thesis_Daniela Noethen_print final - Jacobs University

Preventing Knowledge Loss When Employees Expect to Leave
neglect this issue in the present study. Although we did not report any hypotheses or results
above, we did also test the relationship between the expectation to retire within the next year
and knowledge sharing, as well as a possible moderating role of PSS. Results were similar to
those reported for expected involuntary turnover: there was a negative direct effect of
expected retirement on knowledge sharing, but this negative effect was buffered by PSS.
Although these seem to be interesting results which merit attention, above all because
intuitively, one might expect soon-retiring employees to rather share more knowledge, we
took a conscious decision to focus on employees at all stages of their career, and not narrow
the sample down to retiring employees. We think that, especially in the long run, it will be
essential to not just address retiring employees when dealing with knowledge retention, but to
include other employees, i.e., all kinds of employees with valuable knowledge, as well. With
the present study, we made a first step toward unveiling this risk for knowledge loss posed by
other employee groups. The prevention of knowledge loss should address all kinds of
employees, with retaining retirees’ knowledge as one special case out of many.
4.6.2. Practical implications
For practitioners, the results of the present study bear good news. Turnover intention, which
can be very destructive as employees sometimes leave rather unpredictably without much
prior notice, does not seem to have negative consequences for knowledge sharing. Thus, even
if employees intend to leave, and might leave on short notice, they seem to be willing to share
what they know. It could be expected that, as they do not reduce knowledge sharing within
their own team, they would also be open for other retention processes, such as debriefings, so
that a lot of their knowledge can be transferred to team colleagues or made accessible for
potential successors.
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