oa Leervermogen als metacompetentie: ontwikkelbaarheid en loopbaanuitkomsten

Learning agility as metacompetency: Developability and career outcomes

N. Dries, T. Vantilborgh, R. Pepermans & L. Venneman, Gedrag & Organisatie, volume 21, November 2008, nr. 4, pp. 365-385

The current study let supervisors rate subordinates in terms of learning agility and focused on two research questions: (1) is learning agility developable; and (2) in what way does learning agility manifest itself in the workplace and in the careers of individuals? As regards the first research question, we found no effect of age and work experience on learning agility; we did, however, find effects of career variety and educational level. As for the second research question, we saw our hypotheses largely confirmed. Learning agility was found to be a significant predictor of on-the-job learning and performance rating. As for promotions received however, we did not find full support for the hypothesized relationships with learning agility. Interestingly, the data demonstrated that the career variety of the rated subordinates was rather low, implying that their motivation to actively look for learning experiences outside of certain geographical, organizational and functional boundaries was low, regardless of their learning agility – it thus appears that the ideal type of the flexible, 'boundaryless' career is not yet a common reality.