Informal Workplace Learning in Austrian Banks: The Influence of Learning Approach, Leadership Style, and Organizational Learning Culture on Managers' Learning Outcomes

• Author: Mien Segers,Piet Van den Bossche,Dominik Froehlich
• Date: 01 March 2014
• Published date: 01 March 2014
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/hrdq.21173

Informal Workplace Learning in

Austrian Banks: The Infl uence of

Learning Approach, Leadership

Style, and Organizational

Learning Culture on Managers’

Learning Outcomes

Dominik Froehlich, Mien Segers, Piet Van den Bossche

Informal workplace learning takes an increasingly focal role in human

resource development (HRD) practice and research, as it contributes to

organizations’ adaptability and competitiveness. However, little is known about

how individual managers’ approaches to learning and contextual infl uences such

as leadership and organizational learning culture infl uence learning outcomes.

This study narrows these gaps by examining the relationship between learning

approaches, experienced leadership style, organizational learning culture, and

learning outcomes among 143 Austrian bank managers in a cross-sectional,

quantitative questionnaire study. Results show that the choice of lear ning

approach signifi cantly affects several conceptualizations of learning outcome.

Moreover, we have found that learning approaches partially mediate the

effects of experienced leadership style on learning outcomes. Also,

organizational learning culture moderates the effects of leadership style and

learning approaches. These fi ndings call for further research of the process

and outcome of informal workplace learning and imply a need for greater

awareness of both individuals’ learning approaches and contextual infl uences

of the learning process in practice.

Key Words: leadership style, lear ning approach, learning outcome, informal

workplace learning, organizational learning culture

ARTICLES

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY, vol. 25, no. 1, Spring 2014 © Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) • DOI: 10.1002/hrdq.21173 29

30 Froehlich, Segers, Van den Bossche

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY • DOI: 10.1002/hrdq

Introduction

Managers are more and more required to learn to meet the challenges of

today’s fast-paced economy. Over the past decade, human resource develop-

ment (HRD) research and practice increasingly focused on informal workplace

learning (i.e., learning that is integrated with daily work and routines and that

often happens unconsciously (Marsick, Volpe, & Watkins, 1999).

However, considerable gaps in our understanding of informal workplace

learning exist. First, while much literature focuses on the antecedents of infor-

mal workplace learning, we know little about its outcomes. Indeed, positive

outcomes are mostly only assumed (Bernsen, Segers, & Tillema, 2009; Crouse,

Doyle, & Young, 2011; Kirby, Knapper, Evans, Carty, & Gadula, 2003; Kyndt,

Raes, Dochy, & Janssens, 2012). Second, we do not suffi ciently understand

how personal approaches toward learning infl uence informal workplace learn-

ing. Such learning approaches have been studied extensively among students,

but only little attention has been paid to this concept in the domain of infor-

mal workplace learning (Kyndt et al., 2012). Third, although contextual fac-

tors such as leadership and organizational learning culture are highly relevant

( Jarvis, 2004), we know little about how they interact with employees’ char-

acteristics and ultimately infl uence informal workplace learning outcomes.

We set out to narrow these gaps by investigating managers’ informal

workplace learning. Specifically, we empirically examine the relationship

between learning approach, experienced leadership style, organizational learn-

ing culture, and learning outcome among managers in the Austrian banking

sector. We extend literature in several directions. First, we show the effects of

different learning approaches on a variety of learning outcomes. Second, we

explore the relationship between leadership and learning: how does leader-

ship infl uence both learning approaches and learning outcomes? Third, we

study organizational learning culture as a moderator to the learning process.

Fourth, by applying a quantitative method, we complement the fi ndings of

preceding studies, which have been predominantly qualitative in nature

(Berings, Poell, & Gelissen, 2008; Marsick, 2009; Wihak & Hall, 2011).

Bank managers are an interesting population to study. The skill require-

ments for bank managers are widening due to the ongoing internationaliza-

tion of banks (Reimann, 2003) and the economic turmoil at the time of the

study as well as the increased prioritization of management skills over techni-

cal skills (Antonacopoulou, 2006). This increases managers ’ need for learning,

especially since they play an important role in times of change (Lüscher &

Lewis, 2008; Neelankavil, Mathur, & Zhang, 2000), usually strive for learning

and development (Stahl & Cerdin, 2004), and share responsibility for organi-

zational learning (Marsick & Watkins, 1996; Watkins & Marsick, 1996).

However, while banks traditionally offered lots of trainings and seminars to

their employees —and in some countries were even required to do so by law—

these measures alone could not keep up with the rate of change imposed on