Search results

Based on a synthesis of findings from psychology, neuroscience, and machine learning, we propose a unified theory of curiosity as a form of motivated cognition. Curiosity, we propose, is comprised of a family of mechanisms that range in complexity from simple heuristics based on novelty, salience, or surprise, to drives based on reward and uncertainty reduction and finally, to self-directed metacognitive processes. These mechanisms, we propose, have evolved to allow agents to discover useful regularities in the world – steering them toward niches of maximal learning progress and away from both random and highly familiar tasks. We emphasize that curiosity arises organically in conjunction with cognition and motivation, being generated by cognitive processes and in turn, motivating them. We hope that this view will spur the systematic study of curiosity as an integral aspect of cognition and decision making during development and adulthood.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the personal antecedents to taking on the challenge of learning, particularly when there is competition for time at work. Taking on challenging tasks, particularly those that enhance learning, is a critical behavior in today’s dynamic business environments. This paper explores how individual differences motivate people to choose a challenging task over an easy one.

A behavioral measure was used to determine if working adults higher in learning goal orientation, curiosity, and need for cognition were more likely to take on a challenging task, even when there was competition for their time. Structural equation modeling was used to more deeply examine whether these constructs independently contribute to the outcome.

Goal orientation, curiosity and need for cognition each significantly predicted whether working adults took on a challenging task. Additional analysis revealed that learning goal orientation, curiosity, and need for cognition loaded onto a single factor.

This paper answers calls for the use of direct measurement in social science research. Rather than asking individuals about what they have done or would do, the study observes what choices working adults actually make when confronted with the opportunity to learn.

Contributing to the recent surge of work on informal learning behaviors, this paper examines a critical learning behavior – that of taking on challenging tasks. It demonstrates that even if individuals are ready learn (have the time and resources), there are key individual differences that drive whether they are willing to do so.

This study investigates the relationship between perceived supervisor support (PSS) and learner career curiosity and tests the mediating role of sense of belonging, engagement and learning self-efficacy.

The authors used a three-wave repeated cross-sectional data collected from 509 final-year undergraduate students of 11 Nigerian public universities, who had completed the compulsory work placement to analyze the influence of PSS on learner’s career curiosity via a parallel mediation involving sense of belonging, engagement (behavioural, emotional and cognitive) and self-efficacy.

The results show that engagement mediates the path through which PSS influences career curiosity. However, the authors found no evidence that sense of belonging and self-efficacy mediated the relationship between PSS and learner’s career curiosity in this population.

The findings of this study highlight the importance of PSS as a resource that influences learner’s career curiosity, particularly during a work placement.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the possibility of designing training sessions on the basis of a dramatic structure and inclusion of contextual narrative for facilitating transfer of learning. The role of stimulating curiosity in this process has also been scanned under the lens of neurobiological insights.

The paper theoretically develops a framework through an integrative literature review to examine the prospect of enhanced learner engagement through structure, narrative and some interdisciplinary theories, namely, the gap theory of curiosity and the peak end theory.

A contextual story-based training method designed on the basis of a dramatic plot structure can leverage on the learners’ emotions for engaging learning sessions and retention of content. Such design offers potential to improvise and strengthen the overall training module design and delivery mechanism. The outcome is seen through enhanced peak moments of curiosity and satisfaction, thus enriching the overall training–learning process.

The study is theory based and non-empirical which does not give it a ground to make generalised statements and conclusions. This factor, however, paves the way for future research in the allied areas such as empirical testing of the framework by identifying and testing the variables and other contextual and causal factors.

The suggested framework has practical implications for Learning and Development managers as well as academies. The conceptual framework provided in this work can lend some unique insights towards strengthening the training–learning process.

Although the concept of using stories for training is not new, this study contributes by proposing a new theoretical framework that examines together the elements of sound dramatic structure and a story-based training method. Such a design, conceived by taking into account an understanding of the working mind, can influence the overall experience of achieving positive training–learning results.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on an inward drive and commitment toward ethical discovery, which the authors refer to as the competency of moral curiosity. When directed toward moral decision making, the authors believe this ability can help managers effectively respond to their ethical challenges and contribute to an organizational environment that supports ethical performance.

After presenting insights from the literature on curiosity and establishing its relevance, the authors describe a specific experiential learning tool designed to cultivate moral curiosity in organizational settings. The authors conduct a field study using this process to explore how moral curiosity can be strengthened through experiential practice.

Results from the field study suggest that engagement in balanced experiential inquiry, a process that asks managers to reflect on their salient ethical dilemmas and then engage in both individual and collective meaning making, positively influenced participants’ curiosity toward moral decision making.

Limitations include challenges inherent to the field-study design, including lack of a control group and limited ability to predict long-term impacts of the intervention. Despite these concerns, the study has useful implications for managerial training and development. In particular, providing safe spaces where managers can discuss their ethical dilemmas is an important element of supporting their development into morally curious leaders who are interested in pursuing business ethics.

Findings suggest that providing safe spaces where managers can discuss their ethical dilemmas is an important element of supporting their development into morally curious leaders who are interested in pursuing business ethics.

The paper contributes to the research literature on ethics training and education for managers. The authors introduce the construct of moral curiosity as a competency that can be developed through experiential practice in organizational settings.

This chapter reviews and integrates recent research on curiosity. We discuss potential costs and benefits of curiosity, both hedonic and motivational. In particular, we examine the Pandora effect, the teasing effect, and the motivating-uncertainty effect.

The purpose of this article is to examine the relationship between a lifelong learning mindset and career success. A lifelong learning mindset is a way of approaching one's work with curiosity, strategic thinking, and resilience. Career success refers to objective (e.g., number of promotions) and subjective (e.g., job satisfaction) indicators of progress and fulfillment in one's work.

Two studies are presented. Both studies draw from an accounting and finance program at a Canadian university. In study 1, data were collected from students (n = 62) and their supervisors at the end of a four-month co-operative education (co-op) work term. In study 2, data were collected from graduates (n = 148).

Results suggest that developing a lifelong learning mindset enhances both objective and subjective career success. Participants' lifelong learning mindset was associated with objective career success in both studies (supervisor-rated performance in study 1 and number of promotions in study 2). Lifelong learning mindset was associated with subjective career success in study 2 (job satisfaction, work engagement, and job-related self-efficacy) but not in study 1 (experience satisfaction).

This article presents the first empirical examination of the relationship between a lifelong learning mindset and career success. Insights from the article highlight the fact that educators and workplace managers might work together to promote a lifelong learning mindset for current and future workers.

Given the increasing organizational need for having a thriving workforce due to the fast-growing and competitive knowledge-based service economy and growing demand to explore new factors that may benefit individuals to excel at work. Drawing upon the intrinsic motivation perspective, with a Chinese sample (N = 309), the authors aimed to investigate whether work-related curiosity (WRC) may create conditions that indirectly promote employees' workplace thriving via task focus and whether this mediation was moderated by an individual's personality difference, i.e. core-self evaluations.

A time-lagged study among full-time employees who happen to be part-time students in the executive development program was used to test the hypothesized model by employing a structural equation modeling approach.

WRC showed a significant positive association with task focus which in turn was positively related to workplace thriving. Furthermore, as predicted, the positive association between WRC and workplace thriving via task focus was stronger for employees with high core self-evaluations compared to those with low core-self evaluations.

The results of this study suggest that an individual's WRC can be instrumental in augmenting workplace thriving by providing a scientific explanation for the underlying psychological process of task focus and identifying the factors associated with the process, such as core-self evaluations. This study contributes to extending the literature on significant employee outcomes, i.e. thriving at work, by offering new empirical and theoretical insights that WRC may play a critical role in the process and identifying a boundary condition of personality factor, i.e. core-self evaluations.

Motivation significantly influences learning and memory. While a long history of research has focused on simple forms of associative learning, such as Pavlovian conditioning, recent research is beginning to characterize how motivation influences episodic memory. In this chapter we synthesize findings across behavioral, cognitive, and educational neuroscience to characterize motivation’s influence on memory. We provide evidence that neural systems underlying motivation, namely the mesolimbic dopamine system, interact with and facilitate activity within systems underlying episodic memory, centered on the medial temporal lobes. We focus on two mechanisms of episodic memory enhancement: encoding and consolidation. Together, the reviewed research supports an adaptive model of memory in which an individual’s motivational state (i.e., learning under states of reward or punishment) shapes the nature of memory representations in service of future goals. The impact of motivation on learning and memory, therefore, has very clear implications for and applications to educational settings.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the implementation of a storytelling teaching method in a company law course for accounting students and to evaluate its influence on engagement and effective learning.

The learning activity, known as “corporate villains”, is based on theories of storytelling and engagement. Selected qualitative and quantitative data from university course and teaching evaluation surveys were used to assess the achievement of objectives and identify learning outcomes.

The corporate villains learning activity engaged students at the beginning of the lecture and influenced student learning by demonstrating the relevance, or “real life” application, of company law to accounting students. Corporate villains also stimulated curiosity in learning more about the law which is characteristic of students pursuing a deep approach to learning.

The study extends the research on storytelling in accounting and legal education and supports empirical evidence as to the positive impact of storytelling on student engagement in learning. In particular, the study reveals the potential for corporate villains to address various academic and student concerns about company law by humanising the law and enabling students to connect the legal concepts to the story and to the curriculum.