Informal Learning at Work ─ Triggers, Antecedents, and Consequences

Informal Learning at Work reflects the growing interest in changing the way the workplace encourages and enhances learning and professional development. Due to societal, economic, and technological developments, organisations face the pressure of growing knowledge-intensity and the need for innovations. As a result, employees are expected to adapt to new situations and constantly update their skillsets within an increasingly challenging environment. This book brings together cross-disciplinary perspectives from leading international researchers, drawing on a range of theoretical and empirical studies.

Extensively researched and expertly edited, this new addition to the EARLI New Perspectives on Learning and Instruction series outlines the starting points for future research, and highlights the benefits and implications for those aiming to foster informal learning at work, covering areas such as:

• professional judgement
• improving the structure of work tasks
• facilitating innovative work behaviour
• the place of informal learning within teaching

Informal Learning at Work presents original quantitative and qualitative studies as well as integrative analyses of worldwide research and is an invaluable introduction to this highly topical subject.

Gerhard Messmann is Assistant Professor at the Chair for Vocational Education and Training and Learning in Organisations at the Institute of Educational Science, University of Regensburg, Germany.

Mien S. R. Segers is Professor of Corporate Learning at the Department of Educational Research and Development, Maastricht University, the Netherlands.

Filip Dochy is Professor of Research on Learning and Development, and Corporate Training at the Center for Professional Learning & Development, Corporate Training and Lifelong Learning, KU Leuven, Belgium.