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Article
Publication date: 2 July 2020

Mark X. James, Xue Yang Colemean and Jessica Li

This paper compares the work values of the People's Republic of China's (PRC) millennials with their parents.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper compares the work values of the People's Republic of China's (PRC) millennials with their parents.

Design/methodology/approach

The Chinese version of the multidimensional work ethic profile (1. productive use of time; 2. centrality of work; 3. hard work; 4. delay of gratification; 5. leisure; 6. self-reliance; and 7. moral reasoning) was used to survey PRC millennials and their parents. A repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for comparing work values for a subsample of 68 same-gender parent/child dyads. A one-way ANOVA was used for comparing the work values of the total sample of 217 PRC millennials and their parents.

Findings

The repeated measures ANOVA found that one of the seven work values for the male dyads and three of the seven work values for the female dyads were significantly different. The one-way ANOVA found that four of the seven work values for males grouping and five of the seven work values for the females grouping were significantly different.

Research limitations/implications

Social norms and socialization by parents may moderate the influences of changing social conditions on personal values formation predicted by the theory of generations. Researchers need to sample across demographic and socioeconomic subgroups to understand subgroup differences when conducting cross-generational research. Taking large samples, aggregating data and drawing conclusions about cross-generational values may not be a valid approach in trying to understand the complexity of cross-generational values differences.

Practical implications

Managers should be wary of broad declarations about cross-generational values differences. The differences in generational values are nuanced.

Originality/value

This paper shows when controlling for same-gender parents, cross-generational values are very similar. This contrasts other findings on cross-generational values.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 41 no. 5/6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 October 2007

Jay Liebowitz, Nirmala Ayyavoo, Hang Nguyen, Deborah Carran and James Simien

This paper seeks to investigate how cross‐generational biases affect tacit knowledge transfer and resulting knowledge flows in edge organizations.

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to investigate how cross‐generational biases affect tacit knowledge transfer and resulting knowledge flows in edge organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper applied hypothesis testing χ2s, as well as ethnographic analysis.

Findings

Cross‐generational biases affect tacit knowledge transfer and resulting knowledge flows in edge‐like organizations. Other factors, such as trust, loyalty, work ethics, and family values, also affect knowledge flows.

Research limitations/implications

Sample size should be increased for future work, as well as applying the results in a defense/military environment.

Practical implications

The results of the paper should influence succession planning, human capital strategy, and knowledge management efforts in edge‐like organizations.

Originality/value

The work is quite novel as it integrates inter‐generational differences, tacit knowledge transfer, and knowledge flows in edge organizations.

Details

Industrial Management & Data Systems, vol. 107 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-5577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 August 2018

Maureen Snow Andrade and Jonathan H. Westover

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to determine if job satisfaction increases with age, and if this is consistent across countries; and second, if individuals belonging…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to determine if job satisfaction increases with age, and if this is consistent across countries; and second, if individuals belonging to the same age cohort, who experience similar life conditions and events and have been posited to share common attitudes and behaviors, differ in terms of job satisfaction, and if this difference is comparable across countries.

Design/methodology/approach

The study provides a comparative analysis of the impact of age and generational differences on job satisfaction globally, based on non-panel longitudinal data from the most recent wave of the International Social Survey Program (Work Orientations IV, 2015).

Findings

Age has a positive statistically significant impact on job satisfaction (e.g. the older you get, the more satisfied you are with your job). However, the same analysis with each specific age cohort indicates that age is only statistically significant with the baby boomers. Statistically significant cross-generational differences exist in the levels of job satisfaction across generations and cross-generational differences in the determinants of job satisfaction. Most differences are seen between the silent generation and the other three age cohorts.

Originality/value

Previous comparative studies have found that job satisfaction across generations, even within the same or similar countries, shows little variation. Research measuring the relationship between age and job satisfaction indicates three key contradictory findings – satisfaction increases with age, decreases with age, or no relationship exists. The current large-scale, global study updates and extends previous research by exploring similarities and differences in job satisfaction and work quality characteristics by age cohort, with a global sample.

Details

Evidence-based HRM: a Global Forum for Empirical Scholarship, vol. 6 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2049-3983

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 April 2022

Amy Paros, Patricia S. Kelly and Therese A. Sprinkle

This paper seeks to enhance team performance by intersecting two existing literature streams, generational influences and working teams. This paper aims to boost project objective…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to enhance team performance by intersecting two existing literature streams, generational influences and working teams. This paper aims to boost project objective achievement through the instrumental use of generational competencies despite temporary and provisional project team environments. This supports project team leaders in harnessing diverse generational competencies of contributors to maximize outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors adopt the simultaneous use of social categorization and information processing to connect these diverse literature streams, highlighting the value system and skills of each generation to maximize working benefits.

Findings

Project team leader’s tactical deployment of generational competencies may positively contribute to execution and increased goal achievement. The increasingly provisional nature of workforce teams magnifies the need for intentional team management. Embracing generational competencies may elevate team members, increase productivity and decrease turnover.

Practical implications

This paper offers a pathway to couple team execution and generational differences by identifying generational traits which may benefit execution-focused, but provisional teams.

Social implications

Rather than managing team members to fit into a specific work process, this paper explores the benefits associated with team leader acceptance and strategic use of diverse generational behaviours.

Originality/value

The authors expand upon team diversity by intersecting execution-based and provisional project teams with the intentional use of generational influences to build trust and further positive outcomes.

Details

Team Performance Management: An International Journal, vol. 28 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1352-7592

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 November 2017

Maayan Zhitomirsky-Geffet and Maya Blau

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the predictive factors of information seeking behavior of smartphone users from the cross-generational perspective. Based on existing…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the predictive factors of information seeking behavior of smartphone users from the cross-generational perspective. Based on existing literature, the two most popular types of information seeking behavior of smartphone users were determined: social information seeking behavior; and functional/cognitive information seeking behavior.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire comprising 66 questions was administered online to 216 smartphone users of three age groups according to three generations: generation X, Y (millennials) and Z. Several predictive factors were examined for each of these information seeking behavior types: generation, gender, personality traits (the Big Five), daily usage time, period of ownership, various application utilization and the level of emotional gain from smartphones.

Findings

There is a trade-off between the two types of information seeking behavior. Also, men exhibited significantly more functional/cognitive information seeking behavior than women, and younger generations reported significantly higher emotional gain and social information seeking behavior than older generations. Interestingly, significant differences in smartphone apps’ utilization, information seeking behavior types and their predictive factors were found among users from different generations. Extraversion was positively related to social information seeking behavior only for generations X and Y, while WhatsApp usage was one of the strongest predictive factors only for generation Z.

Practical implications

This research has practical implications for information system design, education, e-commerce and libraries.

Originality/value

This is a first study that systematically examines predictive factors of the two prominent types of information seeking behavior on smartphones from the cross-generational perspective.

Article
Publication date: 7 September 2012

Ruth Helyer and Dionne Lee

The purpose of this paper is to explore the issues around a multiple generational workforce and more specifically, the challenges and benefits for education providers and…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the issues around a multiple generational workforce and more specifically, the challenges and benefits for education providers and employers.

Design/methodology/approach

Reviewing research papers, analysing academic texts, interrogating market intelligence and contextualising case studies, the paper examines the “experience” or “qualifications” debate alongside the similarities, differences and overlaps of the cross‐generational workforce, with a view to offering education/training solutions.

Findings

Demographic forecasts suggest that the UK workplace will imminently be dominated by older, experienced employees. As the composition of the workplace shifts, examining the inter‐relationship between groups of workers of different ages/profiles who have different skills, attitudes, expectations and learning styles is vital. The synergy caused by this inter‐mingling cannot help but impact on employers, sectors and higher education institutions.

Research limitations/implications

Data around the “older” graduate is not readily available – there is still an implicit belief that “graduate” means approximately 21/22 years old. Whilst many general demographic forecasts are produced, the future is still relatively unknown.

Originality/value

The paper builds upon the authors’ own original research into the employment market from an HE perspective. Little has been so far published around how the generations might usefully work together, especially the idea of adapting the skills and maximising on the overlaps of different generational profiles. The exploration of the hybrid graduate is also a new area for academic research.

Article
Publication date: 22 June 2012

Kath Woodward and Sophie Woodward

This article aims to develop the methodological and intellectual approach taken in the authors' co‐authored book to explore the synergies and disconnections in the experience of…

Abstract

Purpose

This article aims to develop the methodological and intellectual approach taken in the authors' co‐authored book to explore the synergies and disconnections in the experience of being in the academy at different historical moments using the inter‐relationship between different feminisms in the context of the authors' lived experiences as a mother and daughter whose experience of the academy has crossed second‐wave feminism into third wave. There have been significant demographic, cultural and legislative shifts, but the authors' conversations demonstrate the endurance of imbalances of power and the continuing need for a feminist politics of difference which can engage with contemporary life in the academy.

Design/methodology/approach

This is primarily a theoretical paper that adopts feminist approaches to reflection and dialogue. The article is designed to bring together lived experience across generations, feminist theories and methodologies and the implications for activism. The paper uses the device of “I‐Kath I‐Sophie” as part of an autoethnographic approach to the cross‐generational conversation.

Findings

Far from being redundant, the authors argue that feminist critiques of inequalities that are often manifest in women's invisibility and silence even in the academy in the twenty‐first century – there is still the need to support a politics of difference and to explore ways of giving women a voice. The persistence of inequalities means that feminist battles have not been entirely won. The authors argue for dialogue between the feminisms of mothers and daughters.

Research limitations/implications

Feminist concepts and arguments from what has been called the “second wave” are still useful, especially in relation to maintaining the category woman as a speaking subject who can engage in collective action.

Practical implications

The authors' arguments support the continuation of spaces for women to share experience within the academy, for example in feminist reading groups and through women's networks.

Social implications

Feminist theories and activism remain important political forces for women in the academy today and post feminism is a questionable conceptualisation and phenomenon. In times when feminist battles may seem to have been won there remain issues to explore in relation to a new problem with no name.

Originality/value

The article is original in its authorship, methodological approach to a conversation that crosses experience and theoretical frameworks across generations and in its support for a twenty‐first century politics of difference.

Details

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, vol. 31 no. 5/6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-7149

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 November 2014

Muhammad Kashif and Mohsin Abdul Rehman

The purpose of this study is to present the Generation X and Generation Y customers’ expectations of utility retail stores in an Asian setting of Pakistan Research studies that…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to present the Generation X and Generation Y customers’ expectations of utility retail stores in an Asian setting of Pakistan Research studies that advocate a cross-generational perspective to retail service quality have been limited.

Design/methodology/approach

Sketching through a naturalistic paradigm, data for this exploratory study is collected from 80 retail shoppers through face-to-face interviews. The data is noted, coded and presented through the genre of service marketing mix theory.

Findings

There are significant differences with regards to variety of products offered and time consumed during shopping have been found between generational cohorts belonging to Generation X and Generation Y customers. However, there are a few similarities noted between the two types of customers that challenge the traditional perspective of retail service marketing mix theory.

Originality/value

The study is an original contribution towards explaining the retail service quality construct from cross-generational marketing perspective. Pragmatically, the utility stores have never been the subject matter for service quality studies in countries such as Pakistan.

Details

International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, vol. 6 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-669X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 September 2020

Pamela L. Bozeman and Daniel W. Eadens

As young people are seeking degrees that will help them with employment and as universities seek ways to increase enrollment and retention, the emphasis of the value of higher…

Abstract

Purpose

As young people are seeking degrees that will help them with employment and as universities seek ways to increase enrollment and retention, the emphasis of the value of higher education has emerged as an important aspect in achieving these goals. The focus of this particular study, where a paucity currently exists, was to examine the concepts of value in relation to undergraduate business education. A main aim of this study was to identify values (beyond economic), based on time since graduation, and the motivating factors that help to define those values. One of the key trends this study revealed was a cross-generational assessment of value.

Design/methodology/approach

The driving research question was regarding business undergraduate alumni's perceptions of value: Is there a relationship (based on time since graduation) in the value of an undergraduate degree? The Final Revised Survey was sent to 945 business college alumni, randomly selected from a list of 15,012 names. Quantitative data were disaggregated by groups: 0 = 3 years post-graduation (recent graduates), >3 = 6 years post-graduation (advanced graduates), >6 = 9 years post-graduation (experienced graduates) and >9 years (senior graduates) for analyses using Independent Samples T-Test, Simple Linear Regressions and Pearson's r Correlations tests.

Findings

Results of the Pearson's r Correlation tests showed significant findings in terms of strength of relationship between variables involved the following: (1) gender and average motivation (0.004) (2) time since graduation and average commitment (0.047), (3) gender and average value (0.045) and (4) age and average value (0.036). This suggests that gender has the strongest relationship between variables. Also, age and time since graduation seem to be correlated to how alumni value their undergraduate education and are willing to commit to continuing to support an organization. The averages of three types of groups of continuous data (value, motivation and commitment) were analyzed as the results related to ethnicity and time since graduation. When comparing ethnic outcomes based on two categories, non-Caucasian and Caucasian, although there were fewer respondents in the non-Caucasian category, those individuals' perception of value, motivation and commitment rated higher (8.87, 7.71 and 5.83 respectively) than their Caucasian counterparts (8.41, 6.58 and 4.96 respectively). Additionally, it is interesting to note that for both groups, the average commitment score was the lowest out of the three for both groups. Finally, for Caucasians, time since graduation seemed to increase their perception of value of their undergraduate business degree. Whereas, for non-Caucasians, the perception of value was less. This specific result could be since in the age group for non-Caucasians seven of the eight respondents were in the = 47 age group.

Research limitations/implications

Results rested limited to opinions of undergraduate business alumni. Because the rate of return for the data results was limited, it is unlikely that a firm argument can be made solely on the results from the Pearson's r Correlation in terms of a conclusion for the research question for this study. However, based on the results of this study the responses can be generalized to the respondents, not the overall population. Therefore, the Null Hypothesis was rejected as preliminary findings, with the understanding that additional data could change this decision.

Practical implications

Practitioners (instructors and professional staff) in higher education can utilize the results of this study to align their decision making and engagement actions. For example, as the work of Starrett (2018) shows, in and out of classroom engagement, approachability and the ability to determine what their clients, (future students) are ways that practitioners can help to increase retention rates. For practitioners and policymakers alike, it is important that they work together to understand what today's potential students are looking for in their educational experience. In the past, extrinsic values such as fancy dorms and athletic facilities may have been key considerations. However, as this study has shown, today's potential students are seeking more intrinsic values from their college experiences such as a deeper connection with faculty and staff, a feeling of inclusion and belonging and commitment, on the part of a university, to their long-term success. Additionally, it is vitally important that both groups work together because everyone who works in higher education has a level of responsibility for enrollment and retention rates. This study provides information that will enable both groups to begin to meet those goals.

Social implications

Social implications from this study surround better understanding of current and potential college students determine the value of higher educational degrees. Practitioners (instructors and professional staff) in higher education can utilize the results of this study to align their decision making and engagement actions. For example, as the work of Starrett (2018) shows, in and out of classroom engagement, approachability and the ability to determine what their clients, (future students) are ways that practitioners can help to increase retention rates. It is important that all work together to understand what today's potential students are looking for in their educational experience. In the past, extrinsic values such as fancy dorms and athletic facilities may have been key considerations. However, as this study has shown, today's potential students are seeking more intrinsic values from their college experiences such as a deeper connection with faculty and staff, a feeling of inclusion and belonging and commitment, on the part of a university, to their long-term success. Additionally, it is vitally important that both groups work together because everyone who works in higher education has a level of responsibility for enrollment and retention rates. This study provides information that will enable both groups to begin to meet those goals.

Originality/value

This information is important to universities because the results can act as a guide to aid them in revising their current individual recruitment and retention models for accuracy and relevancy. While a review of the current literature showed an abundance of theoretical information about economic value, it also showed a deficit in connecting alternative meanings of value as it relates to the university selection and commitment process. This study called attention to the need to examine this area to clarify higher education's other values to society.

Details

Education + Training, vol. 63 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0040-0912

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 February 2019

Sydney Freeman Jr and Frances Kochan

The purpose of this paper is to examine a long-term mentoring relationship between a White female from the Traditional Generation and an African American male from the Xennial…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine a long-term mentoring relationship between a White female from the Traditional Generation and an African American male from the Xennial Generation, as engaged in a mentoring relationship within higher education institutions in the USA. The study investigated if, how and to what degree the differences and similarities between them influenced their mentoring relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used an autoethnographic approach involving extensive questioning, dialoguing, note keeping and analysis over eight months.

Findings

The analysis suggested that race had the greatest influence on the relationship. The primary reasons for mentoring success were similarities in family backgrounds and commonly held values.

Research limitations/implications

This study may not be generalizable to mentoring relationships that do not involve cultural differences in race, age or gender.

Practical implications

The paper offers a model for the types of strategies individuals can use in cross-racial mentoring endeavors to help build and sustain these relationships. It also includes suggestions for individuals engaged in mentoring relationships, which include gender, race or age differences, and organizations seeking to enhance diversity within their institutions.

Originality/value

There is not an extensive body of research on individual cross-racial, gender and generational mentoring that provides an analysis of the experience of those involved. Additionally, the model presented for examining cross-racial mentoring relationships is unique.

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