Dries Vervecken

Understanding work-related learning: The case of ICT workers

Purpose: A central issue in the field of workplace learning is how work-related learning can be stimulated so that a powerful learning work environment is created. This paper seeks to further enlarge understanding on this issue. Based on the demand-control-support the aim is to investigate the influence of job-characteristics on the work-related learning behaviour of the worker such as job demands, job control, social support at work on the one hand and self-directed learning orientation on the other. Design/methodology/approach: The study took place in the ICT-department of a large company in Flanders. By means of an online questionnaire, all employees of the ICT-department were asked to complete this questionnaire, which, apart from general information on the participants (age, gender, prior education, etc.), consisted of statements on five scales (job demands, job control, social support, self-directed learning orientation, and work-related learning behaviour) adapted from validated instruments. There was a total of 73 participants (response rate of 52 per cent, 73 per cent men, 27 per cent women, age varying from 20-51 years old). In addition, all scales had Cronbachs alpha values above 0.79. Relations between the variables under study were tested using the Pearson correlation. The predictive value of the variables for the variance in work-related learning was tested using the enter method of a multiple regression analysis. Findings: The regression analyses show that job demands and job control were moderately positive and significantly linked with work-related learning behaviour. Social support did not show a significant positive correlation with work-related learning at all. Self-directed learning orientation on the contrary had a strong and positive relation with work-related learning. The results of the linear regression analyses indicated that only the self-directed learning orientation scale significantly predicted the work-related learning behaviour. Originality/value: The study is one of the few investigations that takes into account both the role of personal and workplace-related variables in order to better understand work-related learning. The results stress that personal related variables such as self-regulated learning orientation need to be taken into account in further research and in the daily practice of human resources development.

Warm-hearted businessmen, competitive housewives? Effects of gender-fair language on adolescents’ perceptions of occupations

Recent studies from countries with grammatical gender languages (e.g., French) found both children and adults to more frequently think of female jobholders and to consider women’s success in male dominated occupations more likely when the jobs were described in pair forms (i.e., by explicit reference to male and female jobholders, e.g., inventeuses et inventeurs; French feminine and masculine plural forms for inventors), rather than masculine only forms (e.g., inventors). To gain a better understanding of this phenomenon, we systematically varied the gender connotation of occupations (males overrepresented, females overrepresented, equal share of males and females) and measured additional dependent variables, predicting that gender fair language would reduce the impact of the gender connotation on participants’ perceptions. In a sample of 222 adolescents (aged 12–17) from French speaking Switzerland, we found that pair forms attenuated the difference in the ascription of success to male and female jobholders in gendered occupations and attenuated the differential ascription of warmth to prototypical jobholders in male vs. female dominated jobs. However, no effect of language form on the ascription of competence was found. These findings suggest that language policies are an effective tool to impact gendered perceptions, however, they also hint at competence-related gender stereotypes being in decline.

What Keeps Low- and High-Qualified Workers Competitive: Exploring the Influence of Job Characteristics and Self-Directed Learning Orientation on Work-Related Learning

Based on the Demand-Control-Support model (American Journal of Public Health 78(10):1336–1342, 1988; Administrative Science Quarterly 24:285–308, 1979; Healthy work, stress, productivity and the reconstruction of working life, 1990) and the research by Raemdonck (A study in lower-qualified employees in Flanders, 2006), the present chapter aims to investigate the influence of job characteristics such as job demands, job control, social support at work on the one hand and self-directed learning orientation on the other hand on the work-related learning behaviour of the worker. The chapter presents results from two studies conducted among students in centres for part-time vocational education and among employees working in the ICT-department of a large company, both located in Flanders. A questionnaire using scales adapted from validated instruments was used. It was assumed that high scores for self-directed learning orientation and high scores for job demands, job control and social support would be associated with more work-related learning behaviour. The results indicated that only a self-directed learning orientation predicted the work-related learning behaviour to a significant extent.