Intergenerational knowledge transfer in the academic environment of knowledge-based economy

In the immediate future, intergenerational knowledge transfer is one of the knowledge-based economy’s main challenges since an inner motivational force powers knowledge transfer. Knowledge transfer from individuals to groups and organization must follow knowledge creation in order to transform individual into organizational knowledge, along the epistemological dimension of the Nonaka’s knowledge dynamics model. Moreover, the knowledge intensive organizations increase their fluxes of knowledge across different age layers and different departments, reducing in the same time the company knowledge loss. The academic environment is, by nature, an age layered field or a nested functional structure. Intergenerational knowledge transfer becomes any university main driving force, while understanding its dynamics is important for academic life improvement. The purpose of the paper is to present some of our research results in the field of intergenerational knowledge transfer in the academic environment of the knowledge-based economy. We performed a qualitative and quantitative research of the knowledge transfer process in the academic environment, using the Analytic Hierarchy Processes (AHP). We analyzed the faculty staff attitudes toward cooperation, competition, and innovation as main priorities in performing research, writing books and publishing scientific papers. The above-mentioned activities are based on intergenerational knowledge transfer and lead to learning processes at individual and organizational levels. Respondents are members of the academic staff of economics and business faculties from the main Romanian universities.