Research On Employee Learning Behavior And Its Formation Mechanism From The Perspective Of Interpersonal Interaction

In VUCA,facing the complex and changing external environment and fierce market competition,organizations face a major problem: How to maintain lasting competitiveness in a competitive market environment? In order to better adapt to the economic situation,and to maintain a competitive advantage in the fierce market competition,and finally to survive in the market,it is necessary for the organization to have a speed of learning greater than the speed of change in its environment.It is critical for organizations to become learning organizations and to continuously promote employee learning so that they can remain professionally competitive.At the same time,with the advancement of new electronic information technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence,all industries are exploring the integration of emerging technologies.In the face of fierce market competition,the demand for compound talents with cross-disciplinary knowledge and diverse skills is also increasing.In this context,employee learning behavior has become an important means for organizations to screen,train and manage talents,and is a source of competitive advantage and even organizational success.Many factors in organizations can trigger employees’ learning behaviors.Previous studies have mostly explored employees’ learning behaviors and their formation mechanisms from the perspectives of organizational learning and experiential learning,such as exploring the influence of individual characteristics,work environment,and organizational climate on employees’ learning behaviors.However,the communication between employees and their leaders and teams,i.e.,the process of interpersonal interaction,can also affect individual learning behavior.When exploring how employees learn from interpersonal interactions,previous literature has tended to explore the impact of a single factor on employees’ learning behavior,such as only focusing on interactions with leaders or only focusing on interactions with teams.In addition,there are significant differences in research findings due to single empirical studies subject to sampling error.Therefore,this study conducted a meta-analysis study(Study 1)in order to better theoretically integrate previous studies,refine research findings on employee learning from interpersonal interactions,resolve conflicts in inconsistent research findings in previous studies and identify problems in current research.Based on the finding in Study 1,the empirical study(Study 2)collects data through experience sampling methodology to address the research questions and to fill in the gap in the meta-analysis study that do not reveal the mechanisms and boundary conditions of employee learning behaviors.To systematically integrate research findings on employee learning behavior from interpersonal interaction and to address previous research controversies,Study 1classified interpersonal interaction factors in organizations into those with leaders(leader feedback,leader-member exchange,and leader empowerment)and those with teams(task interdependence,social support,team orientation,and team commitment).Using social cognitive theory as a framework and meta-analysis research approach,the current study analyzed 51 empirical articles to investigate which organizational factors can influence employees’ learning behaviors from an interpersonal interaction perspective,attempting to explore the moderating role of age,tenure,and long-term orientation culture.The results showed that leader-member exchange,leader empowerment,task interdependence,social support,team orientation,and team commitment were significantly and positively related to employee learning behaviors;while leader feedback was not significantly related to employee learning behaviors.Age significantly and negatively moderated the relationship between social support and employee learning behavior;tenure significantly and negatively moderated the relationship between social support and employee learning behavior.Long-term cultural orientation significantly and negatively moderated the relationship between social support,team commitment,and employee learning behavior.The current study conducted Study 2 to address the research questions identified in Study 1: the non-significant effect of leader feedback on employees’ learning behaviors,as well as to explore the mechanisms and boundary conditions of employees learning behaviors.Based on cognitive-affective processing system,Study 2 explored the differential effects of daily leader positive/negative behavioral feedback on employees’ next-day social learning behaviors(suggestion-seeking behavior and observational learning behavior).In addition,Study 2 also explored the mediating effects of daily employee state gratitude and problem-solving pondering,as well as the moderating role of leader-member exchange.Through a 15-day longitudinal diary study of 153 full-time employees,the results of study 2 revealed that:(1)At the within-person level,daily leader positive behavioral feedback increased employees’ next-day suggestion-seeking behavior by increasing daily learning gratitude state;daily leader positive behavioral feedback decreased employees’ next-day observational learning behavior by decreasing daily problem-solving pondering.(2)At the within-person level,daily leader negative behavioral feedback increased the employee’s observation and learning behavior for the next day by increasing the daily problem-solving pondering;daily negative behavioral feedback decreased the employee’s suggestion seeking behavior for the next day by decreasing the daily learning gratitude state.(3)At the between-person level,leader-member exchange positively moderated the relationship between daily leader negative behavioral feedback and employees’ daily learning gratitude state.(4)At the between-person level,leader-member exchange negatively moderated the relationship between daily leader positive behavioral feedback and employees’ daily learning gratitude state and daily problem-solving pondering.The theoretical contributions of this study are as follows:(1)By classifying interpersonal interactions into two dimensions: interactions with leaders and interactions with teams,and using meta-analysis based on social cognitive theory,we provide a systematic and comprehensive overview of the antecedent variables that elicit employees’ learning behaviors and respond to research controversies in the previous literature.(2)Based on cognitive-affective processing system,this study explores the dynamic differentiated effects of two different types of leader behavioral feedback on employees’ learning from interpersonal interactions.(3)This study also examines the negative moderating effect of leader-member exchange to develop a comprehensive view of leader-member exchange and to refine existing research.In practice,this study helps managers identify the interpersonal interaction factors that can facilitate employees’ learning behaviors.In addition,this study also facilitates managers understanding of the different roles of different types of behavioral feedback on employees’ learning from interpersonal interactions,so that they can develop targeted and relevant measures.