Contectual Factors Informal Learning Workplace

Contextual Factors Influencing Informal Learning in a Workplace Setting: The Case of “Reinventing Itself Company”
Andrea D. Ellinger
Informal learning is one of the most prevalent forms of learning in the workplace. However, little is known about how such learning is best supported, encouraged, and developed within organizational settings. While organizational context is considered to be significant in facilitating or inhibiting informal learning, limited research has been conducted that explores such factors and how they influence informal learning. Therefore, a qualitative case study was conducted to explore the contextual factors that influence informal learning. Findings associated with the organizational contextual factors that positively and negatively influence informal learning are presented along with implications for practice and future research. Interest in workplace learning has intensified in recent years (Billett, 2002; Boud and Garrick, 1999; Collin, 2002; Ellstrom, 2001; Illeris, 2003; Stern and Sommerlad, 1999). Although the workplace has always been considered an
Note: Funding for this study was provided by The Kellogg Foundation through the Cyril O. Houle Scholars in Adult and Continuing Education Fellowship Program administered by the University of Georgia Department of Adult Education. The author is grateful to have participated in the Houle Scholars Program and thankful for the expertise and support provided by staff members and other Houle scholars throughout this project. Sincere thanks are also extended to the president of the local chamber of commerce for providing referral to “Reinventing Itself Company”; to the senior executives at the company for approving the research project; to the nominator and participants in the company who shared critical informal learning incidents and supported this project; to the director and staff members of the Center for Business and Economic Research for providing office space and administrative support

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Ellinger is assistant professor of human resource education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. For bulk reprints of this article, please call [phone].