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The well-being and mental health of principals is being threatened by changing working conditions such as a broader variety of roles and tasks. In this article, we argue that social capital might buffer against declining (mental) health. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential influence of social capital, including both internal (bonding) and external (bridging and linking) social capital, on principals’ well-being. A longitudinal study was set up across three waves of data. Questionnaires were collected from 2084 Australian principals and 829 Irish principals, across six and two timepoints, respectively. The hypotheses were tested using a longitudinal path model approach using maximum likelihood estimation in lavaan for R. In line with our hypotheses, the results indicated that principals who reported higher levels of either internal or external social capital also reported higher levels of well-being. More specifically, support from colleagues outside the school and supervisor support (external social capital) and collaboration and trust in management (internal social capital) predicted well-being positively across time. The results of this study highlight the importance of having social support from colleagues and supervisors and possibilities for collaboration to maintain well-being as a school principal.

PurposeThis paper aims to measure the extent to which students possess the necessary competences of an employable graduate, the authors explored the development and validation of a questionnaire that measures employability competences of students in higher education through combining insights from higher education and workplace learning literature.Design/methodology/approachThe paper aims to develop and validate the questionnaire a systematic literature review and factor analyses were conducted. The authors applied the questionnaire to two different groups of students. First, to undergraduate students in an applied sciences program in Belgium (N = 935). The dataset was randomly divided into two subsets to conduct an exploratory and a confirmatory factor analysis. Next, another confirmatory factor analysis was done to cross-validate the factor structure found. For this, the questionnaire was offered to a group of undergraduate and graduate students at a university in The Netherlands (N = 995).FindingsThe results support a model of employability based on combined insights from higher education and workplace learning literature. The model consists of the following seven factors: social competences, e-literacy, efficacy beliefs, flexibility, healthy work–life balance, lifelong learning and oral and written communication.Originality/valueThe questionnaire can be utilized to screen students' employability profiles and examine the relationship between teaching practices and students’ employability competences.

This study goes beyond the classic paradigm that newly qualified teachers (NQTs) are in need of formal support in order to cope with the challenges they face during the early stages of their teaching career. The focus of this survey study with 443 NQTs in Flanders, Belgium is whether NSTs' proactive seeking of feedback from the principal and from their colleagues acts as a mediator between the characteristics of their collegial network and NQTs' job satisfaction. The results reveal that seeking feedback from the principal and colleagues mediates the relation between knowing other colleagues' areas of expertise and valuing that expertise in the collegial network, on the one hand, and job satisfaction, on the other. More specifically, seeking feedback from the principal was more strongly related to NQTs' job satisfaction than seeking feedback from colleagues. Remarkably, psychological safety was only related to seeking feedback from colleagues. No relationship was found between psychological safety and seeking feedback from the principal. The study concludes with suggestions on how to support the professional development of NQTs.

To keep up with technological advances and macro-economic trends, higher education has increasingly focused on developing students’ employability competences through mentoring programs. However, measuring the effectiveness of such mentoring programs has remained difficult, because many mentoring measurements are not validated or grounded in theory. Furthermore, existing questionnaires have mostly focused on one or two types of support, ignoring the wide variety of support types offered by a mentor. Therefore, the current study’s aim was to develop and validate a new questionnaire measuring various types of mentoring support. Based on a systematic literature review, a 35-item questionnaire was developed and data were collected from mentoring programs at four higher education institutions. Data were analyzed through exploratory factor analysis (n = 225), confirmatory factor analysis (n = 208), and cross-validation (n = 101). The results support a 6-factor model (21 items) that is statistically valid and reliable for use in universities (of applied sciences). The model includes the following factors, referring to types of support and their features: trust and availability, emotional support, networking support, autonomy support, similarity, and empathy. This questionnaire makes an original contribution insofar as (1) it is based on a sound, theoretical framework, and (2) it was demonstrated to be valid and reliable across different sub-populations in higher education. The questionnaire provides educational practitioners with a sound and valid tool to evaluate the quality of their mentoring program. It can also be used to assess what types of support could be offered to a greater extent.

PurposeIn a fast evolving labour market, higher education graduates need to develop employability competences. Key in becoming employable is the ability to reflect on learning experiences, both within a curriculum as well as extra-curricular and work placements. This paper wants to conceptualise how an online learning platform might entail a reflective practice that systematically supports students in reflecting on their learning experiences.Design/methodology/approachWhen studying online learning platforms for developing students' employability competences, it became clear that the effectiveness of the platform depends on how the platform guides students' reflective practice. In turn, the authors studied which features (tools, services and resources) of the online learning platform are guiding the reflective practice.FindingsThis resulted in the introduction of an online learning platform, containing a comprehensive set of online learning tools and services, which supports students' reflective practice and, in turn, their employability competences. The online platform facilitates both feedback from curricular and work-related learning experiences and can be used as a start by students for showcasing their employability competences. The reflective practice consists of a recurrent, systematic process of reflection, containing various phases: become aware, analyse current state, draft and plan a solution, take action and, finally, reflect in and on action.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research revolves around studying the features of online learning platforms and their role in fostering students' reflection and employability competences.Practical implicationsThe conceptual model provides concrete indicators on how to implement online learning platforms for supporting students' reflection and employability competences.Originality/valueThis is the first article that analyses an online learning platform that guides students' reflective practice and fosters their employability competences. The authors provide concrete suggestions on how to model the online platform, building further on reflective practice theory.

Education is one sector being challenged by aging staff, as well as by increased pressure to innovate. In order to cope with these challenges, educational institutions require teaching staff members, who include teachers, support staff and managers, to show a high level of employability. In this survey-based study, the predictive value of quantitative and qualitative job demands, job autonomy and self-directed learning orientation for three employability competences (occupational expertise, personal flexibility, anticipation and optimization) was investigated using a Dutch sample (N=3139). Moreover, three teaching staff age groups were compared: 50 years old (senior). Path analysis results showed that self-directed learning orientation was positively associated with the three employability competences across all three different age groups. Positive relationships across age groups were also found between quantitative job demands and occupational expertise, and between qualitative job demands and personal flexibility. In addition, multi-group comparisons revealed age differences in our model relationships. The relationship between self-directed learning orientation, on the one hand, and personal flexibility and anticipation and optimization on the other, was stronger for seniors in comparison with the young employees. For the young employees, the role of autonomy was more important in enhancing their occupational expertise. Implications for school principals and HRD managers are discussed. Promoting a self-directed learning orientation and custom-made workplaces that take into account age differences among teaching staff members appear to be key for protecting and enhancing sustainable employability.

This qualitative research explores how the broader social context supports employees' self-directed learning (SDL) when using a personal development plan (PDP), focusing especially on the people manager's role. Based on deductive and inductive analysis of verbatim transcripts from 28 semi-structured interviews with employees and people managers in a non-profit organization, the study reaches three main findings. First, it confirms the key role that people managers play within PDP practices and their need to balance autonomy support, and structure, adapting their leadership style to employees. Second, it confirms the added value of PDPs for long-term learning goals and for creating a "humanitarian corridor " for personal and professional development, where efficient formal learning is complemented by informal learning activities embedded and situated in the work itself. Finally, it articulates a new conceptualization of SDL within a broader social context. These findings are complemented by practical implications and directions for future research.

PurposeThis study examines whether learning climate relates to employability competences through social informal learning (i.e. feedback, help and information seeking).Design/methodology/approachMultiple regression analyses and structural equation modeling were used to test direct and indirect effects in a sample of 372 employees working in two Dutch governmental institutes.FindingsThe analyses confirmed that learning climate has an indirect effect on employability competences through feedback, help and information seeking. More specifically, the findings suggest that learning climate is important for employees' engagement in proactive social informal learning activities. Engaging in these learning activities, in turn, relates to a higher level of employability.Originality/valueThis study employs an integrative approach to understanding employability by including the organization's learning climate and employees' social informal learning behavior. It contributes to the extant literature on professional development by unraveling how proactive social informal learning relates to employability competences. It also provides new insights on learning climate as a determinant for social informal learning and employability.

Employability, defined as a set of competences that allow an individual to create and maintain a job, is pivotal for both organizations and employees. Organizations with an employable workforce remain competitive and individuals who are employable experience better career development. The present study investigates self-directed learning orientation (SDLO), job control, and job demand as predictors for three employability competences: occupational expertise, personal flexibility, and anticipation and optimization. Data were collected from a sample from two different sectors (health care and finance) in the Netherlands. A path model was built to investigate the relationships between the dependent and independent variables. Results indicate that SDLO and job demands relate positively to all three employability competences. These results suggest that employees with a self-directed learning orientation and employees working in a demanding job are more employable. In addition, we found that the positive relationship between SDLO and employability competences was moderated by job control. To create an employable workforce, supervisors and managers can promote employees' orientation toward self-directed learning and pay considerable attention to job design in terms of job demands and job control.

This research examines the social side of learning among professionals in the fast evolving and knowledge intense field of consultancy. Its first aim is to unravel social informal learning by proposing a new, integrated framework of workplace learning. Its second aim is to explore the role of learning climate for social informal learning behavior among consultants. Our qualitative inquiry using interviews based on the critical incident technique illustrates that consultants engaged in deliberative and reactive learning, thereby indicating a clear intention to learn. The source of learning was often the direct colleagues and direct supervisor, which highlights the relevance of close proximity of other individuals. The consultants mainly learned from others in a passive manner, followed by proactive and collaborative learning. Finally, this study shows that granting professionals responsibility and autonomy in their learning process as well as having a leader who facilitates learning are important elements of a learning climate that enhances social informal learning. We conclude with recommendations for organizations and directions for future research.

Today's world of work is forcing companies to change their approach to learning. Their talent strategy needs to foster self-directed learning (SDL) as a process. SDL is an instructional process in which people take the primary responsibility in learning situations. To enhance job performance, their talent strategy must also include tools that support effective competence development, such as personal development plans (PDPs). In this study, we consider the effectiveness of talent strategy of this nature, by analysing longitudinal data on 3,661 employees working in 16 countries, extracted from an electronic talent management system. Two path analyses were conducted to study the relationships between SDL exercised within a PDP practice and job performance, and to test the research hypotheses. Results validate the hypotheses, confirming that SDL as a process within PDP practice positively impacts job performance. However, while the results confirm the importance of setting learning goals and including informal learning activities when exercising SDL process within the PDP practice, they do not confirm the need to integrate other components of SDL as a process. It can be concluded that learning strategy is key to job performance, and that informal learning is of particular importance. Value-added recommendations for practice are discussed.

Employees’ feedback-seeking networks at work are important for employees’ learning and employability. Earlier studies often neglected the specific characteristics of the different relationships an individual employee has at work. We conduct social network analyses in seven samples to study inter-individual differences in feedback-seeking relationships in detail. We investigate 2,058 feedback-seeking relationships of 118 employees to study how similarity-attraction affects the composition of feedback-seeking networks at work and how the composition of these feedback-seeking networks influences employees’ employability. This research study aims to contribute by taking into account both the mechanisms that shape feedback-seeking networks and the effects of this on employability. The results show that similarity-attraction affects feedback-seeking in the workplace and that having a largely homogeneous feedback-seeking network has detrimental effects on employability.

PurposeThe present study proposes coaching as a pedagogical intervention to prepare students for transitioning to the labour market. Taking a competence-based approach, the proposed coaching practice aims to enhance students' employability competences to facilitate a smoother school-to-work transition. However, what transition coaching looks like remains largely unclear. Moreover, in competence-based education, teachers are expected to be highly skilled coaches, facilitating students' transition to the labour market. The present study aims to map the core competencies of a transition coach.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative design was adopted to map the core competences of a transition coach. Data were collected from two focus groups, consisting of coaches in higher education and in the workplace.FindingsResults show that, to create the necessary support conditions, a coach creates a safe coaching environment and supports students in setting goals, guide them in the activities they undertake to attain these goals, and asks reflective questions. Moreover, the coach stimulates students' ownership by putting the student in the centre of the decision-making process. Furthermore, the results emphasize the importance of the coach's professional attitude and knowledge about the transition process and the labour market.Practical implicationsThe article concludes with practical implications for novice transition coaches and teachers in higher education.Originality/valueThe present study adds to the agenda of graduate work readiness by proposing a coaching practice aimed at preparing students for their transition to the labour market.

High percentages of newly qualified teachers (NQTs) drop out during their first five years in the classroom. Often, formal support systems are put in place to overcome ‘practice shock’. However, in this research it was hypothesized that it is not the formal support structure put in place that determines whether starting teachers feel satisfied in their job and show perseverance but rather the amount of knowledge exchange that takes place. This was confirmed by the results of a first quantitative study confirmed. Then, a follow-up qualitative study showed that having the principal in the role of mentor is often experienced as a mechanism of control or evaluation. Starting teachers prefer to choose their own mentor. They prefer their mentor not to be a superior but a close colleague whom they trust, who is teaching the same course in the same year. Our results have especially implications for onboarding of novice teachers. Since social informal learning (e.g. through the exchange of feedback with colleagues) benefits newly-qualified teachers, it is important to create a safe and warm learning climate in which knowledge exchange can flourish. Also, NQTs should be given the opportunity to choose their mentor.

In different streams of literature employability has been defined in different, often related ways. We take an interdisciplinary approach, combining insights from research on higher education and workplace learning, taking a Western perspective. In doing so we take a multi-dimensional, competence-based approach. Our approach to conceptualizing employability responds to research from both disciplines arguing for a need of integrating approaches to employability, for a unified overview of conceptual frameworks and agreement on definitions of the concept. We conclude that models of employability from these different disciplines can reinforce each other. Certain dimensions of employability are less taken into account in one discipline, while receiving a lot of attention in the other. Hence, our work opens new avenues for conceptual and empirical research on employability in both domains. Moreover, it might influence how researchers and practitioners research and support (lifelong) learning for employability, both in higher education and in the workplace.

Fluctuating demands and fast changing job-requirements require organizations to invest in employees so that they are able to take up new tasks. In this respect, fostering employees' employability is high on the agenda of many organizations. As a prerequisite for creating employability, many scholars have focused on the role of social informal learning. In this study, we extend this perspective and examine the relationships between task variety, social informal learning, and employability. We hypothesized that task variety is a catalyst for social informal learning, which in turn enhances employees' employability. We contribute empirical evidence for this mechanism. However, while task variety leads to social informal learning and, subsequently, the competences needed for employability, task variety also may have negative direct effects on employability. We discuss the implications of these findings for future research and practice.

Our study aims to develop and validate a multidimensional Innovative Work Behaviour instrument to measure teachers IWB. Current IWB conceptualizations and operationalizations need further attention. Existing measurements miss empirical evidence of the construct validity and moreover do not include a sustainability dimension. Based on a thorough and comprehensive conceptualization of IWB, we first adapted and extended the items of previously used instruments and developed items for a sustainability dimension. Second, we tested the construct validity of this newly developed multi-dimensional IWB instrument in a Dutch context, using Rasch techniques and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). The psychometric characteristics were examined in a sample of teachers working in vocational education (N = 440). The results revealed five dimensions of IWB, namely Opportunity Exploration, Idea Generation, Idea Promotion, Idea Realization (differentiated in two sub-dimensions: Criterion-based implementation and learning-based communication) and Idea sustainability (differentiated in two sub-dimensions: External dissemination and internal embedding). The dimensions were reliably measured (α .84- .94) using 44 items. This new instrument, which builds on recent conceptualizations of IWB as well as on the pivotal innovation models of West and Farr (1989) and Fullan (2007), offers for an international group of researchers a conceptually sound and valid tool to validate explanatory models of innovative teacher behaviour. For practitioners in the domain of educational innovation, it offers the opportunity to diagnose, in a sound way, the extent of the necessary conditions of teachers IWB for an educational innovation to succeed.

The aging workforce challenges companies to keep their aging employees employable in the workforce. This paper gives an indication as to which employees are more likely to be interested in further learning and employability. Specifically, the aim of this study was to investigate the role of chronological age and achievement goal orientations for informal and formal learning and employability. Data of 167 Austrian knowledge workers were gathered via electronic questionnaires to investigate the relationships between age, achievement goal orientations, learning activities, and employability using structural equation modeling. It was found that informal learning has a significant positive relation with several dimensions of employability. Furthermore, mastery-approach goal orientation also shows a significant positive relation with informal learning and employability. In addition, age had no significant relation with the achievement goal orientations. The paper stresses the need to consider characteristics other than chronological age, such as goal orientations, when considering employees&rsquo, learning behavior and employability.

Teachers' innovative work behavior and professional development is receiving more attention lately. More precisely, it is argued that teachers' formal and informal learning is crucial to anticipate and deal with continuous changes and innovations in technology and didactics, for example. Therefore, this study researches the teachers' innovative work behavior by studying relations between (in)formal learning activities, employability (i.e. five competences: occupational expertise, anticipation and optimization, personal flexibility, corporate sense and balance) and innovative working behavior (IWB, i.e. ideas generation, promotion and realization). Furthermore, the mediating role of employability between learning and innovative working behavior is studied, too. Based on path analysis conducted on questionnaire data from 301 primary and secondary school teachers from the French-speaking community of Belgium, findings conclude that employability competences are related to both formal and informal learning, but the relationship between informal learning and employability is stronger. Next, making a distinction between the frequency and use of social informal learning is relevant given the differentiated role the different components play. Feedback use in particular seems to play an important role in teachers' employability and IWB. Finally, it can be concluded that employability partially mediates the relation between the undertaking of (in)formal learning activities and dimensions of innovative working behavior. Results imply that schools should pay more attention to supporting teachers' informal learning since it's crucial for improving their ability to innovate and to be able to deal with changes in the dynamic world of education.

Social approaches to work-related informal learning, such as proactive feedback-seeking, help-seeking and information-seeking, are important determinants of development in the workplace. Unfortunately, previous research has failed to clearly conceptualize these forms of learning and does not provide a validated and generally applicable measurement instrument. We set out to develop and validate such a scale measuring social approaches to work-related informal learning. We collected data in four organizations in Austria and the Netherlands, with a total sample size of 895 employees. These data were used to conduct exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, which showed four distinct factors: feedback-seeking from the supervisor, feedback-seeking from colleagues, help-seeking and information-seeking. In conclusion, the scale we developed is valid in a range of contexts and thus is an appropriate tool for research as well as human resource development practice.

This study examines primary and secondary school teachers’ professional development through informal learning activities and the reasons for undertaking these informal learning activities. For this purpose, 41 interviews were conducted and data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results highlight that the reasons or motives why teachers learn or initiate informal learning activities themselves can be diverse, depending mostly on the desired content of the learning. Concerning informal learning from others, results showed the prominent role of direct colleagues, mostly to refine their teaching, to find new teaching approaches or to find advice for class management. Teachers also report to learn deliberatively from non-interpersonal sources in order to gain knowledge which serves them in preparing and giving their lessons. Furthermore, learning by oneself occurs before, during or after a job task and aims at studying content or optimizing existing work practices. Implications for practice and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Background: More than ever before, school principals are dealing with stress and burnout, resulting from increasing role demands and decreasing decision latitude and autonomy. Following the Demand–Support–Constraints model, reasons for stress and burnout can be found in the lack of social support in the environment. Purpose: This longitudinal study investigates whether changes in social support from colleagues, supervisors and/or the broader community affect levels of principal stress and burnout. Sample: Approximately 26% of Australia’s school principals took part (N = 3572): primary (n = 2660) and secondary (n = 912) spread across all Australian states and territories. Age ranged between 46 and 55 years, and mean leadership experience was 12 years. Design and methods: Since stress and burnout are psychological phenomena that develop over time, a longitudinal approach was adopted. Data were collected across four waves, spread over four years, from 2011 to 2014. Results: It was found that social support predicts decreased stress and in turn burnout in school principals, however differences were found according to the type of social support. The data provide strong evidence for a positive effect of stress on burnout (e.g. the more stress at time 2, the more burnout in principals at time 3) and partial support for indirect negative effects of social support on burnout (e.g. the more support from colleagues at time 2, the less burnout in principals at time 3). However, we also found two instances of positive effects of social support from the broader community on burnout. This suggests that the more support principals receive from the broader community, the more likely they are to show burnout symptoms. This might be explained as the ‘the downside of empathy’, where principals who are strongly supported by their community might also feel more connected to that community. When their community is struggling, they are probably struggling as well. Conclusions: The findings highlight the positive impact the wider school community can play in providing supplementary professional support to the principal. Unbundling or repackaging the job responsibilities with an administrative team that shares the leadership of the school, could be part of the solution.

Due to developments in the current dynamic business environment which is more global and competitive than ever, employees’ lifelong learning and the way organizations support their continuous development are pivotal. Many organizations introduce personal development plans (pdps) to support employees’ learning, however, not always taking into account their personal characteristics. This study had a twofold purpose as it was designed to explore on the one hand the relationship between pdps in the workplace with employee’s undertaking of learning activities and perceived performance, and on the other hand the possible moderating role of employee self-directedness on this relationship. For this study, data collected by means of a questionnaire at two different organizations were used, one organization foregoing profit and one non-profit activity. The results indicated significant positive relations between the individual supporting factor ‘employee learning and reflection’ and the undertaking of learning activities and perceived performance and between employee self-directedness and the undertaking of learning activities and perceived performance. The same accounted for the moderating effect of employee self-directedness on the interaction between learning and reflection and perceived performance. Some findings were surprising, nevertheless resulted in valuable insights and implications for practice.

In this study, we examined how social informal learning and formal learning of faculty staff in higher education relate to their employability. Data were collected from 209 faculty staff members working at a Dutch university. Results showed that social informal learning was related to the employability of faculty staff. Further analysis revealed that especially external information seeking and acting upon feedback from colleagues and not formal learning predicted the employability of faculty staff. The finding suggests that institutes of higher education should especially foster the professional development of their faculty staff by stimulating exchange of information and seeking and using feedback with colleagues in a proactive manner.

Contains fulltext : 150455.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Development of professional expertise is the process of continually transforming the repertoire of knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to solve domain-specific problems which begins in late secondary education and continues during higher education and throughout professional life. One educational goal is to train students to think more like experts and approach the mastery of a subject as an expert would. Helping students to develop professional expertise and evaluating whether classrooms are conducive to the development of expertise is difficult and time-consuming. At present, there is no instrument that measures all the core classroom factors that influence specifically the development of professional expertise. This paper describes the development and validation of an instrument that measures the extent to which educators create a Supportive Learning Environment for Expertise Development, the SLEED-Q. A sample of 586 secondary school students (14–18 years-old) was used for validation. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were carried out. Examination of the fit indices indicated that the model seemed to fit the data well, with the goodness-of-fit coefficients being in recommended ranges. The SLEED-Q, consisting of seven factors with 30 items, the SLEED-Q has potential as an instrument for examining how conducive learning environments are to development of professional expertise in secondary school settings. The implications of the results and potential paths for future research are considered. 03 november 2015

Personality, emotional intelligence, and learning style are generally considered important success factors and career determinants in hospitality management. This study assesses the influence of these antecedents on the development of expertise in hospitality management. Correlational, ANOVA and hierarchical regression analyses demonstrated that (a) There is limited growth on cognitive performance measures while students are in school, however performance increases after a period in the workplace; (b) Personality, learning style and emotional intelligence showed zero to low correlations with cognitive performance; and (c) Extroversion, conscientiousness, emotional management and theorist learning style showed moderate positive correlations with several performance measures. The findings are partially in alignment with previous studies showing that personality, emotional intelligence and learning style play a role in expertise development in hospitality. It might be concluded that personality, emotional intelligence and learning style do seem important, they are not as important as has been argued in previous research.

In today's time of demographic change and rapid innovation, age and employability as well as the role of learning and development are high on the agenda of human resource managers and chief learning officers. However, existing research has failed to integrate these concepts in a clear model and offers little explanation of how the concepts may be linked exactly. In this conceptual paper we show how chronological age, despite its poor characteristics as a predictor, might still affect employability indirectly. Specifically, we propose that employees' motivation – in terms of future time perspective and goal orientation – and formal and informal learning activities need to be considered. Since an individual's chronological age cannot be changed, it is important to recognize these mediating variables, which may be targeted more easily by human resource development or age management initiatives.

This chapter focuses on the contextual antecedents of workplace learning and explores whether these differ across occupational groups. Most authors define workplace learning by focusing on the inherent link between learning and work, by referring to the fact that workplace learning is structured by the requirements of work practice. Today's learners are expected to be autonomous and determine for themselves what and how they want to learn. Although learners are expected to take responsibility for their own learning process and take initiative as autonomous learners, the context in which they operate also determines if and how they learn. This chapter discusses the different types of workplace learning and categorizes them according to five core dimensions of workplace learning: the location of the learning, the extent of planning the learning, the presence and role of the facilitator or coach, the presence and role of peers, and the pro-active role of the learner.

This study examines the nature of hospitality managers’ knowledge when solving typical hotel management problems. In a cross-sectional study, data were collected from first-, fourth-, and eighth-semester students and compared with experts who had seven to ten years of experience working as hospitality managers. Three typical hospitality management cases were used to measure the way in which participants with different levels of education and experience cognitively represented the cases. Participants' recall and problem solving processes were also assessed. Through a method of proposition analysis, the data were scored and then evaluated using one-way analysis of variance. The results point to knowledge as an important element in performance on hospitality management tasks. Hospitality experts' recall and problem solving abilities in this study were strengthened by their rich and broad knowledge base of facts, concepts and inferences which they used to abstract information from the cases and then accurately solve the problem.data source: data sets by 1st author

This study was conducted to investigate which pitfalls users of personal development plans (PDPs) perceive in business and governmental organisations with mandatory PDP use. Hundred and thirty-one written statements of PDP users across three Dutch organisations were analysed and categorised into nine pitfalls. Next to an overall lack of use and incentives for use, PDP users emphasised the need for the tool to be properly implemented and supported in terms of learning and reflection, instruction and feedback, and having a motivating supervisor. Implications for practice include the need to commit to the tool on an organisational, supervisor and individual learner level.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of chronological age and formal and informal learning activities on employability. Furthermore, indirect effects of age on employability via learning activities were tested. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted quantitative, cross-sectional survey research (n=780) in three Dutch and Austrian organizations to study the relationship between chronological age, formal and informal learning activities, and employability using structural equation modeling. Findings – The authors find that both formal and informal learning increase employees’ employability. However, each type of learning contributes to different components of employability. Additionally, the authors find indirect effects of chronological age on employability via formal learning. Research limitations/implications – The results question the focus on chronological age in organizational and political decision making and contribute new insights for the management of an increasingly older workforce. Practical implications – The findings question the predominant use of chronological age as decisive criterion in organizational and national policies and call for closer examination of stereotypes against older employees. Employees should be supported in pursuing learning activities – irrespective of their chronological age. The implications of limiting employees’ access to formal learning activities may limit their future employability. Individual employees, however, are in control of their informal learning activities, and this is a very important lever to maintain and develop employability. Social implications – Given the increasing dependency of social welfare systems on older people's active participation in the labor market, this study stresses that it is not chronological age per se that affects people's employability. This diverges from the way of how chronological age is used in policy making. Originality/value – This study contributes further evidence for the relationships of age and formal and informal learning on employability. Additionally, it extends previous literature by examining different effects on different facets of employability, criticizing the prevalent use of chronological age, and investigating potential mediation effects.

PurposeThis study aims to examine the effects of using a personal development plan (PDP) on the undertaking of learning activities and the employee's job competencies.Design/methodology/approachData from Dutch pharmacy assistants was collected (n=2,271). Analyses of variance (ANOVAs) as well as regression analyses were conducted on this dataset.FindingsThe results indicate that PDP users undertook more learning activities in the past than non‐users, but using a PDP does not stimulate users to plan more learning activities in the future. Furthermore, PDP users do not score themselves significantly higher on job competencies than non‐PDP users.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research should investigate the effectiveness of PDPs for the undertaking of learning activities and job competencies in a broader sample, involving multiple‐raters and focusing more closely on one essential feature of the PDP practice: the feedback given by a supervisor and/or colleague or coach when discussing the PDP.Practical implicationsThe results stress the value of a PDP as a feedback tool. The tool could add significant value to the learning and development process of the pharmacy assistant, however, if it would be used as a feed‐forward instrument as well. In other words, the tool should more often be used to get an overview of desired future plans, plan future careers, and the undertaking of learning activities in order to reach these future goals.Originality/valueIn order to promote employees' learning and development, more and more companies are starting to implement PDPs. Empirical studies researching the effectiveness of PDPs in the workplace are scarce, however.