Age-Related Differences in the Motivation of Knowledge Workers

Abstract

:With the impending retirement of the Baby Boom Generation, retention of older knowledge workers, defined as engineers, scientists, and information technologists, has become important to engineering managers. Traditional theories of worker motivation have not adequately addressed the impact of worker age on factors that affect worker motivation. The study outlined in this article gathered data regarding the satisfaction and importance of motivational factors to determine if there are differences in their impact on older and younger knowledge workers.