarity may affect (i) the extent to which the people in an organization are inclined to share and (ii) the knowledge-sharing route they prefer.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Educational Human Sciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy

    Alessandra Lazazzara

  2. Research Center on Information Systems (CeRSI), Luiss Guido Carli University, Rome, Italy

    Stefano Za

  3. eCampus University, Novedrate, Italy

    Stefano Za

Authors
  1. Alessandra Lazazzara
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  2. Stefano Za
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Correspondence to Alessandra Lazazzara .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Economia Aziendale, University of Verona, Verona, Italy

    Francesca Ricciardi

  2. Nanterre La Défense, Université Paris Ouest, Paris, France

    Antoine Harfouche

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Lazazzara, A., Za, S. (2016). How Subjective Age and Age Similarity Foster Organizational Knowledge Sharing: A Conceptual Framework. In: Ricciardi, F., Harfouche, A. (eds) Information and Communication Technologies in Organizations and Society. Lecture Notes in Information Systems and Organisation, vol 15. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28907-6_11

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