The Learning Intention of Low-Qualified Employees: A Key for Participation in Lifelong Learning and Continuous Training |
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| Authors: | Eva Kyndt Natalie Govaerts Filip Dochy Herman Baert |
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| Institution: | (1) Centre for Research on Professional Learning & Development, Corporate Training and Lifelong Learning, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Dekenstraat 2, Box 3772, 3000 Leuven, Belgium |
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| Abstract: | In our continuously changing society, a need for updating one’s skills and knowledge puts pressure on safeguarding the labour
market position of low-qualified employees. However, prior research and official statistics show that employees with a lower
level of education tend to participate less in training than highly-educated individuals. This limited participation is associated
with employers offering fewer opportunities to low-qualified employees, but also with the fact that low-qualified employees
themselves might be less willing to participate. In other words, their learning intentions are assumed to be weaker and more
restricted than the learning intentions of highly-educated employees. The article reports on a quantitative survey research
on the learning intentions of 406 low-qualified employees. The results showed that employees who participated in formal job-related
learning activities during the last 5 years had a stronger learning intention than those who did not. Next, the results of
the stepwise regression showed that self-directedness, financial benefits, self-efficacy, and autonomy were significant positive
predictors of the learning intentions of low-qualified employees. Also, the limited number of possibilities or opportunities
to learn was not significant. The results indicated that a learning intention can lead towards the participation in learning
activities, but participation is not merely initiated by offering opportunities for learning. Organisational aspects such
as job autonomy and financial benefits can stimulate the learning intention of an employee. Finally, regarding the socio-demographic
variables, only limited differences were found. In short, employees with no educational qualifications and a full-time contract
had the lowest intention to learn. |
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