Increasing age diversity in the workplace has led to growing research attention to the knowledge transfer between older and younger employees. The existing literature on age-diverse knowledge exchange has mostly focused on knowledge transfer from older to younger employees as a means of knowledge retention. In this study, we change perspectives by aiming to understand how and when older employees' knowledge seeking from younger coworkers is related to their successful aging at work (i.e., the motivation and ability to continue working). Grounded in the self-regulatory process model of successful aging at work, we predict two countervailing pathways: a positive self-enhancing path via perceived learning and a negative self-protective path via embarrassment. In a time-lagged study with 764 older employees, we found that their knowledge seeking from younger coworkers was positively related to motivation to continue working and workability via perceived learning and negatively related to workability via embarrassment. We further examined older employees' positive intergenerational affect as a boundary condition and found a buffering effect on the negative path to workability. This research shows that knowledge transfer from younger to older employees is a net contributor to successful aging at work and embarrassment can be mitigated by positive intergenerational affect.

中文翻译：

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年长员工向年轻同事寻求知识：理清在工作中成功老龄化的反补贴途径

工作场所年龄多样性的增加导致人们越来越关注年长员工和年轻员工之间的知识转移。现有关于年龄多样化知识交换的文献主要集中于从年长员工到年轻员工的知识转移，作为知识保留的一种手段。在这项研究中，我们改变了观点，旨在了解年长员工向年轻同事寻求知识的方式和时间与他们在工作中成功的老龄化（即继续工作的动机和能力）相关。基于工作中成功老龄化的自我调节过程模型，我们预测了两种相反的路径：通过感知学习的积极自我增强路径和通过尴尬的消极自我保护路径。在一项针对 764 名年长员工的滞后研究中，我们发现，他们向年轻同事寻求知识的行为与通过感​​知学习而继续工作的动机和工作能力呈正相关，而通过尴尬与工作能力呈负相关。我们进一步研究了年长员工的积极代际影响作为边界条件，发现了对工作能力的负面影响的缓冲效应。这项研究表明，从年轻员工到年长员工的知识转移是工作中成功老龄化的净贡献者，并且可以通过积极的代际影响来减轻尴尬。