GENERATIONAL APPROACHES AND PREFERENCES TOWARDS KNOWLEDGE SHARING: IMPLICATIONS FOR HUMAN RESOURCE PRACTICES

The 21st century is characterized by digital transformation, in which successful integration depends on the ability of employees to learn fast how to utilize new technologies and share their gained experience with colleagues. Moreover, this process is complicated by the presence of five generations of employees at the workplace at the same time, namely representatives of the Silent Generation, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y (or Millennials) and Generation Z. This paper aims to identify different attitudes and motivations of the multigenerational workforce to knowledge acquisition, reveal the main barriers to the knowledge exchange between them and create recommendations for human resource managers on how to improve knowledge sharing between different generations of employees. In this paper qualitative methodology is realized by deductive analysis and syntheses of the scientific literature and publications related to the topic. The result of this study comprises proposals in the field of personnel activities on how to support knowledge sharing and increase motivation to the learning of the multigenerational workforce. Findings from this paper confirm that human resource professionals have a chance to minimize the generational gap in the situation when the evolution of employee learning will be supported by the new engagement mechanisms and organizational culture.