Facing Disruptive Changes With Informal Workplace Learning Strategies: The Experience of European Companies

Area of Science:

• Workplace learning
• Organizational behavior
• Adult education

Background:

• Industries face disruptive changes like digital transformation and emergencies.
• The impact of these disruptions on workplace learning remains underexplored.
• Informal learning exists on a continuum from organized to everyday learning.

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate the impact of disruptive changes on informal learning practices.
• Examine perspectives of employers, employees, and adult educators.
• Analyze informal workplace learning (IWL) strategies and digital technology use.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative content analysis of interviews with 55 company representatives across three European countries and four industrial sectors.
• Triangulation with questionnaires from 141 employees.
• Coding scheme with five macro-categories and 23 sub-categories for analysis.

Main Results:

• Everyday informal learning is driven by colleague interaction and autonomy.
• Frequent IWL strategies include model learning, vicarious feedback, and idea application.
• Organized informal learning primarily involves passive knowledge transfer, with limited use of digital tools for higher cognitive engagement.

Conclusions:

• Participants perceive higher cognitive engagement in face-to-face organized training or everyday informal learning.
• Disruptive changes may necessitate rethinking organized informal learning strategies.
• Digital technologies are underutilized for fostering collaborative knowledge construction in organized informal learning.