Together with a German financial institute, we designed and tested age-diverse coworker training to boost digital collaboration. Results showed improved informal learning, when age-diverse training partners are enthusiastic about technology.
The Challenge
To remain competitive in age-diverse and digital work environments, organisations have to actively manage and support its age-diverse workforce. Aligned with the people strategy, a financial institute in Germany wanted to improve collaboration between employees of different age and increase mutual technology-related learning.
The Experiment
We designed a training intervention for age-diverse coworkers, framing the intersection of age and technology as an untapped opportunity. The study’s aim was to examine when and for whom such training can be effective.
Design: Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT), with training and control groups, three time-lagged quantitative Surveys.
Intervention: Half-day trainings at partner’s headquarter for age-diverse colleagues, participating in coworker dyads.
Sample: 286 employees of all ages, nested in 143 dyads with an average age difference of at 22 years.
Timespan: Around 9 months from the first to the third survey, including training.
The Findings
The technology-related age diversity training promotes informal learning, specifically technology exploration and mutual learning, by raising participants digital collaboration readiness. This positive effect only occurs when the age-diverse training partner has higher technology enthusiasm, highlighting the crucial role of social influence in learning effectiveness.
The Contribution
The study offers our partner organisation an empirically tested training intervention, specifically designed for their age-diverse employees in a digital work setting. It provides a blueprint for fostering informal workplace learning by leveraging age-based resources.
Revealing the power of coworker technology enthusiasm in amplifying the training’s effectiveness, the organisation can create a supportive learning environment. For example by enabling coworkers to pace their learning and support each other on the digital transformation process.
The Details
- Vestner, P., & Hampel, K. (2024). Promoting Mutual Learning and Technology Exploration of Age-Diverse Coworkers‑A Field Experiment. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2024, No. 1, p. 18063). Valhalla, NY 10595: Academy of Management. Link
- Interview in Harvard Business Manager (in German): Hey Boomer, wie funktioniert mein PC? Link
Patrick Vestner is a PhD candidate in Organizational Behavior at the University of Cologne. His research explores how age diversity shapes digital collaboration and how organizations can leverage generational differences to build collective digital potential.
