Informal learning as mediating mechanism for the relationship between learning climate and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB)
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EBHRM-10-2020-0132 |
| Published date | 19 November 2021 |
| Date | 19 November 2021 |
| Pages | 138-154 |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM |
| Author | Muhammad Qamar Zia,Tobias M. Huning,Aamir Feroz Shamsi,Muhammad Naveed,Riaz Ahmed Mangi |
Informal learning as mediating
mechanism for the relationship
between learning climate and
organizational citizenship
behavior (OCB)
Muhammad Qamar Zia
College of Business Management, Institute of Business Management,
Karachi, Pakistan
Tobias M. Huning
Department of Management, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Florida, USA
Aamir Feroz Shamsi
Bahria University, Karachi, Pakistan
Muhammad Naveed
College of Business Management, Institute of Business Management,
Karachi, Pakistan, and
Riaz Ahmed Mangi
Institute of Commerce, Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur, Khairpur, Pakistan
Abstract
Purpose –The goal of this study was to examine the mediating mechanism of informal learning between
dimensions of learning climate and organizationalcitizenship behavior (OCB). In addition, the study also aimed
to investigate the learning climate, in the dimensions of learning facilitation, learning appreciation and error
avoidance as antecedents of informal learning.
Design/methodology/approach –The data were gathered from sports items manufacturing small and
medium enterprises (SMEs) in Sialkot,Pakistan. Sialkot is home to manufacturing businesses that export their
products worldwide.Survey data of 318 middle managers collected at 2 different times were used for testing the
research model using structural equation modeling (SEM).
Findings –The results demonstrate that facilitation and appreciation learning climate have a positive
relationship with informal learning and error-avoidance has a negative relationship with informal learning.
The analysis also revealed that informal learning mediated the linkage between learning climate dimensions
and OCB. Moreover, informal learning is significantly related to OCB.
Practical implications –HR practitioners and organizational leaders of SMEs can use, encourage and
promote informal learning to improve the skills and knowledge of employees at low cost. For instance,
management should strategically implement informal learning at the workplace by providing a supportive
learning climate.
Originality/value –Previous studies have overlooked the impact of informal learning on OCB and its
mediating effect. The present study addresses this gap by examining the mediating mechanism of informal
learning between learning climate and OCB.
Keywords Informal learning, Learning climate, Organizational citizenship behavior, Small-to-medium
enterprises
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Learning in the workplace has been an important topic for scholars and practitioners in
human resource development (HRD) alike (Jeong et al., 2018;Wolfson et al., 2018). To promote
such learning, organizations are allocating significant amounts of money from their training
EBHRM
10,2
138
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/2049-3983.htm
Received 8 October 2020
Revised 7 March 2021
20 September 2021
Accepted 2 November 2021
Evidence-based HRM: a Global
Forum for Empirical Scholarship
Vol. 10 No. 2, 2022
pp. 138-154
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2049-3983
DOI10.1108/EBHRM-10-2020-0132
budget on formal learning programs (Blume et al., 2010;Miller et al., 2013). However, evidence
has shown that most of today’s learning at the workplace occurs informally (Cerasoli et al.,
2018). Indeed, extant studies have delineated that informal learning is rife within less
structured HRD (Kortsch et al., 2019); specifically in small businesses (Coetzer et al., 2020).
Informal learning refers to employees’initiated learning activities in the workplace that are
not highly structured or planned but controlled and involves the consumption of emotional,
physical or cognitive efforts to develop professional knowledge and skills (Lohman, 2005).
Informal learning is predominant for the employees of small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
because employees are granted with meager chances for formal learning and development
due to time and financial constraints (Bishop, 2017;Coetzer et al., 2017).
Since informal learning is more flexible, more effective and a less expensive method for
acquiring new expertise and knowledge at the workplace than formal training (Ellinger, 2005;
Kyndt and Baert, 2013;Noe et al., 2014), scholars have explored both its antecedents and
outcomes (Cerasoli et al., 2018;Coetzer et al., 2020;Noe et al., 2017;Susomrith and Coetzer,
2019). Among the different antecedents of workplace learning, learning climate plays a
substantial role in employees’learning activities (Tracey and Tews, 2005). Extant studies
indicated that learning climate augmented employees’level of recently obtained capabilities
and it can hamper or stimulate learning activities (Nikolova et al., 2014,2016). Even though
prior research on informal learning explored the learning conditions of informal learning
(Kyndt et al., 2016;Skule, 2004), sparse research has systematically investigated how learning
climate impacts informal learning (Cangialosi et al., 2020;Jeong et al., 2018;Battistelli et al.,
2021). This is an important concern for small businesses due to their simple organizational
structure where employees get more opportunities to participate in activities and owner-
managers create a homogenous learning culture (Coetzer et al., 2019). Moreover, informal
learning has also been shown to improve employees’attitude and behavior towards the
organization by enhancing work engagement, job satisfaction and organizational
commitment (Cerasoli et al., 2018;Coetzer et al., 2020;Shuck et al., 2011;Susomrith and
Coetzer, 2019;Uhunoma et al., 2020). The linkage of informal learning to employees’
organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is particularly interesting because OCB, in turn,
enhances firm performance (Amah, 2018;Chen et al., 2015). Existing studies on traditional
development states that OCB is a positive outcome of employee development (Jehanzeb, 2020;
Pierce and Maurer, 2009), but the same cannot be implemented about the research on informal
learning. OCB is a momentous outcome that is being frequently investigated as behavioral
outcome (Carpenter et al., 2014) and secured a prominent position in conceptualizations of
work performance (Viswesvaran and Ones, 2000).
The current and extensive, body of research has tried to clarify the nomological network,
antecedents and consequences of informal learning (Tannenbaum et al., 2010), yet the
literature is inconclusive about learning climate and its dimensions as antecedents and OCB
as the outcome of informal learning due to the largely anecdotal nature of the research
(Cerasoli et al., 2018;Uhunoma et al., 2020,Messmann et al., 2018). The present literature
shows that training climate, workplace support, autonomy, feedback and managerial support
facilitate informal learning (Noe et al., 2017;Orvis and Leffler, 2011;Zia et al., 2020,2021a).
Some studies also investigated the linkage of informal learning to work outcomes such as
engagement, job performance and commitment (Cerasoli et al., 2018;Susomrith and Coetzer,
2019;Yoon et al., 2018), but did not consider OCB when learning climate acted as an
antecedent. Cerasoli et al. (2018) argued that workplace culture affects employees’decisions in
achieving their goals and objectives which affects the employee attitude towards the
organization, which ought to influence OCBs. Moreover, the research examining informal
learning as a mediator is also scant (Choi et al., 2019). Despite the call for research about
mediating mechanism of informal learning (Gerards et al., 2020), the research has not yet
attempted to close this knowledge gap by investigating the mechanism of informal learning
Informal
learning as
mediating
mechanism
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