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Although positive psychology asserts that authenticity comes from identifying and using our strengths, no quantitative research has been conducted to test that relationship. This study aims to examine the mediating role of work authenticity in linking strengths use to career satisfaction and proactive behavior.

Using a two-wave survey with nurses in two large, acute hospitals in Japan (n = 298), a structural equation model was produced.

The results show that work authenticity fully mediated between strengths use and career satisfaction, and that work authenticity partially mediated between strengths use and proactive behavior.

As work authenticity, career satisfaction and proactive behavior were measured at time 2, it is desirable to conduct a three-wave survey to measure these variables separately in future research.

It may be imperative to recognize that employees who use their strengths are satisfied with their careers only by enhancing authenticity at work.

The main contribution of this study was to identify the mediating role of work authenticity in linking strengths use to both career-related well-being and proactive work behaviors.

Although cognitive apprenticeship has been widely used in various educational fields, few empirical studies have examined its effectiveness in a workplace context. This study aims to investigate the effects of cognitive apprenticeship on junior doctors’ perceived professional growth in hospitals.

A retrospective questionnaire survey was performed that asked surgeons (n = 87) and physicians (n = 92) to recall how they were instructed by their supervisors during the first five years after graduation from medical school.

The results of multiple regression analyzes showed that all dimensions of cognitive apprenticeship (modeling, coaching, scaffolding, articulation, reflection and exploration) had positive effects on each doctor’s perceived growth, regardless of the type of clinical practice (surgeon vs physician) or the period of supervision. It was also found that physicians experienced significantly more coaching and scaffolding, and opportunities for, articulation and reflection, than surgeons.

Some of the data were collected through snowball sampling, and this study used a retrospective survey in which respondents were asked to recall past experiences.

Clinical supervisors in hospitals should adopt a cognitive apprenticeship model when supervising junior doctors. Surgical supervisors need to be more conscious of the benefits of cognitive apprenticeship.

This study confirmed that the six dimensions of cognitive apprenticeship had positive influences on the perceived growth of junior doctors, regardless of their clinical domains or period of supervision and that clinical domains influence the implementation of cognitive apprenticeship.

This study aims to examine how perceived supervisor support for strengths use (PSSSU) directly and indirectly facilitates career satisfaction and perceived employability as mediated by strengths use behavior.

A two-wave questionnaire survey was administered to nurses (n = 221) and analyzed using structural equation modeling.

Results indicated that PSSSU directly enhanced career satisfaction and indirectly enhanced perceived employability through strengths use behavior.

As the sample was limited to nurses in a Japanese hospital, it is possible that the characteristics of the national culture and occupation affected the results.

Support for strengths use is important especially in stressful work environments in order to retain professional employees by enhancing their employability and career satisfaction.

This study extends the literature by identifying the different effects of PSSSU on the two types of career-related well-being. The present research is the first study to show the mediating role played by strengths use behavior in linking PSSSU to perceived employability.

Although unlearning is considered an essential step for creativity, little is known about the relationship between team unlearning and employee creativity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating role of individual reflection between team unlearning and employee creativity.

The research model was tested using multisource survey data from 164 employees in 28 teams at a manufacturing firm and a service firm.

The results of the multilevel analyses indicated that team unlearning had a positive influence on supervisor-rated employee creativity, fully mediated by individual reflection.

It should be noted that employee creativity is not automatically enhanced through team unlearning. Managers should encourage members to reflect on their work practices following team-unlearning exercises for the purpose of enhancing their creativity.

The findings contribute to the existing literature by demonstrating that reflective practices play significant roles in linking team unlearning with employee creativity. This study explored preceding literature examining employee creativity in terms of the unlearning process.

Although positive psychology emphasizes the importance of reflecting on success in promoting strengths use and self-efficacy, no research has developed a measure of reflection on success. The purpose of this study is to develop and validate the scales for reflection on success and failures.

Study 1 was conducted to extract the dimensions of reflection on success and failures using survey data from nurses (n = 298), whereas Study 2 involved validation of the scales using a two-wave survey of physical therapists (n = 291).

In Study 1, the factors of “reflection on success” and “reflection on failures” were extracted by exploratory factor analysis. In Study 2, the discriminant validity of the two scales was established via confirmatory factor analyses. The structural equation modeling results indicated that reflection on success promoted work authenticity, work engagement and strengths use, while reflection on failures only promoted work engagement, indicating the convergent validity of the scales.

As the research subjects were medical professionals in Japan, the scales need to be validated with samples from a wide range of occupations and cultural backgrounds, in future research.

The present research expands the literature on reflection and strengths-based approach by introducing the “success–failures” dimension based on positive psychology, broaden-and-build theory and job demands–resources theory.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of team and individual reflexivity in linking managerial coaching with individual learning.

Data obtained from 506 individuals in 98 engineering teams in the automobile and electronic industries were used to investigate specific hypotheses.

The results indicated that managerial coaching directly influenced team learning and individual learning, team reflexivity acted as substantial mediator for the relationship between managerial coaching and team learning, as well as the relationship between managerial coaching and individual reflexivity and team reflexivity and individual reflexivity co-acted each other as mediators for the relationship between managerial coaching and individual learning.

As the subjects of this study were engineering teams in which tasks are interdependent, there is a possibility that the task trait may have affected the results.

Managers should recognize the importance of collectively reflective activities in promoting both individual and team learning. Facilitating coaching skills are indispensable to enhance reflexivity within teams.

This study extends prior research by demonstrating the mediating role of team and individual reflexivity as mediators in linking managerial coaching to team and individual learning, which has never been investigated in previous studies.

The authors investigated the moderating effect of sales experience on the relationship between salespeople’s procedural knowledge and their performance, using a sample of 108 salespeople working at three car dealerships in Japan. Moderated regression analyses suggested that the more experience salespeople gain, the stronger the relationship between procedural knowledge and performance becomes. The results provide some support for the hypothesis that the sales experience moderates the relationship between procedural knowledge and performance, which is consistent with Anderson’s (1982, 1983) model and the ten‐year rule of necessary preparation in expertise research. The results also suggest that a high‐performing sales expert has customer‐oriented and active selling knowledge. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings in managing salespeople are discussed.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

High performance work systems can be used to improve the skills and abilities of customer-facing roles in the healthcare system.

The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how business professionals learn both through sharing knowledge with others, and from their own direct experience.

There are two contrasting approaches to knowledge management. One suggests that knowledge should be disseminated efficiently through the use of information technology‐based systems, the other maintains that it is more important to encourage and share the “knowing” that arises directly from the experiences of employees. This paper examines these two approaches from interviews with consultants and project managers in six major Japanese companies.

The paper concludes that there is often a trade‐off between technology‐based systems and experience, where strong technological systems inhibit experience‐based learning, and refer to this as the “knowledge‐sharing dilemma”. But this is not always the case. The results suggest that when employees are encouraged to customize technology‐based knowledge for their own purposes this will actually enhance their capability for experiential learning.

Since the data presented in this research are limited to the IT professionals in Japanese firms, further studies could consider the international context and other industries in order to generalize the findings.

A major dilemma about combining experiential learning with computer‐based knowledge sharing was identified. This “knowledge sharing dilemma” implies that the more computer‐based knowledge sharing is promoted, the less that experiential learning may take place. By introducing the idea of customisation the paper extends the concept beyond a simple trade‐off in knowledge sharing.

The purpose of this study was to examine how human resource development (HRD) programs promote the linkage between knowledge transfer and knowledge creation in engineering departments.

This study adopted a case study approach to the Toyota Technical Development Corporation (TTDC), an affiliated company of Toyota Motor Corporation. Data were collected from interviews with managers of the TTDC as well as its internal documents.

Three major findings can be extracted from the paper. First, The TTDC effectively links knowledge transfer to knowledge creation so that new knowledge on vehicle development is created by transferred competencies. Second, the TTDC promotes the transfer of explicit and tacit knowledge by complementarily combining off-the-job and on-the-job training (OJT). Third, HRD programs are developed and operated in communities of practice.

The practices described in this paper are limited to two departments of the TTDC. Hence, the findings should be interpreted in light of this constraint.

Knowledge officers should integrate multiple HRD programs so that knowledge transfer is organically linked to knowledge creation by combining off-the-job training, OJT and kaizen (continuous improvement) programs.

This paper constitutes one of the earliest works that analyzes the effect of HRD programs on integrating knowledge transfer and knowledge creation.