Effects of learning style and learning source preferences on organizational learning capability

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this research is the modeling of the relationship of Learning Style and Learning Source Preferences to Organizational Learning Capability (OLC).Design/methodology/approachA survey questionnaire gave us data from 274 employees in the hotel industry in Cyprus, which was chosen because it is a labor-intensive industry with big economic impact on the National Domestic Product (as per Cyprus Investment Promotion Agency this is more than 20%). SPSS and AMOS were used to analyse the proposed model.FindingsThe findings provided evidence to support the position that the proposed model demonstrates that OLC is affected by the Individual Learning Preferences (ILP) which are the learning style preference and the learning source preference of individual workers.Research limitations/implicationsThe study did not consider the effect of learning style and learning source preferences on the different departments of a hotel. Further, a longitudinal study with more organizations within the hotel sector, or other economic sectors, was outside the scope of this study.Practical implicationsThe proposed model can be used by organizations to reflect on how learning source and learning style preferences can affect the OLC.Originality/valueWhat relevant research did not explore enough, is the learning preferences of individuals in their work environment and not as often seen, the learning styles or learning (dis)abilities of students in a school environment. Therefore, this research fulfills the need to study learning preferences in the business context and examines their effects on OLC.