Students’ learning behaviours and their perception about quality of learning experience: the mediating role of psychological safety

Abstract

ABSTRACT Experiential learning is considered important to develop managerial skills. Several archetypes are developed to facilitate learning, and various outcomes of experiential learning have been studied by organizational scholars. In an effort to contribute to the literature about learning, this research pursues (1) to examine the effect of students’ learning behaviours on their perception about the quality of learning experience in business education, (2) to examine the mediating role of psychological safety between learning behaviours and students’ perception about quality of their learning experience. Based on Kolb’s experiential-learning theory and Mezirow’s transformational learning theory this research used a cross-sectional design. Data were collected from 208 students studying in the final semester of their master degree program. Initially, the use of confirmatory factor analysis helped in assessing the validity of the scales in this research context. Later on, hypothesized relationships were tested through structural equation modelling (SEM). Results revealed significant positive impact of critical reflection, student-to-student interactions, and instructor-to-student interactions on students’ perceptions about the quality of learning experience. Moreover, psychological safety was found to mediate the relationship between learning behaviours and students’ perceptions about quality of learning experience. Practical implications for management educators have also been discussed in this paper.