Can Adaptability Improve Openness to People's Ideas? The Moderating Role of Work Experience

Abstract

Drawing insights from Piaget's theory of cognitive development and exploring their applicability to working adults while assessing the role of tenure, as appreciated by multiple studies associated with adaptability and openness, the current study examines the influence of work experience in the relationship between an individual's adaptability and openness to people's ideas in the context of the Indian workplace. The study followed a cross-sectional survey-based design, and data were gathered from 202 junior, middle and senior executives from Indian manufacturing and service organizations. Using PROCESS macro in SPSS, the moderating effect of work experience on the linkage between adaptability to situations and openness to people's ideas was examined. The study results depicted that adaptability to situations is positively associated with a person's openness to people's ideas. Such a result indicates that promoting adaptability among employees could lead to openness in behaviour towards ideas of their colleagues and other people, which may promote team cohesiveness and learning in the long run. Also, the work experience of employees was found to be moderating the relation between adaptability and openness such that the increasing years of work experience tend to enhance the positive relationship between adaptability and openness. These results suggest that as the work experience increases, the positive association between adaptability and tendency to be open towards people's ideas strengthens. Further, the implications for the domains of research and practice, limitations of the study and directions for future studies have been discussed.

Citation

Khindri, A. and Rangnekar, S. (2023), "Can Adaptability Improve Openness to People's Ideas? The Moderating Role of Work Experience", Misra, R.K., Shrivastava, A. and Sijoria, C. (Ed.) Technology, Management and Business (Advanced Series in Management, Vol. 31), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 143-156. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1877-636120230000031012