thesis_Daniela Noethen_print final - Jacobs University

Outline
knowledge sharing and knowledge seeking. These propositions are tested in a multivariate,
multilevel study using three important predictors: age, motivation, and job autonomy.
In chapter three, which represents the second research paper, one of the two questions
that motivated the second study is presented. The focus here lies on a form of knowledge
transfer that is of specific interest for the prevention of knowledge loss: intergenerational
knowledge transfer. Following up on an age effect on knowledge sharing found in the first
study, I wanted to investigate if older employees generally transfer more knowledge
irrespective of the age of their vis-à-vis, or if they transfer more specifically to younger
employees. This would shed light on the question if intergenerational knowledge transfer
naturally occurs to an increased extent or if it rather has to be inspired and encouraged.
Furthermore, I wanted to explore the underlying basis of a potentially increased knowledge
transfer between older and younger employees and investigate if it goes beyond a simple
difference in job experience. To answer these research questions, a social network approach
was combined with a multilevel analysis in order to not only obtain dyadic information, but
test individual and team level predictors at the same time.
Chapter four contains the third paper, which reports on further findings from the second
study. In the first two papers, I was rather interested in different forms of knowledge transfer
between employees and what makes this transfer happen. In this paper, however, I tried to get
closer to the question if encouraging knowledge transfer really is an appropriate strategy to
prevent knowledge loss. To this end, I investigated what happens to knowledge transfer in
situations that potentially constitute a threat of knowledge loss, i.e., I looked at the knowledge
sharing behavior of employees who intended or expected to leave the organization.
Furthermore, I examined the role of the supervisor in such situations. Again, multilevel data
were used to analyze the influence of intended turnover and expected (involuntary) turnover
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