BIROn - Birkbeck Institutional Research Online

Fostering intergenerational harmony: can good quality contact between older and younger employees reduce workplace conflict?

Drury, Lisbeth and Fasbender, Ulrike (2024) Fostering intergenerational harmony: can good quality contact between older and younger employees reduce workplace conflict? Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology , ISSN 0963-1798.

[img]
Preview
Text
Drury & Fasbender, 2024. Fostering intergenerational harmony Can good quality contact between older and.pdf - Published Version of Record
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

Download (659kB) | Preview

Abstract

This study examines how workplace conflict between multi-generational co-workers arises and can be reduced. Utilizing social categorization and intergroup contact theories, we hypothesized that good quality contact between older and younger employees decreases task and relationship conflict by reducing perceived age discrimination (PAD), above and beyond trust as a typical social exchange mechanism prevalent in relationships between co-workers. Furthermore, we predicted that task interdependence would exacerbate the relationships between PAD with task and relationship conflict. We applied structural equation modelling using a sample of 567 older and younger British employees to test our hypotheses while controlling for trust as an alternative mechanism. In line with our predictions, we found that good quality contact between older and younger employees reduced employees' PAD, which in turn reduced task conflict and relationship conflict (above and beyond trust as a control mechanism). The indirect effects of intergroup con-tact on workplace conflict via PAD were further enhanced when cross-age co-workers were highly interdependent in conducting their work tasks. Our findings suggest that organizations should create practices to improve cross-age contact in the workplace.

Metadata

Item Type: Article
Keyword(s) / Subject(s): age discrimination, age diversity, intergroup contact, relationship conflict, task conflict, task interdependence
School: Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Business and Law > Birkbeck Business School
Research Centres and Institutes: Social Research, Birkbeck Institute for (BISR)
Depositing User: Lisbeth Drury
Date Deposited: 03 Sep 2024 12:43
Last Modified: 12 Apr 2025 03:57
URI: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/54139

Statistics

6 month trend
82Downloads
6 month trend
203Hits

Additional statistics are available via IRStats2.

Archive Staff Only (login required)

Edit/View Item
Edit/View Item