Younger Supervisors’ Perceptions of Intergenerational Communication in the Sri Lankan Workplace

Abstract

Workplaces are increasingly seeing younger supervisors supervise older subordinates, reversing traditional norms. Using Communication Accommodation Theory, we investigated younger supervisors’ perceptions of communication with same-aged and older subordinates in Sri Lanka. Eighty young supervisors rated four vignettes describing formal and informal interactions with same-aged and older subordinates. Participants rated older subordinates’ communication as less accommodative and more nonaccommodative than same-aged subordinates, particularly in formal interactions. They rated their own communication as more polite and respectful with older than same-aged subordinates.