thesis_Daniela Noethen_print final - Jacobs University

Intergenerational Knowledge Transfer in Work Teams: A Multilevel Social Network Perspective
Table 7
Variance Explained (in Equivalence to R 2 ) by the Different Models
Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
Dyadic Level 70.50% (54.30%) 71.10% (54.70%) 72.80% (56.10%)
Individual Level 40.00% ( 4.40%) 49.40% ( 5.40%) 63.20% ( 7.00%)
Team Level 99.98% (12.00%) 99.99% (12.00%) 100.00% (12.00%)
Notes. Percentage of variance explained at the respective level, explained overall variance in brackets.
3.6. Discussion
The objective of the present study was to demonstrate the existence of intergenerational
knowledge transfer and other age-related effects on knowledge transfer between individual
employees within work teams, as intergenerational knowledge transfer is considered one
means to prevent knowledge loss. Results of the survey study demonstrate that there is indeed
increased intergenerational knowledge transfer from older to younger employees within
teams, and this mainly because older employees are more experienced. Furthermore, results
delineate a positive influence of age diversity within teams on knowledge transfer. Even
though these age-related effects were significant, dyadic knowledge transfer seems to be
influenced mainly by reciprocity.
3.6.1. Intergenerational knowledge transfer and age-related effects
Our results show that there is increased intergenerational knowledge transfer in teams, i.e., a
certain amount of knowledge transfer is explained solely by the fact that the source is older
than the recipient. Although the individual age of the source did not have a significant effect
on knowledge transfer as we predicted, the age combination of both employees in a dyad did
play a role. Considering the basis of the increased intergenerational knowledge transfer within
teams, the present data give a clear indication; as the zero-order correlations show, a
difference in age goes along with a difference in team tenure, which we consider as a proxy
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