Goal orientation, learning self-efficacy, and climate perceptions in a post-acquisition corporate context
✍ Scribed by Denise Potosky
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2010
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 106 KB
- Volume
- 21
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1044-8004
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
With the use of a repeated-measurement design over a five-year period, this study examined the extent to which goal orientation and learning self-efficacy relate to job performance in a post-acquisition corporate context. Results suggest that a learning goal orientation and self-efficacy beliefs regarding learning new tasks do not necessarily lead to performance in a tumultuous, uncertain work context. Employees with a learning orientation may be motivated to learn and capable of adapting to changing contexts, but they need to perceive supervisory support and an innovation policy that supports their efforts to learn and perform in a new organizational environment.
The need for employees to learn new tasks and adapt to change is an important concern of human resource development (HRD). Understanding employees' predispositions to learn, their beliefs about their own capabilities, and their perceptions about the organizational climate for updating seems particularly relevant to the design and implementation of HR programs. Individual characteristics such as goal orientation and self-efficacy may help to explain why some employees not only meet job performance expectations, but also engage in behaviors that enable them to learn new skills and engage in updating behaviors. In addition to continuous learning associated with job performance, many organizations require their employees to adapt to changing, sometimes tumultuous work environments. Yet, in a broader context of organizational change or restructuring, climate perceptions may suffer. The linkages described in the organizational and behavioral sciences literature between learning orientation, self-efficacy beliefs, and job performance may be broken if climate perceptions deteriorate. The present investigation offers some insight for HRD practitioners and researchers focused on helping employees pursue learning goals as they adapt to organizational changes.