Intergenerational relationships in higher education: promoting age-inclusive institutions

Studying interpersonal relationships at the university is essential since these relationships are directly linked to creativity, knowledge sharing, problem-solving, and building an organizational climate focused on the well-being and performance of academics. The coexistence of diverse generations of academics within the same department, unit, or research group complicates the development of healthy, frequent, and trusting relationships among academics. However, research has paid limited attention to the intergenerational dimension of interpersonal relationships among academics in Higher Education Institutions. This study aims to identify the factors promoting intergenerational inclusion among academics in the context of the development of their teaching, research, and management functions. This is a quantitative research study in which an online self-administered questionnaire was applied to a sample of 1044 Spanish academics. To accomplish the objectives of this research, first, the data were subjected to univariate and bivariate descriptive analysis. Subsequently, three multiple regression models were developed to assess independent effects of professors' sociodemographic characteristics, perception of generational stereotypes, intergenerational attitudes, workplace intergenerational retention and frequency of intergenerational contact on intergenerational inclusion. The results reveal that university professors perceive age-inclusive relationships in their work. However, while intergenerational contact clearly helps increase intergenerational inclusion, intergenerational interactions between professors remain scarce.