Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-1-2016

Abstract

A lot of attention is being paid to the perceived stark differences in attitudes and behaviors in the workplace among the Baby Boomer, Gen X and Gen Y cohorts from scholars, practitioners, and the popular press. With Baby Boomers rapidly retiring, how can organizations move past the differences and prepare the next generation of supervisors, managers, and other leaders? This study examines factors salient to career success and development Gen X and Gen Y potential leaders. Overall, the results suggest that career commitment is positively associated with supervisor support, mentorship, and autonomy. Autonomy has a positive relationship with both self-efficacy and career commitment. Development goals that augment experience gaps through mentorship and ways to navigate unforeseen challenges with poise and a sense of independence may offer non-bias approaches for the development of Gen Y and Gen X employees.

Keywords

executive succession, management, generational differences in higher education and the workplace, Weatherhead School of Management, career commitment, supervisor support, mentorship, generational differences, Gen X, Gen Y, autonomy

Rights

© The Author(s). This is an open access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Department/Center

Design & Innovation

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