Research Of The Effect Of Employee's Workplace Learning On Employee Innovation Behavior

With the fast development of information society,the updating speed of knowledge of every industry is increasing.It is difficult to meet the demand of work for a long time by knowledge from school education.Therefore,workplace learning has become an important part of lifelong learning.Within the past ten years,internet companies are changing our society by finance innovation,transportation innovation,media innovation,tourism innovation,education innovation,medical service innovation,etc.Most of these innovations originate from workplace learning.A common characteristic of entrepreneurs of internet companies is fast learning,cross learning,and scattered learning.In China,not only internet companies,but also companies of all industries have arrived at the time of independent innovation.The challenge of innovation is common for daily work and workplace learning is a major approach to meet the challenge.The previous study of workplace learning,however,has not paid a lot of attention on work innovation.Therefore the research of the effect of workplace learning on employee innovation is important from both theoretical and practical perspective.This study is built on the three concepts of Illeris' s learning theory: learning content,learning motivation,and learning interaction.By analyzing the theoretical relation between accumulative learning,assimilative learning,adaptive learning,transformational learning and innovation,with three elements of individual decision making as mediators,this study proposes three theoretical models: the model of workplace learning content influencing innovation behavior;the model of workplace learning motivation influencing innovation behavior;the model of workplace learning interaction influencing innovation behavior.The model of workplace learning content influencing innovation behavior means the influence of scattered knowledge,assimilative knowledge,systematic knowledge,and adaptive knowledge on independent and cooperative innovation behavior with resistance to sunk cost as mediator.The model of workplace learning motivation influencing innovation behavior means the influence of surface learning motivation,deep learning motivation,and achievement learning motivation on independent and cooperative innovation behavior with resistance to sunk cost and under/over confidence as mediators.The model of workplace learning interaction influencing innovation behavior means the influence of high-frequence interaction learning,middle-frequence interaction learning,and low-frequence interaction learning on cooperative innovation behavior with under/over confidence and recognition of social norm as mediators.Based upon the three models,there are 48 theoretical hypotheses.The effective data are collected from 1991 employees.By hierarchical regression,39 theoretical hypotheses are supported.The research subjects cover industries such as construction,equipment manufacturing,finance,petroleum,real estate,both state-owned and private enterprise,middle and large enterprises,and provinces such as Shaanxi,Beijing,Shandong,Guangdong,Henan,Gansu,etc.The major conclusions are as follows:(1)Among the influence of workplace learning content on innovation behavior,scattered knowledge and adaptive knowledge have positive effect on both independent and cooperative innovation behavior.Assimilative and systematic knowledge are not related to the two types of innovation behavior.Resistance to sunk cost plays the role of mediator in the influence of scattered knowledge on innovation behavior.(2)Among the influence of workplace learning motivation on innovation behavior,surface learning motivation,deep learning motivation,and achievement learning motivation have positive effect on both independent and cooperative innovation behavior.Resistance to sunk cost and under/over confidence play the role of mediator in the relationship.(3)Among the influence of workplace learning interaction on innovation behavior,high-frequence interaction learning,middle-frequence interaction learning,and low-frequence interaction learning have positive effect on cooperative innovation behavior.Under/over confidence play the role of mediator in the relationship,but the reconition of social norm does not.The implication of these research results for enterprises include:Cross learning can promote innovation.Enterprises can promote employees' motivation by motivating them to learn from other industries,other fields,and other majors.Driving deep learning and achievement learning of employees promotes innovation.Building learning interaction system based on self-study promotes innovation.The contribution of this paper includes four aspects:(1)Regarding workplace learning,the first contribution is that scattered knowledge has the most powerful effect on innovation among the four types of knowledge,which means that the knowledge based on experiential and introspect has the best effect and this finding challenges the traditional teaching method of abstractive conceptualization;(2)the second contribution is that deep learning motivation has the most powerful effect on innovation with achievement learning motivation also having strong effect,which means that respecting and driving internal learning interest of employees is the best choice;(3)the third contribution is that low frequency learning interaction such as self-learning has the strongest effect on innovation while the high frequency has the lowest effect,which means that giving employees independent learning space and time is critical.(4)Regarding individual decision-making capability,the forth contribution is that resistance to sunk cost plays the partial mediation role between workplace learning motivation and content and innovation behavior and under/over confidence plays the partial mediation role between workplace learning motivation and interaction and innovation behavior...