1932

Abstract

Research has historically adopted one of two views toward learner discretion in training: Learner discretion is controlled by training characteristics (i.e., the instruction-centric view), or learner discretion is a substantive learning process, the understanding of which is essential to developing more effective training (i.e., the learner-centric view). More recently, training scholars have followed the general trend in scientific psychology toward increasingly nuanced and interactionist views of individual behavior. That is, the effectiveness of providing learner discretion is a joint and interactive function of both instruction-centric and learner-centric processes. Taken together, learner-centric, instruction-centric, and interactionist-centric processes propose a constellation of constructs necessary to understand learner control. Here we review the diverse literatures examining learner-control-related constructs and derive specific practical recommendations for designing e-learning. These recommendations follow from the interactionist perspective of learning in modern work environments.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-041015-062344
2016-03-21
2024-04-19
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/orgpsych/3/1/annurev-orgpsych-041015-062344.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-041015-062344&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

Literature Cited

  1. Ackerman PL. 2008. New developments in understanding skilled performance. Curr. Perspect. Psychol. Sci. 16:5235–39 [Google Scholar]
  2. Baldwin TT, Ford JK. 1988. Transfer of training: a review and directions for future research. Pers. Psychol. 41:163–105 [Google Scholar]
  3. Bandura A. 1977. Self-efficacy: toward a unified theory of behavioral change. Psychol. Rev. 84:191–215 [Google Scholar]
  4. Bandura A. 1986. Social Foundations of Thought and Action Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall
  5. Beier ME, Kanfer R. 2010. Motivation in training and development: a phase perspective. Learning Training, and Development in Organizations SWJ Kozlowski, E Salas 65–97 New York: Routledge [Google Scholar]
  6. Bell BS, Kozlowski SWJ. 2002a. Goal orientation and ability: interactive effects on self-efficacy, performance, and knowledge. J. Appl. Psychol. 87:3497–505 [Google Scholar]
  7. Bell BS, Kozlowski SWJ. 2002b. Adaptive guidance: enhancing self-regulation, knowledge, and performance, in technology-based training. Pers. Psychol. 55:267–306 [Google Scholar]
  8. Bell BS, Kozlowski SWJ. 2008. Active learning: effects of core training design elements on self-regulatory processes, learning, and adaptability. J. Appl. Psychol. 93:2296–316 [Google Scholar]
  9. Bell BS, Kozlowski SWJ. 2010. Toward a theory of learner-centered training design: an integrative framework of active learning. See Kozlowski & Salas 2010 263–300
  10. Bledow R. 2012. Demand-perception and self-motivation as opponent processes: a response to Bandura and Vancouver. J. Manag. 39:114–26 [Google Scholar]
  11. Bloom BS. 1984. The 2 sigma problem: the search for methods of group instruction as effective as one-to-one tutoring. Educ. Researcher 13:64–16 [Google Scholar]
  12. Blume BD, Ford JK, Baldwin TT, Huang JL. 2010. Transfer of training: a meta-analytic review. J. Manag. 36:41065–105 [Google Scholar]
  13. Brown KG. 2001. Using computers to deliver training: Which employees learn and why?. Pers. Psychol. 54:271–96 [Google Scholar]
  14. Brown KG. 2005a. A field study of employee e-learning activity and outcomes. Hum. Resour. Dev. Q. 16:465–80 [Google Scholar]
  15. Brown KG. 2005b. An examination of the structure and nomological network of trainee reactions: a closer look at “smile sheets.”. J. Appl. Psychol. 90:5991–1001 [Google Scholar]
  16. Brown KG, Charlier SD, Pierotti A. 2012. e-Learning in work organizations: contributions of past research and suggestions for the future. Int. Rev. Ind. Organ. Psychol. 27:89–114 [Google Scholar]
  17. Brown KG, Klein H. 2008. Third-generation instruction: “tools in the toolbox” rather than the “latest and greatest.”. Ind. Organ. Psychol. 1:4472–76 [Google Scholar]
  18. Burgess JRD, Russell JEA. 2003. The effectiveness of distance learning initiatives in organizations. J. Vocat. Behav. 63:289–303 [Google Scholar]
  19. Burgoon EM, Henderson MD, Markman AB. 2013. There are many ways to see the forest for the trees: a tour guide for abstraction. Perspect. Psychol. Sci. 8:5501–20 [Google Scholar]
  20. Carolan TF, Hutchins SD, Wickens CD, Cumming JM. 2014. Costs and benefits of more learner freedom: meta-analyses of exploratory and learner control training methods. Hum. Factors 565999–1014
  21. Chang C, Ferris DL, Johnson RE, Rosen CC, Tan JA. 2012. Core self-evaluations: a review and evaluation of the literature. J. Manag. 38:81–128 [Google Scholar]
  22. Clark RE. 1983. Reconsidering research on learning from media. Rev. Educ. Res. 53:4445–59 [Google Scholar]
  23. Clark RE. 1994. Media and methods. Educ. Technol. Res. Dev. 42:37–10 [Google Scholar]
  24. Colquitt JA, LePine JA, Noe RA. 2000. Toward an integrative theory of training motivation: a meta-analytic path analysis of 20 years of research. J. Appl. Psychol. 85:5678–707 [Google Scholar]
  25. Colquitt JA, Simmering MJ. 1998. Conscientiousness, goal orientation, and motivation to learn during the learning process: a longitudinal study. J. Appl. Psychol. 83:4654–65 [Google Scholar]
  26. Cronbach LJ, Snow RE. 1977. Aptitudes and Instructional Methods: A Handbook for Research on Interactions Oxford: Irvington
  27. Day EA, Espejo J, Kowollik V, Boatman PR, McEntire LE. 2007. Modeling the links between need for cognition and the acquisition of a complex skill. Personal. Ind. Differ. 42:201–212 [Google Scholar]
  28. Debowski S, Wood RE, Bandura A. 2001. Impact of guided exploration and enactive exploration on self-regulatory mechanisms and information acquisition through electronic search. J. Appl. Psychol. 86:61129–41 [Google Scholar]
  29. DeRouin RE, Fritzsche BA, Salas E. 2004. Optimizing e-learning: research-based guidelines for learner-controlled training. Hum. Resour. Manag. 43:2/3147–62 [Google Scholar]
  30. DeRouin RE, Fritzsche BA, Salas E. 2005. E-learning in organizations. J. Manag. 31:6920–40 [Google Scholar]
  31. DeShon RP, Alexander RA. 1996. Goal setting effects on implicit and explicit learning of complex tasks. Organ. Behav. Hum. Decis. Process. 65:18–36 [Google Scholar]
  32. DeShon RP, Gillespie JZ. 2005. A motivated action theory account of goal orientation. J. Appl. Psychol. 90:61096–127 [Google Scholar]
  33. Dweck CS. 1986. Motivational processes affecting learning. Am. Psychol. 41:101040–48 [Google Scholar]
  34. Eden D, Kinnar J. 1991. Modeling Galatea: boosting self-efficacy to increase volunteering. J. Appl. Psychol. 76:770–80 [Google Scholar]
  35. Fisher SL, Wasserman ME, Orvis KA. 2010. Trainee reactions to learner control: an important link in the e-learning equation. Int. J. Train. Dev. 14:3198–208 [Google Scholar]
  36. Fleeson W. 2004. Moving personality beyond the person-situation debate. Curr. Dir. Psychol. Sci. 13:283–87 [Google Scholar]
  37. Ford JK. 2008. Transforming our models of learning and development: How far do we go?. Ind. Organ. Psychol. 1:468–71 [Google Scholar]
  38. Ford JK, Oswald FL. 2003. Understanding the dynamic learning: linking personality traits, learning situations, and individual behavior. Personality and Work: Reconsidering the Role of Personality in Organizations MR Barrick, AM Ryan 229–61 San Francisco: Wiley & Sons/Jossey-Bass [Google Scholar]
  39. Freitag ET, Sullivan HJ. 1995. Matching learner preference to amount of instruction: an alternative form of learner control. Educ. Technol. Res. Dev. 43:25–14 [Google Scholar]
  40. Frese M, Zapf D. 1994. Action as the core of work psychology: a German approach. Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology 4 HC Triandis, MD Dunnette, LM Hough 271–340 Palo Alto, CA: Consult. Psychol. Press [Google Scholar]
  41. Frese M, Albrect K, Altman A, Lang J, Papstein PV. et al. 1988. The effects of an active development of the mental model in the training process: experimental results in a word processing system. Behav. Inform. Technol. 7:3295–304 [Google Scholar]
  42. Fulton LV, Ivanitskaya LV, Bastian ND, Erofeev DA, Mendez FA. 2013. Frequent deadlines: evaluating the effect of learner control on healthcare executives' performance in online learning. Learn. Instr. 23:24–32 [Google Scholar]
  43. Gelfand MJ, Raver JL, Nishii L, Leslie LM, Lun J. et al. 2011. Differences between tight and loose cultures: a 33-nation study. Science 332:1100–4 [Google Scholar]
  44. Gentile AM. 1972. A working model of skill acquisition with application to teaching. Quest 17:13–23 [Google Scholar]
  45. Gist ME, Mitchell TR. 1992. Self-efficacy: a theoretical analysis of its determinants and malleability. Acad. Manag. Rev. 17:2183–211 [Google Scholar]
  46. Goldberg LR. 1999. A broad-bandwidth, public-domain, personality inventory measuring the lower-level facets of several Five-Factor models. Personality Psychology in Europe 7 I Mervielde, I Deary, F De Fruyt, F Ostendorf 7–28 Tilburg, Neth.: Tilburg Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
  47. Goldstein IL, Ford JK. 2002. Training in Organizations: Needs Assessment, Development, and Evaluation Florence, KY: Wadsworth
  48. Granger BP, Levine EL. 2010. The perplexing role of learner control in e-learning: Will learning and transfer benefit or suffer?. Int. J. Train. Dev. 14:3180–97 [Google Scholar]
  49. Gross JJ. 2002. Emotion regulation: affective, cognitive, and social consequences. Psychophysiology 39:281–91 [Google Scholar]
  50. Gross JJ. 2013. Emotion regulation: taking stock and moving forward. Emotion 13:3359–65 [Google Scholar]
  51. Gross JJ, Barrett LF. 2011. Emotion generation and emotion regulation: one or two depends on your point of view. Emot. Rev. 3:18–16 [Google Scholar]
  52. Gully S, Chen G. 2010. Individual differences, attribute-treatment interactions, and training outcomes. See Kozlowski & Salas 2010 3–64
  53. Gully SM, Payne SC, Koles KLK, Whiteman JAK. 2002. The impact of error training and individual differences on training outcomes: an attribute-treatment interaction perspective. J. Appl. Psychol. 87:1143–55 [Google Scholar]
  54. Hannafin RD, Sullivan HJ. 1996. Preferences and learner control over amount of instruction. J. Educ. Psychol. 88:1162–73 [Google Scholar]
  55. Harmon-Jones E, Gable PA, Price TF. 2012. The influence of affective states varying in motivational intensity on cognitive scope. Front. Integr. Neurosci. 6:731–5 [Google Scholar]
  56. Heimbeck D, Frese M, Sonnetag S, Keith N. 2003. Integrating errors into the training process: the function of error management instructions and the role of goal orientation. Pers. Psychol. 56:333–61 [Google Scholar]
  57. Hofstede G. 2001. Culture's Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations Across Nations Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publ, 2nd ed..
  58. Howardson GN, Behrend TS. 2016. Coming full circle with reactions: understanding the structure and correlates of trainee reactions through the affect circumplex. Acad. Manag. Learn. Educ. In press. doi: 10.5465/amle.2014.0012
  59. Howardson GN, Orvis KA, Fisher SL, Wasserman M. 2016. The psychology of learner control in training: a multilevel interactionist framework. Cambridge Handbook of Work Training and Employee Development KG Brown New York: Cambridge Univ. Press. In press [Google Scholar]
  60. Hughes MG, Day EA, Wang X, Schuelke MJ, Arsenault ML. et al. 2013. Learner-controlled practice difficulty in the training of a complex task: cognitive and motivational mechanisms. J. Appl. Psychol. 98:180–98 [Google Scholar]
  61. Hutchins SD, Wickens CD, Carolan TF, Cumming JM. 2013. The influence of cognitive load on transfer with error prevention training methods: a meta-analysis. Hum. Factors 55:4854–74 [Google Scholar]
  62. Johnson RE, Chang CH, Lord RG. 2006. Moving from cognition to behavior: What the research says?. Psychol. Bull. 132:3381–415 [Google Scholar]
  63. Johnson RE, Rosen CC, Chang CH, Lin SH. 2015. Getting to the core of locus of control: Is it an evaluation of the self or the environment?. J. Appl. Psychol. 100:51568–78 [Google Scholar]
  64. Judge TA, Locke EA, Durham CC. 1997. The dispositional causes of job satisfaction: a core evaluations approach. Res. Organ. Behav. 19:151–88 [Google Scholar]
  65. Kanfer R, Ackerman PL. 1989. Motivation and cognitive abilities: an integrative/aptitude-treatment interaction approach to skill learning. J. Appl. Psychol. 74:4657–90 [Google Scholar]
  66. Kanfer R, Ackerman PL. 1996. A self-regulatory skills perspective to reducing cognitive interference. Cognitive Interference: Theories, Methods, and Findings IG Sarason, GR Pierce, BR Sarason 153–71 LEA Ser. Personal. Clin. Psychol. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum [Google Scholar]
  67. Karim MN, Behrend TS. 2014. Reexamining the nature of learner control: dimensionality and effects on learning and training reactions. J. Bus. Psychol. 29:87–99 [Google Scholar]
  68. Keith N, Frese M. 2005. Self-regulation in error management training: emotion control and metacognition as mediators of performance effects. J. Appl. Psychol. 90:4677–91 [Google Scholar]
  69. Keith N, Frese M. 2008. Effectiveness of error management training: a meta-analysis. J. Appl. Psychol. 93:159–69 [Google Scholar]
  70. Keller JM. 2008. First principles of motivation to learn and e3-learning. Distance Educ. 29:175–85 [Google Scholar]
  71. Kim K, Oh I, Chiburu DS, Brown KG. 2012. Does positive perception of oneself boost learning motivation and performance?. Int. J. Sel. Assess. 20:257–71 [Google Scholar]
  72. Kluger AN, DeNisi A. 1996. The effects of feedback interventions on performance: a historical review, a meta-analysis, and a preliminary feedback intervention theory. Psychol. Bull. 119:2254–84 [Google Scholar]
  73. Kopcha TJ, Sullivan H. 2008. Learner preferences and prior knowledge in learner-controlled computer-based instruction. Educ. Technol. Res. Dev. 56:3265–86 [Google Scholar]
  74. Kozlowski SWJ, Bell BS. 2006. Disentangling achievement orientation and goal setting: effects on self-regulatory processes. J. Appl. Psychol. 91:4900–16 [Google Scholar]
  75. Kozlowski SWJ, Gully SM, Brown KG, Salas E, Smith EM, Nason ER. 2001a. Effects of training goals and goal orientation traits on multidimensional training outcomes and performance adaptability. Organ. Behav. Hum. Decis. Process. 85:11–31 [Google Scholar]
  76. Kozlowski SWJ, Salas E. 2010. Learning, Training, and Development in Organization. New York: Routledge
  77. Kozlowski SWJ, Toney RJ, Mullins ME, Weissbein DA, Brown KG, Bell BS. 2001b. Developing adaptability: a theory for the design of integrated-embedded training systems. Advances in Human Performance and Cognitive Engineering Research 1 E Salas 59–123 Amsterdam: JAI/Elsevier Sci. [Google Scholar]
  78. Kraiger K. 2008. Transforming our models of learning and development: web-based instruction as enabler of third-generation instruction. Ind. Organ. Psychol. 1:4454–67 [Google Scholar]
  79. Kraiger K, Jerden E. 2007. A meta-analytic investigation of learner control: old findings and new directions. Toward a Science of Distributed Learning SM Fiore, E Salas 65–90 Washington, DC: APA [Google Scholar]
  80. Lee FJ, Anderson JR. 2001. Does learning a complex task have to be complex?: A study in learning decomposition. Cogn. Psychol. 42:267–316 doi: 10.1006/cogp.2000.0747 [Google Scholar]
  81. Levy Y. 2007. Comparing dropouts and persistence in e-learning course. Comput. Educ. 48:185–204 [Google Scholar]
  82. Martocchio JJ. 1994. Effects of conceptions of ability on anxiety, self-efficacy, and learning in training. J. Appl. Psychol. 79:6819–25 [Google Scholar]
  83. Massa LJ, Mayer RE. 2006. Testing the ATI hypothesis: Should multimedia instruction accommodate verbalizer-visualizer cognitive style?. Learn. Ind. Differ. 16:321–36 [Google Scholar]
  84. Meyer RD, Dalal RS, Hermida R. 2010. A review and synthesis of situational strength in organizational sciences. J. Manag. 36:1121–40 [Google Scholar]
  85. Mischel W, Shoda Y. 1995. A cognitive-affective system theory of personality: reconceptualizing situations, dispositions, dynamics, and invariance in personality structure. Psychol. Rev. 102:2246–68 [Google Scholar]
  86. Mitchell TR, Hopper H, Daniels D, George-Falvy J, James LR. 1994. Predicting self-efficacy and performance during skill acquisition. J. Appl. Psychol. 79:506–17 [Google Scholar]
  87. Noe RA. 1986. Trainees' attributes and attitudes: neglected influences on training effectiveness. Acad. Manag. Rev. 11:4736–49 [Google Scholar]
  88. Noe RA, Clarke ADM, Klein HJ. 2014. Learning in the twenty-first-century workplace. Annu. Rev. Organ. Psychol. Organ. Behav. 1:245–75 [Google Scholar]
  89. Noe RA, Tews MJ, Dachner AM. 2010. Learner engagement: a new perspective for enhancing our understanding of learner motivation and workplace learning. Acad. Manag. Ann. 4:1279–315 [Google Scholar]
  90. Orvis KA, Brusso RC, Wasserman ME, Fisher SL. 2011. E-nabled for e-learning? The moderating role of personality in determining the optimal degree of learner control in an e-learning environment. Hum. Perform. 24:60–78 [Google Scholar]
  91. Orvis KA, Fisher SL, Wasserman ME. 2009. Power to the people: using learner control to improve trainee reactions and learning in web-based instructional environments. J. Appl. Psychol. 94:4960–71 [Google Scholar]
  92. Pashler H, McDaniel M, Rohrer D, Bjork R. 2008. Learning styles: concepts and evidence. Psychol. Sci. Public Interest 9:3105–19 [Google Scholar]
  93. Plott BM, McDermott PL, Archer S, Carolan TF, Hutchins S. et al. 2014. Understanding the impact of training on performance. Tech. Rep. 1341, US Army Res. Inst. Soc. Behav. Sci., Fort Belvoir, VA
  94. Poulton EC. 1957. On prediction in skilled movements. Psychol. Bull. 54:6467–78 [Google Scholar]
  95. Schmidt AM, Ford JK. 2003. Learning within a learner control training environment: the interactive effects of goal orientation and metacognitive instruction on learning outcomes. Pers. Psychol. 56:405–29 [Google Scholar]
  96. Sitzmann T, Bell BS, Kraiger K, Kanar AM. 2009. A multilevel analysis of the effect of prompting self-regulation in technology-delivered instruction. Pers. Psychol. 62:697–734 [Google Scholar]
  97. Sitzmann T, Brown KG, Casper WJ, Ely K, Zimmerman RD. 2008. A review and meta-analysis of the nomological network of trainee reactions. J. Appl. Psychol. 93:3280–95 [Google Scholar]
  98. Sitzmann T, Ely K. 2010. Sometimes you need a reminder: the effects of prompting self-regulation on regulatory processes, learning, and attrition. J. Appl. Psychol. 95:1132–44 [Google Scholar]
  99. Sitzmann T, Ely K. 2011. A meta-analysis of self-regulated learning in work-related training and educational attainment: what I know and where I need to go. Psychol. Bull. 137:3421–42 [Google Scholar]
  100. Sitzmann T, Johnson SK. 2012. The best laid plans: examining the conditions under which a planning intervention improves learning and reduces attrition. J. Appl. Psychol. 97:5967–81 [Google Scholar]
  101. Sitzmann T, Kraiger K, Stewart D, Wisher R. 2006. The comparative effectiveness of web-based and classroom instruction: a meta-analysis. Pers. Psychol. 59:623–64 [Google Scholar]
  102. Sitzmann T, Yeo G. 2013. A meta-analytic investigation of the within-person self-efficacy domain: Is self-efficacy a product of past performance or a driver of future performance?. Pers. Psychol. 66:3531–68 [Google Scholar]
  103. Skinner EA. 1996. A guide to constructs of control. J. Personal. Soc. Psychol. 71:3549–70 [Google Scholar]
  104. Tett RP, Burnett DD. 2003. A personality trait-based interactionist model of job performance. J. Appl. Psychol. 88:3500–17 [Google Scholar]
  105. Tett RP, Guterman HA. 2000. Situation trait relevance, trait expression, and cross-situational consistency: testing a principle of trait activation. J. Res. Personal. 34:397–423 [Google Scholar]
  106. Tziner A, Fisher M, Senior T, Weisberg J. 2007. Effects of trainee characteristics on training effectiveness. Int. J. Sel. Assess. 15:167–74 [Google Scholar]
  107. Vancouver JB, More KM, Yoder RJ. 2008. Self-efficacy and resource allocation: support for a nonmonotonic, discontinuous model. J. Appl. Psychol. 93:35–47 [Google Scholar]
  108. Vandewalle D. 1997. Development and validation of a work domain goal orientation instrument. Educ. Psychol. Meas. 57:6995–1015 [Google Scholar]
  109. Wickens CD, Hutchins S, Carolan T, Cumming J. 2012. Effectiveness of part-task training and increasing difficulty training strategies: a meta-analysis approach. Hum. Factors 55:2461–70 [Google Scholar]
  110. Wood RE, Kakebeeke BM, Debowski S, Frese M. 2000. The impact of enactive exploration on intrinsic motivation, strategy, and performance in electronic search. Appl. Psychol.: Int. Rev. 49:2263–83 [Google Scholar]
  111. Yelon SL, Ford JK. 1999. Pursuing a multidimensional view of transfer. Perform. Improv. Q. 12:358–78 [Google Scholar]
  112. Yeo GB, Neal A. 2004. A multilevel analysis of effort, practice, and performance: effects of ability, conscientiousness, and goal orientation. J. Appl. Psychol. 89:2231–47 [Google Scholar]
  113. Yukselturk E, Bulut S. 2007. Predictors for student success in an online course. Educ. Technol. Soc. 10:271–83 [Google Scholar]
  114. Zimmerman BJ. 2000. Self-efficacy: an essential motive to learn. Contemp. Educ. Psychol. 25:82–91 [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-041015-062344
Loading
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-041015-062344
Loading

Data & Media loading...

Supplemental Material

Supplementary Data

  • Article Type: Review Article
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error