Christoph Niepel

Problem solving—facilitating the utilization of a concept towards lifelong education

level, CPS reflects important cognitive prerequisites to deal with developments in the working place as mentioned above. Complementary to CPS, other conceptions of problem solving focus on domain-specific problemsolving skills predominantly involving content-specific strategies and processes in different fields such as at the workplace (i.e. problem solving in everyday working life) or in technology-rich environments (i.e. problem solving in technologyrich environments [PSTRE]). The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2014) and the National Research Council (2012) as representatives of institutions with high-strategic impact on a political and a research level, both emphasize the importance of problem-solving skills, which is in line with the view shared by scholars in a number of academic fields such as educational psychology (Mayer & Wittrock, 2006). Consequently, CPS found its way into the allegedly most influential large-scale assessment worldwide, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA; OECD, 2014) and PSTRE, for its part, into the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC; OECD, 2013). Further, CPS is currently included in a number of national school monitorings across Europe and in a FP7 project of the European Union that targets the development of CPS after initial formal education in the context of lifelong education. However, despite these efforts scattered information with regard to CPS and complementary problem-solving skills hampers the utilization and adaptation of resulting conceptual and empirical insights in the broader domain of lifelong education. This Special Issue in the International Journal of Lifelong Education therefore aims at providing researchers and practitioners with a condensed view on current efforts on problem solving relevant for lifelong education. In particular, this Special Issue focuses on CPS as well as on its relation to domain-specific problem-solving skills (i.e. problem solving in everyday working life and PSTRE) in the context of lifelong education. Herewith, it aims at facilitating the transmission and discussion of information with regard to the elucidation and development of problem solving, their rationale and significance for policy, and presents critiques and implications of the concepts. The current Special Issue consists of six contributions all dedicated to CPS and complementary conceptions of problem solving. In the first contribution, Vainikainen, Wüstenberg, Kupiainen, Hotulainen and Hautamäki provide theoretical and empirical connections of CPS to the Finnish learning-to-learn framework, thereby shedding light on the development of transversal skills in primary school pupils. In the second contribution, Mainert, Kretzschmar, Neubert and Greiff extend the focus towards adult learning, by empirically connecting CPS to lifelong learning efforts of individuals via job position and training efforts. Focused on theoretical explorations, in the third contribution, Baggen, Mainert, Lans, Biemans, Greiff and Mulder connect CPS to important considerations in innovation research, highlighting commonalities and differences between CPS and opportunity identification competence as the ability to identify ideas for new products, processes, practices or services. In the fourth contribution, 374 EDITORIAL

Desires and intentions for fatherhood: A comparison of childless gay and heterosexual men in Germany.

The present study explores the motivation for fatherhood in a sample of childless German gay and heterosexual men aged 18 to 40 years (N = 628 + 638). Referring to the theory of planned behavior (TPB), three potential predictors were considered: the individual’s attitude toward having children, perceived attitudes of significant others toward fatherhood, and anticipated parental self-efficacy. Regarding fathering motivation, the general desire to become a father was differentiated from the more concrete fathering intention. Level- and structure-oriented analyses were combined in an innovative way. Consistent with previous research, gay participants reported weaker fathering desires and intentions than their heterosexual counterparts; however, there was no wider desire-intention gap among gay than among heterosexual participants (level-oriented analysis). As expected, associations between TPB predictors and fathering motivation were independent of sexual orientation (structure-oriented analysis). Participants’ appreciation of children and their self-attribution of parental self-efficacy were strongly associated with fathering intentions; these associations were substantially mediated by fathering desires. However, the association between significant others’ attitudes toward fatherhood and participants’ fathering motivation was comparably weak. Demographics were controlled for in each analysis. Results are discussed from both an individual and a societal perspective.

How employees perceive organizational learning: construct validation of the 25-item short form of the strategic learning assessment map (SF-SLAM)

Purpose This study aims at the employees’ view on organizational learning (OL). OL is originally assessed in the Strategic Learning Assessment Map (SLAM) at the level of the firm by addressing managers, who rated OL in the SLAM on five dimensions of individual, group, organizational, feed-forward and feedback learning. However, as employees are getting their jobs done discretely and are increasingly making their own decisions, their perspective on OL genuinely matters. Hence, the authors assessed OL at the level of the individual by addressing employees on all levels, who rated OL in a short form of the SLAM (SF-SLAM). Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the authors focused on the construct validity of this SF-SLAM by investigating its reliability, factorial validity and nomological network. First, they asked whether the SF-SLAM reliably measures OL on five dimensions of individual, group, organizational, feed-forward and feedback learning. Next, they asked whether the SF-SLAM was associated with its nomological network of engaging in innovation-related learning activities, behaving innovatively on the job and showing higher educational levels, intelligence and individual job performances. They used a diverse German employee sample of skilled and unskilled workers and managers (N = 434) and analyzed the data with structural equation modeling. Findings The SF-SLAM was reliable, but revealed both constrained factorial validity and validity on the basis of its nomological network. First, five dimensions found support in the employee sample, but their correlations were high or very high, except for individual learning. Second, the SF-SLAM showed only few differential relations with variables from its nomological network. Originality/value Taken together, the SF-SLAM is short, reliable and only valid for examining individual learning.

Complex Problems in Entrepreneurship Education: Examining Complex Problem-Solving in the Application of Opportunity Identification

In opening up the black box of what entrepreneurship education (EE) should be about, this study focuses on the exploration of relationships between two constructs: opportunity identification (OI) and complex problem-solving (CPS). OI, as a domain-specific capability, is at the core of entrepreneurship research, whereas CPS is a more domain-general skill. On a conceptual level, there are reasons to believe that CPS skills can help individuals to identify potential opportunities in dynamic and nontransparent environments. Therefore, we empirically investigated whether CPS relates to OI among 113 masters students. Data is analyzed using multiple regressions. The results show that CPS predicts the number of concrete ideas that students generate, suggesting that having CPS skills supports the generation of detailed, potential business ideas of good quality. The results of the current study suggest that training CPS, as a more domain-general skill, could be a valuable part of what should be taught in EE.