The Structure of Informal Learning in the Workplace—An Experience Sampling Approach

The purpose of this paper was to determine the frequency of Music Culture teachers’ participation in different types of informal lifelong learning activities, as well as to find out their opinions on the importance and contribution of the above-mentioned points to thedevelopment of their own competencies necessary for teaching Music Culture. It is concluded that teachers participate the most in informal learning activities which do not require dedication of additional time and accordingly, they participate less frequently in activities which require more of their attention. They feel competent in performing all musical activities. Furthermore, they see benefits and the importance of participating in informal learning activities, however, their opinions are divided when considering whether they should dedicate additional time to informal learning and when deciding whether their teaching would be of the same quality if they did not apply the new knowledge acquired through informal learning.

A survey was conducted to describe the informal workplace learning experiences of 318 public school teachers and HRD professionals. Analysis of the data found that teachers rely to a greater extent on interactive learning activities while HRD professionals rely to a greater extent on independent learning activities. Both professional groups reported that two environmental factors frequently inhibit their engagement in informal learning activities: a lack of time and a lack of proximity to colleagues' work areas. Three additional environmental factors were found to inhibit HRD professionals from engaging in informal learning: an unsupportive organizational culture, the unwillingness of others to participate in informal learning activities, and the inaccessibility of subject matter experts. One additional environmental inhibitor was found for teachers: a lack of funds. Seven personal characteristics were found to enhance the motivation of both professional groups to engage in informal learning: initiative, self-efficacy, love of learning, interest in the profession, commitment to professional development, a nurturing personality, and an outgoing personality. Implications of these findings for HRD theory, research, and practice are discussed.

PurposeThe aim of the study is to extend prior research on career identity formation by investigating whether individuals' participation in informal workplace learning activities positively relates to career identity. The study also examines whether work engagement significantly mediates the participation in informal learning and career identity relationship.Design/methodology/approachUsing data from a survey of 313 individuals in Iran, the study developed and tested measurement and structural models and employed partial least squares structural equation modelling to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe findings suggest that work engagement substantially mediates the positive relationship between participation in informal learning and career identity. Furthermore, the learning potential of the workplace and the propensities of individuals to actively approach situations that provide them with opportunities to learn and seek feedback on their performance have positive although varying relations with levels of participation in informal learning.Practical implicationsHuman resource management and career management specialists must be cognisant of the central role that employee participation in informal learning plays in strengthening their work engagement and career identity. Learning and development specialists should seek to create conditions in the work environment that are favourable to informal learning and work engagement.Originality/valueAlthough the role of formal development programmes in career identity formation is well documented, studies that examine links between participation in informal learning activities and career identity are very rare. Furthermore, there are no known studies that examine the potential mediating role of work engagement in the relationship between participation in informal learning activities and career identity.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the types of informal learning activities that novice teachers in Kuching Division, Sarawak, engaged in at work and the level of novice teachers’ engagement in informal learning activities. Specifically, this study explored the individual and organizational factors affecting novice teachers’ engagement in informal learning activities, the relationship between level of informal learning engagement and organizational culture in school, and it also investigated the differences in the level of novice teachers’ engagement in informal learning activities based on gender. This study was a cross-sectional survey research involving 85 novice teachers randomly selected from ten schools in Kuching Division, Sarawak. Findings showed that novice teachers were only moderately involved in workplace informal learning activities. The findings also showed moderate but significantly positive relationship between school culture and the level of informal learning engagement among novice teachers. However, there was no significant difference between male and female novice teachers in the level of engagement in workplace informal learning. In addition, findings also indicated that novice teachers learnt most frequently from their own trial and error activities. Novice teachers’ engagement in informal learning activities was influenced by their interest in the current professional field and job environment. The findings of this study showed that schools need to promote and support informal learning opportunities for novice teachers as such learning activities serve as important impetus for their continuous professional development.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of knowledge management through informal learning on the relationship between employability and job performance of recent graduates in their first jobs. A quantitative, cross-sectional survey of 392 graduates of business school management programs at 4 universities in Lima, Peru was conducted to study the relationship between employability and job performance as moderated by informal learning inside and outside the work environment. It is confirmed that informal learning positively moderates the relationship between employability and job performance of recent graduates. However, informal learning impacts the employability dimensions differently. The results challenge traditional methods of learning and training inside and outside the work environment and provide new insights for knowledge management, talent management and their induction, training and development programs for a dynamic workforce with digital skills developed since the university stage. The implications of limiting employees' access to informal learning activities may limit future employability and job performance; employees can develop knowledge and competencies through informal learning activities on their own initiative, however, it is important to facilitate this process within the organization's processes. This study provides further evidence of the relationships between employability, informal learning and job performance in young recent graduates. In addition, it provides knowledge on how business schools can include informal or non-instructional learning activities in their curricula, thus generating self-learning skills for upcoming graduates and improving their skills and competencies.

Purpose: Informal learning activities are important for chartered accountants in public accounting firms to develop and maintain knowledge and skills within the professional environment. However, recent evidence indicates that situational inhibitors to the learning exist in their working environment. Thus, the objective of this research is to examine the relationship between situational inhibitors and informal learning activities amongst the accountants.
 Design/Methodology/Approach: A total of 260 chartered accountants in the firms across Malaysia participated in this study. The data of the study was collected through mail survey approach and analysed using correlation analysis.
 Findings: The findings indicated that lack of time and lack of support from others inhibited the accountants' informal workplace learning activities. The evidence suggests that accountants who face these two constraints at the workplace, would be less likely to engage in informal learning activities.
 Implications/Originality/Value: This study adds to previous literature by testing the relationship between situational inhibitors and the accountants' informal learning activities. Practically, the research findings are critical for accounting profession in developing appropriate strategies to overcome the identified problems.

Despite the burgeoning adoption of informal learning in people’s daily lives, the actual effects of informal learning activities, especially technology-related informal learning activities, are much less reported than those of formal learning. Furthermore, there is a notable lack of research on the effects of technology-related informal mathematics learning activities (TRLA). This study aims to propose and validate a new model which illustrates the effects of TRLA on four constructs: mathematics self-efficacy (MSE), mathematics interest (MI), self-regulation in mathematics learning (SR), and teacher-student relationship (TSR). Adopting a quantitative cross-sectional survey approach, 460 students were investigated. The data were analyzed employing two-step structural equation modeling. Our findings demonstrate the direct effects of TRLA on MI and SR as well as the indirect effects on MI, MSE, and TSR. This study advances the understanding of technology-enhanced informal learning, which is an emerging perspective of technology-enhanced learning.

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the joint influence of employees' career motivation and their self-construal on their engagement in three informal workplace learning activities: keeping up-to-date, asking for feedback from supervisors and knowledge sharing. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected through an online questionnaire from 323 employees from four Dutch Vocational Education and Training (VET) schools. Regression analyses were used to test the hypothesis. Findings – Career motivation is positively related to all three informal learning activities. Employees' individual self-construal strengthens the relationship between career motivation and engagement in the learning activity of keeping up-to-date, while employees' collective self-construal strengthens the relationship between career motivation and engagement in the learning activity of knowledge sharing. Contrary to expectations, employees' relational self-construal does not strengthen the relationship between career motivation and engagement in the learning activity of feedback asking from supervisors. Research limitations/implications – The use of cross-sectional data collection made this study vulnerable to common method bias. Future studies should consider using a longitudinal research approach to overcome this limitation. Practical implications – The findings suggest that both the motivational issue of “what do you want” and the self-identity issue of “who you are” are important for employee informal workplace learning. For human resource (HR) professionals this suggests that they should stimulate employees' career motivation, while for employees this suggests that they should engage in informal learning activities in keeping with their own style. Originality/value – This is one of the first studies to provide empirical support for the joint influence of career motivation and self-construal on employees' informal workplace learning.

ABSTRACTSmall businesses are characterised by resources constraints; therefore, their managers need to know the exact nature of additional benefits, beyond knowledge and skill acquisition, that might accrue from employee participation in different types of learning activities. However, research that simultaneously examines the attitudinal and behavioural outcomes of opportunities to participate in formal and informal learning activities is sparse, especially in small businesses. The present study addresses this area of neglect by exploring associative relationships between opportunities for employees to participate in (1) formal learning activities and (2) informal learning activities and three important work-related outcomes: affective commitment, innovative behaviours, and work engagement. Data from 203 respondents in small professional services businesses were analysed and the results provide preliminary evidence that opportunities to participate in each type of learning activity are associated with differing outcomes. Opportunities to participate in formal learning activities were positively associated with heightened levels of affective commitment, work engagement, and innovative behaviours, while opportunities to participate in informal learning activities were positively related to work engagement. We provide suggestions for future research and outline practical implications of our analysis.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine factors influencing the engagement of public school teachers in informal learning activities.Design/methodology/approachThis study used a survey research design.FindingsAnalysis of the data found that teachers rely to a greater degree on interactive than on independent informal learning activities. Three environmental factors inhibit teachers from engaging in informal learning activities: lack of time, lack of proximity to colleagues' work areas, and insufficient funds. In addition, seven personal characteristics enhance teachers' motivation to engage in informal learning: initiative, self‐efficacy, love of learning, interest in the profession, commitment to professional development, a nurturing personality, and an outgoing personality.Research limitations/implicationsA limitation of this study was the survey's response rate of 27.7 percent.Practical implicationsThe findings from this study give rise to three implications for facilitating informal workplace learning. First, work areas need to be strategically designed so that employees are located near colleagues in the same technical or professional area. Second, a greater amount of unencumbered time must be built into a professional's work day. Third, access to computer technology and the internet should be provided so that professionals can communicate with others and gather information when the need to do so arises.Originality/valueAn important contribution of the present study to new knowledge of workplace learning is the construction of a survey instrument for assessing informal workplace learning. A second contribution is greater understanding of the personal and environmental factors that influence informal workplace learning.

Based on a statewide survey of professional learning activities among 577 middle school mathematics teachers in Missouri, this study examined two questions: 1) What professional learning activities do middle school math teachers participate in and how much time do they spend in these activities?, and 2) How are teacher qualifications and contextual characteristics associated with the amount of their professional learning activities? The study examined seven types of formal and informal professional learning activities: 1) professional development programs, 2) teacher collaboration, 3) university courses, 4) professional conferences, 5) mentoring/coaching, 6) informal communications, and 7) individual learning activities. The study found that middle school mathematics teachers spend the greatest amount of time involved in teacher collaboration, professional development programs, and individual learning activities. In addition, mathematics teachers in high-poverty and ethnically diverse districts tend to spend more time in formal learning activities such as professional development programs, teacher collaboration, and mentoring/coaching than do mathematics teachers in wealthier and less diverse districts. To promote a greater level of teachers’ participation in shared learning activities, it is important for district and school administrators to offer professional learning activities that meet mathematics teachers’ learning needs for understanding students’ mathematical knowledge and thinking.

Innovation and internationalization are important sources of growth for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). However, as SMEs often experience resource constraints, these companies may face difficulties when seeking to innovate or enter foreign markets. An important question is therefore whether these two activities may positively reinforce each other. We assess the extent to which export activities may improve innovation capabilities, by exploring the role of formal and informal learning activities. The empirical analysis builds on a sample of 380 Norwegian small and medium sized exporting enterprises. Based on structural equation modeling, the results confirm the hypothesis of a positive relationship between informal learning activities and firm innovation performance. Considering export structure, neither export share and psychic distance nor export scope had a direct effect on innovation performance. However, we did find that a high export scope combined with informal learning activities contributed to increased innovation performance. An important implication for managers is that scarce resources for internationalization and innovation might at least to some extent be compensated for by introducing systematic but informal learning activities in the organization. Furthermore, our results suggest that using more formal approaches for learning from export is not a recommendable strategy for SMEs if the goal is to increase innovation performance.

Research on lecturers' achievement goals and their impact on professional learning in higher education is a topic that has assumed importance in recent years. However, previous studies have neglected the multidimensionality of informal workplace learning and ignored the differences between self‐based and social‐based informal learning. Based on the Achievement Goal Theory, we propose positive links between learning approach goals and self‐based informal learning, as well as positive links between normative goals and social‐based informal learning. Findings from a first cross‐sectional study with 317 lecturers from higher education institutions in Germany show associations that are largely consistent with our hypotheses. While learning approach goals are moderately related to self‐based informal learning, normative avoidance goals are slightly related to social‐based informal learning. In a second study, 185 lecturers from higher education institutions in Austria received three text‐based vignettes and answered a survey about which teaching‐related informal learning activities they would use in specific situations (i.e., before, during, and after the teaching phase). The results replicate most of the findings from the first study; however, the results are not stable when various control variables are included. Moreover, the associations between achievement goals and informal learning are largely consistent across the simulated semester, although lecturers with strong learning approach goals engage in self‐based informal learning particularly before and during the teaching phase. Our findings provide support for the notion that personal motivational characteristics, in the form of achievement goals, are associated with informal learning in the workplace. We conclude by discussing practical implications for those teaching in higher education.

PurposeThis paper aims to address tertiary education informal learning space preferences for learners’ informal learning activities. The study accentuates learners’ preferred informal academic learning space (IALS) for informal learning activities that required interaction and communication and collaboration.Design/methodology/approachThe research is based on a survey questionnaire that participated by 1,079 diploma learners from Polytechnics’ technical and non-technical academic programmes in Malaysia.FindingsThe finding reveals that learners mostly preferred IALS that were categorized as semi-outdoor and connected to nature. Learners prefer to have IALS for collaborative learning activities with the appropriate information, communication and technology facilities and thermally conductive. Learners preferred an attractive layout design with comfortable furniture for informal learning activities. Apparently, learning space design is more focused on formal learning rather than informal learning.Originality/valueThis study grants a profound insight centred upon the learner’s perspective on the spatial alignment of education 4.0 learning ecosystem can be configured to enhance collaborative and self-regulated learning activities by distinguishing the critical preference of IALS.

This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of informal workplace learning in contemporary face-to-face and virtual environments. Informal learning is an important driver for professional development and workplace learning. However powerful informal learning may be, there is a problem when it comes to making it a real asset within organizations: Informal learning activities are mostly invisible to others, sometimes the learners themselves might not even be aware of the learning that occurs. As a consequence informal learning in organizations goes undetected, remains off the radar of HR departments and is therefore hard to asses, manage and value [1]. This problem poses an interesting challenge for the field of Learning Analytics, namely finding ways to capture and analyse traces of (social) informal learning in every day life and work networks. Therefore empirical research and tools are needed that can raise awareness about informal learning activities to make it surface the radar, amplify the benefits of it and strengthen the social relations through which it occurs. In this paper we introduce a tool that aims to facilitate exactly this and we hope to stimulate to widen the discussion on Learning Analytics by expanding the field from a predominantly educational focus to informal and workplace learning. In this paper we will discuss methodologies that Learning Analytics can draw upon to make informal learning more explicit and accessible to analyse and to share amongst professionals.