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The purpose of this research paper is to investigate the presence of learning conditions for non‐formal and informal workplace learning in relation to the characteristics of the employee and the organisation he or she works for.

The questionnaire developed by Clauwaert and Van Bree on learning conditions was administered to 1,162 employees of 31 different organisations. An explorative factor analysis was performed to reduce the number of variables and to look for underlying constructs in the data. Second, a series of analyses of variance were calculated in order to be able to compare the factors in different kinds of groups of employees.

The authors concluded that for the five learning conditions that were identified in this research, different kinds of groups of employees have different chances for non‐formal and informal learning. These learning conditions are “feedback and knowledge acquisition”, “new learning approach and communication tools”, “being coached”, “coaching others”, and “information acquisition”.

The value of this research is that it has shown that characteristics of the employee and his or her organisation have a relationship with the presence of learning conditions or chances for non‐formal and informal workplace learning. Moreover, this research included all kinds of employees and not only those responsible for training and education in the organisation. This research focused on conceptions and perceptions of “regular” employees.

From a workplace learning perspective, the purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between conditions for learning and stressful work and, to analyse the learning conditions that support the management of stressful work. The model of effort-reward imbalance (ERI) is adopted as an indicator of stressful work by measuring the relationship between Effort and Rewards in work.

The material consists of questionnaire data from 4,420 employees in ten public and private organisations in Sweden.

The results provide evidence that suggests that some workplace conditions known to enable learning also indicates a comparatively better chance for employees to manage stressful work. An innovative practice reduces the feelings of effort, whereas managerial support and knowledge sharing serve as rewards contributing to appreciation, while competence and career development create rewards in the form of opportunities for progression.

Workplaces in which there are enabling learning conditions can provide employees with ample resources for managing stressful work.

This paper explores the complex relationship between workplace learning conditions and the ERI model seen from a workplace learning perspective which has received relatively sparse attention in the literature.

The purpose of this paper is to examine and discuss conditions for workplace learning in gender-segregated workplaces in the public sector, how social constructions of gender contribute to (or constrain) the workplace learning conditions within two workplace contexts.

The research was carried out through an interactive approach with data from 12 semi-structured interviews with workers and first-line managers from technical maintenance and home care in a Swedish municipality, validated at an analysis seminar with 27 participations, from both workplace contexts the Swedish Work Environment Authority and us researchers.

The results indicate that gender affects conditions for workplace learning and contributes to an enabling learning environment in the male-dominated workplace context and to a constraining learning environment in the female-dominated workplace context. The identified differences are created in both organisational structures and the organisations’ cultures.

When analysing conditions for workplace learning from a gender perspective, the approach of comparative, cross-case analyses is useful. An interactive approach with women and men describing and analysing their work experiences together with researchers is a fruitful way of making gender visible.

The theoretical approach in this study illuminates how social constructions of gender operate and affect conditions for workplace learning and contributes to a deeper understanding of underlying causes to unequal conditions in different workplace contexts.

The findings imply a gender divide which, from the theoretical strands, can be seen as an expression of asymmetrical power relations and where these gendered learning conditions probably also affect the quality of the services.

The findings contribute to existing gender theoretical literature by demonstrating that gender is essential to take into consideration when understanding working conditions in different workplace contexts. This study contributes to workplace learning literature by exploring the different ways in which social constructions of gender contribute to enabling and constraining learning environments.

The purpose of this paper is to explore in detail how teachers' perceptions of workplace conditions for learning are related to their informal workplace learning activities and learning outcomes.

From a sample of 32 teachers, a purposeful sampling technique of maximal variation was used to select two cases described in this paper. In a mixed methods design quantitative data are used to position the two teachers in relation to their peers. Qualitative data are used to describe the two cases in depth.

The findings show how the diverging ways in which the two teachers perceive and actively shape their workplace conditions help to explain differences in the teachers' learning activities and learning outcomes.

Scholars have argued that informal workplace learning is embedded in interdependent practices that arise from the interaction between social practices and individual agency. The case studies provide insight into how workplace conditions for learning are shaped in this interaction and how perceptions of these conditions enable or constrain teachers' informal workplace learning.

This paper aims to examine and discuss learning conditions for teachers, in the context of choice and decentralisation reforms.

This article is based on analyses of 30 interviews with Swedish upper secondary teachers focusing on their experiences of their conditions for learning.

This paper shows how teachers at upper secondary level identify their subjects as the most important to learn more within. Secondly, we also show that spatial and temporal aspects of organisation of work seem to influence the conditions for subject learning, where the interviewees in many ways contrast their own view to how they describe their work being organised.

Our findings may have currency for other professional groups with similar governance-contexts, and teachers in other similar governance-contexts.

These findings indicate the need to further develop workplace learning strategies founded upon the understanding of schools as workplaces, taking occupational values into account. Furthermore, these strategies should be seen as a core Human Resource Management issue, as they can potentially enhance the work environment, thus increasing the profession’s attractiveness.

We show that spatial and temporal aspects of organisation of work seem to influence the conditions for the sought after subject learning, and that the teachers and the school management seem to identify with different and clashing ideals in terms of what, when, how and with whom to learn.

The purpose of this paper is to increase understanding of how the introduction of a team‐based work organization can affect the opportunities to learn at work. Two research questions are addressed: “What conditions are important for learning and competence development in a team‐based work organization?” and “To what extent does a team‐based work organization support and enhance favourable learning conditions for team members?”

Investigations are based on longitudinal case studies of work‐based learning and the development of a team‐based organization in three manufacturing companies.

Results demonstrate that there are no straightforward or linear relations between the introduction of team‐based production and the expansion of learning conditions. The study also identifies several challenges and dilemmas organizations meet when they introduce a team‐based production.

Several conditions important for learning in a team‐based production are emphasized, including: the needs for challenging work tasks; the development of team leadership; and the significance of supportive learning conditions.

The study contributes to an understanding of organizational change and development as a non‐linear process, which can be understood as a complex interplay between actors and internal and external organizational conditions.

The purpose of this paper is to collect new evidence about the efficacy of the pedagogical principles derived from our earlier study on boosting students’ financial literacy, with the aim of providing a theoretically and practically powerful account of how generative learning in the domain of financial literacy can be enhanced.

This is an example of learning study consisting of a design experiment, which aims to test the conjectures of the variation theory of learning. A total of 156 students who were aged from 14 to 16 years were taught under the three learning conditions which embedded the test criteria, and a total of seven lessons were used by the two participating teachers for each of the classes. To assess students’ appropriation of the object of learning, four tests were conducted, i.e. a pre-test, post-test immediately after the lessons, delayed post-test after six weeks and second delayed post-test after six months.

This study shows that a systematic use of the pattern of “contrast-fusion-generalization” to deal with the individual core economic concepts identified can help students lay a solid conceptual foundation for developing financial literacy. Furthermore, with the use of the meta-level pattern of “contrast-fusion-generalization” through complex everyday financial problems or situations which transcend the specific concepts, students can make effective use of the core economic concepts learned and transform them organically into one’s analytical framework. This enables students to discern and focus upon the critical aspects of novel financial situations and have a greater likelihood of making well-reasoned and sound financial decisions.

This paper sheds light on the ways in which students’ generative learning in the domain of financial literacy can be enhanced through the conceptual approach grounded in the variation theory of learning.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between satisfaction with ambient conditions and perceptions of situated learning in knowledge-intensive organizations. The paper argues that satisfaction with ambient conditions facilitates situated learning in open office environments.

A cross-sectional study was conducted on 117 professionals from IT and consultancy companies. Hierarchical linear regression was used to analyze the impact of satisfaction with ambient conditions on perceptions of situated learning.

Learning that occurs in everyday activities on the job is enhanced by satisfying ambient conditions in the physical environments of open offices.

The paper contributes to literature on organizational learning by examining aspects of the physical environment as antecedents of organizational learning, thereby providing insights for design and management of office environments to maximize employee outcomes.

The purpose of this study is to examine learning and employee-driven innovation (EDI) in the public sector, with a particular focus on the interplay between employee engagement and organisational conditions.

The material consists of qualitative interviews with 23 participants from three municipal sites of innovation support that participated in a national programme aiming to strengthen municipalities’ innovation work.

The study found numerous constraining organisational conditions resulting in consequential loss of employee engagement for EDI. The conclusion drawn is that employee engagement and enabling organisational conditions are central to EDI in public sector workplaces, and that incorporating EDI into municipal daily operations requires paying attention to the interplay between organisational conditions and employee engagement.

This paper provides important guidance for supporting EDI in the public sector. Implementing EDI into operations requires employee engagement to be successful. However, employees’ engagement should not be overlooked or taken for granted. A practical implication of this study is that EDI in the workplace must be encouraged by creating a learning environment that supports innovative learning in the workplace. In practice, measures should be taken to support employee engagement by creating organisational conditions that provide a more expansive learning environment to ensure the continuity and perpetuation of EDI in public sector organisations.

This paper aims to focus on conditions for workplace learning (WPL) in highly transient workplaces, exemplified by the tourism and hospitality sector in the Arctic region. The aim is to analyse and discuss how employees and employers view the conditions for employees’ WPL from their respective perspectives.

The study is based on a qualitative approach. Ten interviews with employers and ten interviews with employees were carried out. This opens for different perspectives, including identifying “learning gaps”. The analysis was thematic, with a focus on opportunities and challenges for WPL in these transient workplace contexts.

Overall, conditions for WPL seem unsatisfactory. On the one hand, both employees and employers see WPL as essential for staff retention. Employers also see WPL as a strategy for business development and, thus, profit. On the other hand, high staff turnover makes it challenging to strategically invest in and organize for WPL, especially formal learning. Hence, a Catch-22 situation emerges.

As this study is qualitative in its scope, generalizations are analytical rather than statistical.

There is a shortage of studies on conditions for WPL, focusing particularly on transient workplaces. Moreover, by including employer and employee perspectives, the authors contribute to a gap in the literature. The empirical contribution of this paper thus lies in using a theoretical WPL framework on transient workplaces, exemplified by the tourism and hospitality industries in the Arctic region.