Fostering intergenerational harmony: Can good quality contact between older and younger employees reduce workplace conflict?
研究基于社会分类和群际接触理论，发现老年与年轻员工之间的高质量接触通过降低感知年龄歧视来减少任务冲突和关系冲突，且任务相互依赖会增强这一效应。
Abstract This study examines how workplace conflict between multigenerational 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 contact 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.