TY - JOUR
T1 - Act your age? Age, intrapreneurial behavior, social capital and performance
AU - Ben Hador, Batia
AU - Klein, Galit
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited.
PY - 2020/1/17
Y1 - 2020/1/17
N2 - Purpose: With increases in life expectancy, age diversity has emerged as a common feature of organizations. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the connection between employee age, intrapreneurial behaviors (i.e. introducing new ventures inside an organization), intra-organizational social capital (SC) and their connection to employee performance. Design/methodology/approach: A paper-based survey was distributed among 617 participants from five organizations. Three organizations operate in the industrial industry, while the other two operate in the service field. Findings: The findings show that intrapreneurial behaviors moderate the positive connection between age and performance. That is, among employees engaged in intrapreneurship, older workers evaluated their performance more highly compared to their younger counterparts. However, among workers who did not participate in intrapreneurship, younger employees evaluated their performances as higher compared to older workers. The authors also found that age was negatively connected to intrapreneurial activities, and this connection was mediated by intra-organizational SC. Originality/value: The results of this study highlight the contribution of older employees to intrapreneurial activities and organizational performance while pointing to obstacles that may inhibit them from participating in intrapreneurship. The results have both theoretical and practical implications, which can aid HR managers in their attempt to establish a positive age-diversity climate.
AB - Purpose: With increases in life expectancy, age diversity has emerged as a common feature of organizations. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the connection between employee age, intrapreneurial behaviors (i.e. introducing new ventures inside an organization), intra-organizational social capital (SC) and their connection to employee performance. Design/methodology/approach: A paper-based survey was distributed among 617 participants from five organizations. Three organizations operate in the industrial industry, while the other two operate in the service field. Findings: The findings show that intrapreneurial behaviors moderate the positive connection between age and performance. That is, among employees engaged in intrapreneurship, older workers evaluated their performance more highly compared to their younger counterparts. However, among workers who did not participate in intrapreneurship, younger employees evaluated their performances as higher compared to older workers. The authors also found that age was negatively connected to intrapreneurial activities, and this connection was mediated by intra-organizational SC. Originality/value: The results of this study highlight the contribution of older employees to intrapreneurial activities and organizational performance while pointing to obstacles that may inhibit them from participating in intrapreneurship. The results have both theoretical and practical implications, which can aid HR managers in their attempt to establish a positive age-diversity climate.
KW - Employee age
KW - Intra-organizational social capital
KW - Intrapreneurial activities
KW - Older employees
KW - Performance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85076841172&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1108/ER-01-2019-0059
DO - 10.1108/ER-01-2019-0059
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AN - SCOPUS:85076841172
SN - 0142-5455
VL - 42
SP - 349
EP - 365
JO - Employee Relations
JF - Employee Relations
IS - 2
ER -