GIVE M E THE ROOM TO LEAR N: ASSOCI ATIONS BETWEEN JOB CONTROL AND WORK -RELATED LEARNING

Abstract

Societal rhetoric claims that the intellectual capital ofworkplaces must beleveragedifCanadais tocompete inthe ‘knowledge economy’. Toachieve this,however, employers mustcreate workenvironments that are favorable to workersandconducive tolearning. This paperuses a sampleof 5800Canadian workersfrom theWork and Lifelong Learning Surveyand twentyinterviews withInformation Technologyworkers fromthe Education-JobRequirementMatching Project to focus on therelationshipbetween worker control and learningengagement. The data show thatincreased levels of socialand technical control are associated with increasedworkerengagement in formal courses,informaleducation(mentoring) and non-taughtlearning.This researchhas implications for jobdesign thatincludesreal and meaningfulopportunitiesfor workerinputandagencyintotheir own tasksandbroaderorganizational decision-making. Theseresults provide importantinformationfor futureresearch regarding the inclusion andconceptualization oflearning and job controlconstructs.