Introduction
As workplaces become increasingly age-diverse, organizations face the challenge of fostering meaningful interpersonal connections across generations. Age-diverse workplace friendship, which is a form of voluntary relationships between coworkers of different age groups, can reduce age-related tensions, foster inclusion, and enhance collaboration. Yet, practical guidance on how to build and sustain such friendships remains scarce, as existing interventions are fragmented, with some targeting age-diverse interactions and others focusing more broadly on workplace relationships without addressing age dynamics.
Purpose
Using realist approach, this scoping review aims to map the existing interventions aimed at fostering age-diverse workplace friendships. Specifically, we examine the context-mechanism-outcome configurations of interventions to uncover how, why, and under what circumstances interventions succeed in supporting friendship formation and maintenance across age groups.
Method
Eligible studies include quantitative and mixed-methods interventions conducted in workplace, community, or institutional contexts, with participants aged 16 and above. Purely clinical and educational interventions are excluded unless transferable to occupational settings. The review follows RAMESES standards for realist syntheses, the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) guidelines, and PRISMA-ScR reporting principles. Data extraction will map intervention designs, mechanisms, and outcomes to identify recurrent CMO configurations. By collating interventions ranging from relational job crafting initiatives to cross-group friendship programs, this review shifts focus from preventing negative workplace dynamics (e.g., conflict, exclusion) to cultivating positive relational resources that benefit both employees and organizations.
Conclusion
The findings of this scoping review will advance theoretical understanding of workplace friendships, respond to calls for more intervention-based research in organizational psychology, and provide practitioners with evidence-based strategies to foster inclusion and collaboration across generations. Ultimately, this review seeks to uncover the "black box" of how interventions can build and sustain age-diverse workplace friendships as a key organizational resource.