The graying of R&D workgroups: The effects of age diversity on developing publicly usable knowledge

Does the graying of scientific research teams matter? This study addresses how workgroup processes and external environmental factors contribute and inhibit the effect of age diversity in R&D project groups on the production of innovative publicly usable knowledge outcomes in the form of publication outputs. We examined the relationships between group age diversity (age cohort diversity, mean age, age dispersion), R&D workgroup member self-ratings of workgroup processes, their supervisor�s assessment of the external environmental factors the project groups faced, and their supervisor�s ratings of group performance, the number of scientific publicly available publications produced by the group and the use of multiple authorships on publications. Usable data was obtained from 32 R&D workgroups of a large Government Agricultural Research and Development Agency. Consistent with the literature, workgroup processes and external environmental factors were found to directly effect innovation outcomes. Contrary to expectation, but consistent with Social Identity theory, workgroup age diversity generally negatively impacted upon innovation outcomes. An exception was where multiple authorship on publications for project groups increased as the dispersion of age within groups increased. Importantly, workgroups that were both more age homogeneous and perceived to have optimally functioning work processes produced more R&D innovation outcomes than other groups. Generally, these differences appear to be related to the greater division of labor practices (and less multi-tasking) employed by the older and more homogeneous workgroups. Implications for R&D workgroup resource theory and practices are discussed.