Managing practitioners’ experience and generational differences for adopting lean production principles

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of practitioners’ experience and generational differences on the adoption level of lean production (LP) principles in their daily decisions and behaviors. Design/methodology/approach: The authors carried out a cross-sector survey with 135 practitioners from different Brazilian manufacturers that have been implementing LP for at least five years. Collected data were analyzed based on multivariate techniques. Findings: The results show how different combinations between practitioners’ LP experience and generational characteristics may entail a higher likelihood of adopting LP principles. While members from generation X do not seem to be associated with the adoption of LP principles, the ones from generations Y and Z are differently related with LP based upon their experience levels. Originality/value: The understanding of individual differences for adopting LP principles allows the establishment of proper expectations with respect to each practitioner’s openness to change. Studies that address the adoption level of LP principles based on certain individual characteristics, such as practitioners’ experience with lean implementation and their generational values and beliefs, are scarce in the literature.