The relationship between perceptions of learning climate and employee innovative behavior and proficiency
| Published date | 06 November 2017 |
| Pages | 1454-1474 |
| Date | 06 November 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-08-2016-0202 |
| Author | Liat Eldor |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM |
The relationship between
perceptions of learning climate
and employee innovative behavior
and proficiency
Liat Eldor
Department of Management, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between perceptions of learning climate
and employee innovative behavior and proficiency.
Design/methodology/approach –Using robust analysis techniques on data from a sample of
419 employees and their supervisors from four different business and public sector organizations, the author
tested the proposed relationships, as mediated by job engagement. Moreover, this mediation effect was
examined in the light of sector of employment differences (business vs public).
Findings –The results were generally consistent with the hypothesized conceptual scheme, in that the
indirect relationship between perceptions of learning climate and employees’innovative behavior and
proficiency was mediated by job engagement. However, with regard to sector employment differences, this
mediation process was demonstrated among business sector employees only to the relationship between
perceptions of learning climate and innovative behavior. When proficiency was included in the mediation
model, this mediation effect was evident among public sector employees.
Originality/value –The research on perceptions of learning climate lacks empirical evidence on its
implications for employees’innovative behavior and proficiency. Although scholars contend that employees’
perceptions of learning climate should enhance their in-role and extra-role performance behaviors, these
arguments are mainly non-empirical. Understanding whether perceptions of learning have an impact on
employee intra- and extra-role performance behaviors is important, considering that the majority of
workplace learning occurs through daily ongoing means that are part of the working environment and
previous research results show that structured learning and formal training are less effective in improving
employees’performance at work.
Keywords Innovation, Work engagement, Quantitative, Learning, Performance management,
Advanced statistical, Organizational climate
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The literature has gradually come to view employee learning as a key component in
providing organizations an advantage in today’s competitive environments (Lee and
Bruvold, 2003; Shoshani and Eldor, 2016). Previous research yielded growing evidence to
the contribution of perceptions of learning climate, indicating a positive relationship
between them and various job attitude variables such as job involvement, empowerment,
employee retention, and motivation to learn (Egan et al., 2004; Eldor and Harpaz, 2016;
Govaerts et al., 2011; Hauer et al., 2012; Jashapara, 2003; Joo, 2010). However, the literature
lacks evidence as to the implications of employee perceptions of learning climate on their
innovative and proficient behaviors. Although scholars contend that employees’positive
perceptions of learning climate may enhance their in-role and extra-role performance
behaviors (Eldor and Harpaz, 2016; Ellinger et al., 2002; Jashapara, 2003; Joo and Lim, 2009;
Yang et al., 2004), these arguments remain primarily theoretical, non-empirical, and
grounded in practice. Understanding whether perceptions of learning have an impact on
employee innovative behavior and proficiency is important, considering that the majority of
workplace learning occurs nowadays through daily ongoing means that are part of the
Personnel Review
Vol. 46 No. 8, 2017
pp. 1454-1474
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/PR-08-2016-0202
Received 13 August 2016
Revised 4 December 2016
Accepted 6 February 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0048-3486.htm
1454
PR
46,8
working environment (Marsick et al., 2009). Such a crucial impact must surely be explored in
light of the facts: American organizations spend more than $100 billion each year on
traditional learning, yet studies estimate that less than 10 percent of this expenditure pays
off in improved work performance (Berk, 2008). Moreover, the changing nature of
organizations has challenged traditional work performance description and content which
has not taken into account the full range of contemporary behaviors, such as innovative and
proficient behaviors, which are necessary in today’s ever-competitive organizational reality
(Griffin et al., 2007). Accordingly, the major contribution of this study is in demonstrating
the relationship between perceptions of learning climate and employee innovative behavior
and proficiency. Determining whether there is such an association between perceptions of
learning climate and innovative behavior and proficiency, as well as how it may work,
would undoubtedly augment both theory and practice in identifying factors that can
promote these crucial work behaviors among employees (Griffin et al., 2007).
Traditionally, scholars have argued that perceptions of learning climate may have
positive effects on employee performance; however, they have yet to explore the mechanism
that links perceptions of learning climate to employee work behaviors (Ellinger et al., 2002;
Jashapara, 2003; Joo and Lim, 2009; Yang et al., 2004). Despite the mounting interest of
organizational psychology research in indirect relationships such as mediation, these
studies are rare in perceptions of learning climate literature (Eldor and Harpaz, 2016;
Joo, 2010; Joo and Lim, 2009). Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, our model
specifically tackles this omission, arguing that work engagement –a motivational
attachment toward an organizational competitive advantage –forms a linking mechanism
between perceptions of learning climate and employee innovative behavior and proficiency
(Eldor, 2016).
Furthermore, our integrated model simultaneously considers the roles of employees’
engagement and their sectorial employment (business vs public). This grants scholars
further insight as to when employees’innovative behavior and proficiency vary as a result
of the activities that promote employee perceptions of learning climate. The nature of
the differences between business and public sectors has long been a topic of scholarly
debate. While traditional perspectives assume that these sectors differ substantially from
one another, the new public management discipline has explicitly aimed at emphasizing the
similarities (Hood and Peters, 2004). We contend that work engagement and employment
sector (business vs public) play a key role in understanding the accurate path between
perceptions of learning climate and employee innovative behavior and proficiency, as rated
by their supervisors. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first attempt to examine
the relationship between perceptions of learning climate and employee innovative behavior
and proficiency in a cross-sectorial context.
Our study is also unique in focusing on employee perceptions of learning climate.
Our goal is to understand how employee work motivation and performance behaviors
are impacted by employees’interpretation of their learning environment, particularly since
not all individuals interpret the same context in identical ways. This choice relies on
Kurt Lewin’s (1936) argument that people respond to their perceptions of reality, not to the
reality itself. Accordingly, learning climate in organizations should be understood in terms
of what people think of it rather than what it actually offers.
Theoretical conceptualization and hypotheses
Perceptions of learning climate in the workplace
Perceptions of learning climate refers to the employee perceptions of organization’s learning
activities from which employees can benefit to create, acquire, and transfer knowledge in
order to meet an organization’s strategic goals (Argyris and Schön, 1978; Marsick and
Watkins, 2003). These perceptions subjectively indicate the extent to which an organization
1455
Perceptions of
learning
climate
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