Clinicians' ability, motivation and opportunity to acquire and transfer knowledge: An age-driven perspective

Background: Many countries are seeing a dramatic increase in the average age of their clinicians. The literature often highlights the challenges of high replacement costs and the need for strategies to retain older personnel. Less discussed are the potential pitfalls of knowledge acquisition and transfer that accompany this aging issue. Purpose: We propose a conceptual framework for understanding how clinicians' age interact with ability, motivation, and opportunity to predict clinical knowledge transfer and acquisition in health care organizations. Approach: This paper integrates lifespan development perspectives with the Ability – Motivation – Opportunity (AMO) framework to develop a number of testable propositions on the interaction between age and clinicians’ ability, motivation and opportunity to acquire and transfer clinical knowledge. Results: We posit that the interaction between ability (the knowledge and skills to acquire knowledge), motivation (the willingness to acquire and transfer knowledge) and opportunity (resources required for acquiring and transferring knowledge) is a determinant of successful knowledge management. We also suggest that clinicians' age—and more specifically, the cognitive and motivational changes that accompany aging—moderates these relationships. Conclusion: This paper contributes to existing research by offering a set of testable propositions for future research. These propositions will hopefully encourage empirical research into this important topic and lead to guidelines for reducing the risks of knowledge loss due to aging.