Leveraging age diversity to enhance knowledge sharing in teams

Abstract

This study sought to explore how teams can leverage age diversity to enhance knowledge sharing in the South African mining context. The study aimed to examine the influence of social networks and the quality of relationships within these networks on knowledge sharing within age-diverse teams. The research looked at these constructs from a social capital theory lens, which assisted in conducting the study. The researcher used a qualitative approach to conduct 14 semi-structured interviews with professionals who work in age-diverse teams across various mining organizations in South Africa. The main findings about social networks indicate a tendency for individuals to form age-based groups. Although this aligns with the concept of conserving social capital, it hinders the exchange of knowledge and reduces team collaboration. The dynamics of knowledge sharing between older and younger employees revealed a dichotomy: while younger employees seek knowledge from older employees, older employees tend to engage in knowledge hoarding behaviours. In terms of relationship qualities, wrong ties were found to promote knowledge sharing and collaboration with age-diverse teams. However, there was evidence of the formation of information silos in closed circles of people, which negatively impacted knowledge sharing. While weak ties pose challenges to knowledge sharing, they also serve as a safeguard against inappropriate sharing of confidential knowledge. Key recommendations revolve around businesses increasing awareness by implementing strategies around dealing with how networks function in the context of knowledge flow. These strategies could be around improving social interactions between team members, bridging connections between networks with weak ties, and managing psychological safety, all with the aim of building trust and collaboration to foster knowledge sharing. Future research could focus on examining the impact of strong or weak ties on knowledge sharing, and how these dynamics incorporate social capital. Furthermore, future studies can look at how psychological safety and trust play an impact knowledge sharing in diverse teams.