While demographic change is leading to an aging workforce in many parts of the world, more and more companies are implementing agile forms of collaboration. These enable better adaptation to change through constant, iterative learning but require a corresponding mindset from the employees. According to meta-analytical findings, willingness to learn is negatively correlated with employee age, whereas willingness to change is not. We examined the relationship between employee age and readiness for change toward Scrum—the predominant framework of agile project management—focusing on moderating effects. We hypothesized that readiness for Scrum does not decrease with employee age per se, but that it depends on age climate and subjective age. Using an animated explainer video, we created a scenario in which Scrum gets implemented in the participants’ work area. We tested our hypotheses using two studies with age-heterogeneous samples (N₁ = 146, N₂ = 198), differing in their mean ages (M₁ = 36.9, M₂ = 41.6). Across studies, and consistent with expectations, readiness for Scrum increased with age when employees reported lower levels of subjective age. Regarding age climate, the results were mixed: In Study 1, readiness for Scrum increased with age when participants perceived a more negative age climate, whereas in Study 2, it increased in a more positive age climate. Results of the three-way interaction in Study 1 suggest a complex interplay between age identity and age climate. We interpret these results in light of existing theory and discuss possible implications for research and practice.

中文翻译：

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敏捷性太老了吗？员工年龄和对 Scrum 变革的准备——年龄气候和主观年龄的调节作用

虽然人口结构的变化导致世界许多地方的劳动力老龄化，但越来越多的公司正在实施敏捷的协作形式。这些可以通过不断的迭代学习更好地适应变化，但需要员工有相应的心态。根据元分析结果，学习意愿与员工年龄呈负相关，而改变意愿则不然。我们研究了员工年龄与向 Scrum（敏捷项目管理的主要框架）转变的准备程度之间的关系，重点是调节效果。我们假设 Scrum 的准备程度不会随着员工年龄本身而降低，而是取决于年龄气候和主观年龄。使用动画解说视频，我们创建了一个场景，其中在参与者的工作区中实施 Scrum。我们使用年龄异质样本的两项研究测试了我们的假设（N ₁ = 146，N ₂ = 198），平均年龄不同（M ₁ = 36.9，M ₂ = 41.6）。在所有研究中，并且与预期一致，当员工报告主观年龄水平较低时，Scrum 的准备程度随着年龄的增长而增加。关于年龄气候，结果喜忧参半：在研究 1 中，当参与者感知到更消极的年龄气候时，Scrum 的准备程度随着年龄的增长而增加，而在研究 2 中，它在更积极的年龄气候中增加。研究 1 中三向相互作用的结果表明年龄认同和年龄气候之间存在复杂的相互作用。我们根据现有理论解释这些结果，并讨论对研究和实践的可能影响。