As we have pointed out in previous contributions (Castro et al., 2023), demographic changes, together with the trend in state policies to delay the retirement age, pose new and complex challenges for organisations, which must ensure the coexistence and interaction between young workers and those with more experience and age (Cebola, dos Santos, & Dionísio, 2021). University institutions do not escape this situation. The ageing of faculty workforces has enhanced and evidenced the existence of different generations in the same organisation in terms of chronological age (Edge, Descours & Frayman, 2016).

The coexistence of different generations in the same organisation is currently a great challenge for the functioning and performance of the institution, among other issues, due to the dynamics of knowledge retention and exchange or professional development processes. Intergenerational relationships are inherent to the human condition and are the product of interactions between members of different generations living together in the same temporal space (Núñez, Míguez, & García, 2019).

The diversity of generations and, especially, their varied experiences, skills, knowledge and expectations represent a unique resource to boost their innovation processes and improve their performance, as well as the satisfaction and well-being of the individuals themselves. Researchers working in intergenerational groups are more effective than those working individually (Rotolo & Petruzzelli, 2012). In addition, intergenerational contact improves the attitudes of all team members (Gerpott et al., 2017).  Relating and sharing experiences with people from different generations facilitates understanding and rapport between them (Çelik & Polat, 2023) and can influence professional success (Portela et al. 2020).

Despite the aforementioned benefits, age-discriminatory relationships can also occur, ultimately negatively affecting the well-being, satisfaction, retention and performance of the people involved (Carlsson & Eriksson, 2019; Egdell et al., 2020).

Likewise, the loss of experienced workers through retirement results in decreased efficiency in the workplace (Rothermund et al., 2021). Knowledge retention thus emerges as a challenge for organisations. It is imperative that organisations anticipate such situations through effective knowledge transfer strategies, thus ensuring the continuity and strengthening of their intellectual capital. In this sense, the intergenerational dimension is incorporated, consciously or unconsciously, into many existing models of Professional Development (e.g., Brücknerová, & Novotný, 2017). 

From an educational perspective, intergenerational learning can be considered as a learning process, formal or informal, that takes place between people of different generations, between seniors and juniors (Brücknerová & Novotný, 2017; Lyashenko & Frolova, 2014; Ropes, 2013).

Thus, considering, on the one hand, the importance of intergenerational learning as an essential variable to promote innovation and organisational learning in Higher Education Institutions and, on the other hand, the scarcity of research addressing the study of intergenerational learning in these contexts, the aim of this contribution is to explore intergenerational learning processes among university faculty in work contexts.

This study is linked to a research line focused on the analysis of intergenerational relations in university work contexts funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation from two research projects (‘Intergenerational University and Learning - PRUNAI’ (ref. PID2019-107747RB-I00), and ‘La Cultura Organizativa Intergeneracional en los centros y equipos de investigación de las universidades españolas-COIIN’ (ref. PID2023-148993NB-I00)). The fieldwork involves the application of a questionnaire to a representative sample of university teachers and researchers (n=1604) and interviews with university managers and professors from the four generations that coexist today in university departments and units. The questionnaire allows us to confront issues directly linked to individual intergenerational learning with organisational learning culture by means of seven scales: tendency to innovation, creativity and empowerment, intergenerational organisational affect, intergenerational inclusion in the workplace, organisational learning culture, transformational leadership and organisational structure. All items are constructed based on a Likert scale of seven points of agreement/disagreement. To accomplish the objectives of this research, a descriptive analysis is developed based on the subscales considered.

The data collected confirms a clear trend towards an ageing teaching and research staff, with an average age of 48.12 years (sd= 48.12). The male teaching staff is slightly more numerous than the female teaching staff, accounting for 49.6% of all participants. The average experience of the participants is 16.77 years (sd=12.62). The results show that there is not only a good perception of the intergenerational climate and intergenerational relations, but also that the importance of intergenerational learning for the exchange and transfer of knowledge, mainly within the universities themselves, is valued. The participants consider that there is little development of a culture of organisational learning, even showing some contradictions with the apparent good intergenerational climate, when it is considered that practically no time is spent on building trust among university staff. This is clearly a factor that needs to be explored further. It should be recalled that the results of previous studies (Castro et al., 2023) indicated that, although the intergenerational climate was good, there were not many interactions between teachers of different generations. In conclusion, the results allow us to highlight the importance of establishing more instances of intergenerational collaborative work, as well as creating concrete tools to retain knowledge so that it is not lost after retirement or a change of job. The search for environments and spaces that provoke and favour exchange and rapprochement between teachers from different generations is fundamental. Sharing moments in the classroom, spaces for discussion once classes are over and, of course, sharing mechanisms for research projects will be key to improving intergenerational learning.

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