1932

Abstract

Most learning in the workplace occurs outside of formal learning environments—it happens informally, “in the field.” In this review, we share what is known about how such informal field-based learning (IFBL) works, offer guidance on how to promote healthy IFBL, and identify future research needs. We first situate IFBL within the broader stream of the learning literature. On the basis of the literature and organizational needs, we propose a CAM-OS framework that emphasizes five personal and situational readiness factors for enabling constructive IFBL: Capability, Awareness, Motivation, Opportunity, and Support. We use the framework to offer practical, evidence-based advice for each of three stakeholder groups—senior leaders, managers, and employees—and conclude with suggested avenues for future research. The review is grounded in the research literature with an emphasis on implications for practice.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012420-083050
2022-01-21
2024-03-28
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/orgpsych/9/1/annurev-orgpsych-012420-083050.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012420-083050&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

Literature Cited

  1. Aguinis H, Kraiger K. 2009. Benefits of training and development for individuals and teams, organizations, and society. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 60:451–74
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Al-Eisa AS, Furayyan MA, Alhemoud AM 2009. An empirical examination of the effects of self-efficacy, supervisor support and motivation to learn on transfer intention. Manag. Dec. 47:1221–44
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Ambrose SA, Bridges MW, DiPietro M, Lovett MC, Norman MK. 2010. How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching Hoboken, NJ: Wiley
  4. ATD (Assoc. Talent Dev.) 2019. 2019 State of the Industry Alexandria, VA: Am. Soc. Train. Dev.
  5. Bandura A. 1962. Social learning through imitation. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation: 1962 MR Jones 211–69 Lincoln: Univ. Nebraska Press
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Barrick MR, Mount MK. 1991. The Big Five personality dimensions and job performance: a meta-analysis. Pers. Psychol. 44:1–26
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Bear DJ, Tompson HB, Morrison CL, Vickers M, Paradise A et al. 2008. Tapping the Potential of Informal Learning: An ASTD Research Study Alexandria, VA: Am. Soc. Train. Dev.
  8. Bednall TC, Sanders K. 2017. Do opportunities for formal learning stimulate follow-up participation in informal learning? A three-wave study. Hum. Resour. Manag. 56:803–20
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Bednall TC, Sanders K, Runhaar P 2014. Simulating informal learning activities through perceptions of performance appraisal quality and human resource management system strength: a two-wave study. Acad. Manag. Learn. Educ. 13:45–61
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Bell BS, Tannenbaum SI, Ford JK, Noe RA, Kraiger K 2017. 100 years of training and development research: what we know and where we should go. J. Appl. Psychol. 102:305–23
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Berg SA, Chyung SYY. 2008. Factors that influence informal learning in the workplace. J. Workplace Learn. 20:229–44
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Bruning PF, Campion MA. 2018. A role-resource approach-avoidance model of job crafting: a multimethod integration and extension of job crafting theory. Acad. Manag. J 61:499–522
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Brymer RA, Chadwick C, Hill AD, Molloy JC 2019. Pipelines and their portfolios: a more holistic view of human capital heterogeneity via firm-wide employee sourcing. Acad. Manag. Perspect. 33:207–33
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Cerasoli CP, Alliger GM, Donsbach JS, Mathieu JE, Tannenbaum SI, Orvis KA. 2014. What is informal learning and what are its antecedents? An integrative and meta-analytic review Rep., Gr. Organ: Eff., Albany, NY
  15. Cerasoli CP, Alliger GM, Donsbach JS, Mathieu JE, Tannenbaum SI, Orvis KA. 2018. Antecedents and outcomes of informal learning behaviors: a meta-analysis. J. Bus. Psychol. 33:203–30
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Choi W, Jacobs RL. 2011. Influences of formal learning, personal learning orientation, and supportive learning environment on informal learning. Hum. Resour. Dev. Q. 22:239–57
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Clardy A. 2000. Learning on their own: vocationally oriented self-directed learning projects. Hum. Resour. Dev. Q. 11:105–25
    [Google Scholar]
  18. 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. 85:678–707
    [Google Scholar]
  19. De Grip A. 2015. The importance of informal learning at work. IZA World of Labor 162: https://doi.org/10.15185/izawol.162
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  20. Eddy ER, Tannenbaum SI, Lorenzet SJ, Smith-Jentsch KA. 2005. The influence of a continuous learning environment on peer mentoring behaviors. J. Manag. Issues 25:383–95
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Edmondson A. 1999. Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Adm. Sci. Q. 44:350–83
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Flynn D, Eddy ER, Tannenbaum SI 2006. The impact of national culture on the continuous learning environment: exploratory findings from multiple countries. J. East-West Bus. 12:85–107
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Frazier ML, Fainshmidt S, Klinger RL, Pezeshkan A, Vracheva V 2017. Psychological safety: a meta-analytic review and extension. Pers. Psychol. 70:113–65
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Froehlich D, Segers M, Van den Bossche P. 2014. Learning approach, leadership style, and organizational learning culture on managers’ learning outcomes. Hum. Resour. Dev. Q. 25:29–57
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Gijbels D, Raemdonck I, Vervecken D, Van Herck J. 2012. Understanding work-related learning: the case of ICT workers. J. Workplace Learn. 24:416–29
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Higgins ET. 1997. Beyond pleasure and pain. Am. Psychol. 52:1280–300
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Jeon KS, Kim KN. 2012. How do organizational and task factors influence informal learning in the workplace?. Hum. Resour. Dev. Int. 15:209–26
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Jiang K, Lepak DP, Hu J, Baer JC. 2012. How does human resource management influence organizational outcomes? A meta-analytic investigation of mediating mechanisms. Acad. Manag. J 55:1264–94
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Katz-Navon T, Naveh E, Stern Z 2009. Active learning: When is more better? The case of resident physicians’ medical errors. J. Appl. Psychol. 94:1200–209
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Klein HJ, Noe RA, Wang C 2006. Motivation to learn and course outcomes: the impact of delivery mode, learning goal orientation, and perceived barriers and enablers. Pers. Psychol. 59:665–702
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Kolb D. 1984. Experiential Learning Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall
  32. Komarraju M, Karau SJ, Schmeck RR, Avdic A. 2011. The Big Five personality traits, learning styles, and academic achievement. Pers. Ind. Differ. 51:472–77
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Kraiger K, Ford JK. 2006. The expanding role of workplace training: themes and trends influencing training research and practice. Historical Perspectives in Industrial and Organizational Psychology LL Koppes 281–309 Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Kraiger K, Ford JK. 2021. The science of workplace instruction: learning and development applied to work. Annu. Rev. Org. Psychol. Org. Behav. 8:45–72
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Kukenberger MR, Mathieu JE, Ruddy T. 2015. A cross-level test of empowerment and process influences on members’ informal learning and team commitment. J. Manag. 41:987–1016
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Lacerenza CN, Marlow SL, Tannenbaum SI, Salas E. 2018. Team development interventions: evidence-based approaches for improving teamwork. Am. Psychol. 73:517–31
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Liu D, Fu P. 2011. Motivating protégés' personal learning in teams: a multilevel investigation of autonomy support and autonomy orientation. J. Appl. Psychol. 96:1195–208
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Livingstone D, Stowe S. 2007. Work time and learning activities of the continuously employed. J. Workplace Learn. 19:17–31
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Lohman MC. 2009. A survey of factors influencing the engagement of information technology professionals in informal learning activities. Inform. Technol. Learn. Perform. J. 25:43–53
    [Google Scholar]
  40. London M, Sessa VI. 2006. Continuous learning in organizations: a living systems analysis of individual, group, and organization learning. Multi-Level Issues in Social Systems Bingley, UK: Emerald Gr. Publ.
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Major DA, Turner JE, Fletcher TD 2006. Linking proactive personality and the Big Five to motivation to learn and development activity. J. Appl. Psychol. 91:927–35
    [Google Scholar]
  42. March JG, Simon HA. 1958. Organizations New York: Wiley
  43. Marsick VJ, Volpe M, Watkins KE. 1999. Theory and practice of informal learning in the knowledge era. Adv. Dev. Hum. Resourc. 1:80–95
    [Google Scholar]
  44. Matsuo M, Nakahara J. 2013. The effects of the PDCA cycle and OJT on workplace learning. Int. J. Hum. Resour. Manag. 24:195–207
    [Google Scholar]
  45. Matzler K, Mueller J. 2011. Antecedents of knowledge sharing—examining the influence of learning and performance orientation. J. Econ. Psychol. 32:317–29
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Metcalfe J. 2017. Learning from errors. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 68:465–89
    [Google Scholar]
  47. Morgeson FP, Delaney-Klinger K, Hemingway MA. 2005. The importance of job autonomy, cognitive ability, and job-related skill for predicting role breadth and job performance. J. Appl. Psychol. 90:399–406
    [Google Scholar]
  48. Myers CG. 2018. Coactive vicarious learning: toward a relational theory of vicarious learning in organizations. Acad. Manag. Rev. 43:610–34
    [Google Scholar]
  49. Myers CG. 2021. Performance benefits of reciprocal vicarious learning in teams. Acad. Manag. J. 64:926–47
    [Google Scholar]
  50. Noe RA, Clarke AD, Klein HJ 2014. Learning in the twenty-first-century workplace. Annu. Rev. Org. Psychol. Org. Behav. 1:245–75
    [Google Scholar]
  51. Noe RA, Tews MJ, Marand AD. 2013. Individual differences and informal learning in the workplace. J. Vocat. Behav. 83:327–35
    [Google Scholar]
  52. Noe RA, Tews MJ, Michel JW. 2017. Managers’ informal learning: a trait activation theory perspective. Int. J. Train. Dev. 21:1–17
    [Google Scholar]
  53. Orvis KA, Leffler GP. 2011. Individual and contextual factors: an interactionist approach to understanding employee self-development. Pers. Individ. Differ. 51:172–77
    [Google Scholar]
  54. Ployhart RE, Van Iddekinge CH, Mackenzie WI Jr 2011. Acquiring and developing human capital in service contexts: the interconnectedness of human capital resources. Acad. Manag. J 54:353–68
    [Google Scholar]
  55. Reis HT, Gable SL 2000. Event-sampling and other methods for studying everyday experience. Handbook of Research Methods in Social and Personality Psychology HT Reis, CM Judd 190–222 Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  56. Rothwell WJ, Kazanas HC. 1994. Management development: the state of the art as perceived by HRD professionals. Perform. Improv. Q. 7:40–59
    [Google Scholar]
  57. Rowden RW. 2002. The relationship between workplace learning and job satisfaction in US small to midsize businesses. Hum. Resour. Dev. Q. 13:407–25
    [Google Scholar]
  58. Roy JN 2010. Transforming informal learning into competitive advantage. TD Magazine Oct. 20. https://www.td.org/magazines/td-magazine/transforming-informal-learning-into-a-competitive-advantage
    [Google Scholar]
  59. Salas E, Tannenbaum SI, Kraiger K, Smith-Jentsch K. 2012. The science of training and development in organizations: what matters in practice. Psychol. Sci. Public Interest 13:76–103
    [Google Scholar]
  60. Sanders J, Oomens S, Blonk RWB, Hazelzet A. 2011. Explaining lower educated workers’ training intentions. J. Workplace Learn. 23:402–16
    [Google Scholar]
  61. Sitzmann T, Ely K. 2011. A meta-analysis of self-regulated learning in work-related training and educational attainment: what we know and where we need to go. Psychol. Bull. 137:421–42
    [Google Scholar]
  62. Susomrith P, Coetzer A. 2019. Effects of informal learning on work engagement. Pers. Rev. 48:1886–902
    [Google Scholar]
  63. Svensson L, Ellstrom P, Aberg C. 2004. Integrating formal and informal learning at work. J. Workplace Learn. 16:479–91
    [Google Scholar]
  64. Tannenbaum SI. 1997. Enhancing continuous learning: diagnostic findings from multiple companies. Hum. Resour. Manag. 36:437–52
    [Google Scholar]
  65. Tannenbaum SI, Beard RL, McNall LA, Salas E 2010. Informal learning and development in organizations. Learning, Training, and Development in Organizations SWJ Kozlowski, E Salas 303–32 New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Gr.
    [Google Scholar]
  66. Uhunoma O, Lim DH, Kim W. 2021. The mediating role of informal learning on work engagement: older workers in the US public sector. Eur. J. Train. Dev 45:200–17
    [Google Scholar]
  67. Van Ruysseveldt J, Van Dijke M. 2011. When are workload and workplace learning opportunities related in a curvilinear manner? The moderating role of autonomy. J. Vocat. Behav. 79:470–83
    [Google Scholar]
  68. Watkins KE, Marsick VJ. 1992. Towards a theory of informal and incidental learning in organizations. Int. J. Lifelong Educ. 11:287–300
    [Google Scholar]
  69. Wolfson MA, Mathieu JE. 2021. Deploying human capital resources: accentuating effects of situational alignment and social capital resources. Acad. Manag. J 62:435–57
    [Google Scholar]
  70. Wolfson MA, Mathieu JE, Tannenbaum SI, Maynard MT. 2019. Informal field-based learning and work design. J. Appl. Psychol. 104:1283–95
    [Google Scholar]
  71. Wolfson MA, Tannenbaum SI, Mathieu JE, Maynard MT. 2018. A cross-level investigation of informal field-based learning and performance improvements. J. Appl. Psychol. 103:14–36
    [Google Scholar]
  72. Wong EM, Haselhuhn MP, Kray LJ. 2012. Improving the future by considering the past: the impact of upward counterfactual reflection and implicit beliefs on negotiation performance. J. Exp. Soc. Psychol. 48:403–6
    [Google Scholar]
  73. Yoon DY, Han SH, Sung M, Cho J 2018. Informal learning, organizational commitment and self-efficacy. J. Workplace Learn. 30:640–57
    [Google Scholar]
  74. Yorks L, O'Neil J, Marsick VJ. 1999. Action learning theoretical bases and varieties of practice. Adv. Dev. Hum. Resourc. 1:1–18
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012420-083050
Loading
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012420-083050
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • 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