Contextualizing the usefulness of knowledge received from retiring employees: leader behaviour and organisational culture

Abstract

ABSTRACT Knowledge loss is increasingly at the centre of business agendas, as large numbers of baby boomers are retiring, and employees of diverse age cohorts are resigning amid workforce shifts triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. This research explores how specific contextual factors, namely transformational leadership and innovation culture, contribute to the relationship between retiring employees’ knowledge continuity (KC) behaviour and the extent to which imparted knowledge is useful to recipients’ performance post-departure. We analysed survey data from 81 triads of knowledge workers at a technology-intensive firm – matched data from retiring employees, their supervisors, and their successors. Surveys were administered both before and after retirees’ departure. We find a positive association between KC behaviour and the usefulness of the knowledge received, mostly when supervisors are perceived as more transformational. When supervisors are perceived as less transformational, this association is attenuated to the point of non-significance, particularly under perceptions of low innovation culture.