Generation X and Knowledge Work: The Impact of ICT. What Are the Implications for HRM?

This chapter aims to demonstrate the positive impact of the use of ICTs and knowledge work content on employees’ wellbeing. Our focus is on generations at work, and specifically generation X, which is underexplored in the current research debate but relevant in terms of the organizations’ human capital. The relationship between knowledge work content and wellbeing of Generation X has been explored along with the impact that the use of ICT may have in this relationship. The findings of the analysis, carried out on a sample of 5,557 employees in Europe (data source: WVS 2010–14), demonstrate that the use of ICT is important for the wellbeing of all generations. We also demonstrate that different levels of knowledge work content have an impact on employees’ wellbeing, and this relationship is stronger for Generation X, while increase in ICT usage may have an adverse effect on it. Our results offer interesting stimuli for a debate between scholars and practitioners in the management of employees, calling for attention to the controversial effect of ICT usage and to this mid-generation, too.