Olika generationers kunskapslegitimering. En kvalitativ studie om kunskapsöverföring i ett IT-företag
KunskapsöverföringKunskapslegitimeringKnowledge managementGenerationerCommunities of practiceCollectivities of practice
Companies? ability to differentiate themselves from their competitors becomes increasingly difficult when standardized technical solutions are used, which means that the employees become the most important resource. Many workplaces consist of a mix of employees with different backgrounds and of different ages, which highlight the generational perspective. Previous research has long focused on different generational drivers and of motivation at work, but there has been few studies in which the transfer of knowledge between generations have been examined. With that as a background, a qualitative interview study was conducted at a major IT company to investigate how employees legitimize knowledge and how it affects the transfer of knowledge between generations. The conclusion that can be drawn from the empirical evidence shows that employees from different generations legitimize knowledge in somewhat different ways. Younger generations are relying to a greater extent on the ability to search for information, while older generations largely appreciate their own knowledge. This study highlights the fact that the differences may present difficulties in the transfer of knowledge between employees, which directly affects companies where a large number of employees reach retirement in the near future.Keywords: Knowledge transfer, knowledge legitimation, knowledge management, generations, communities of practice, collectivities of practice