Workplace Learning Overview

Principles

Definition

Workplace learning is the academic field investigating the processes, contexts, and outcomes by which individuals and groups acquire knowledge, skills, and competencies within organizational settings, focusing on situated, often informal, learning mechanisms critical for performance and adaptation.

Ontological type

Theoretical Foundations

Learning Modalities

Organizational Contexts

Key developments

Key Figures

Practice-Based Social Learning era

Yrjö Engeström [1] is associated with the University of California, San Diego [3] and the University of Helsinki [4] during the Practice-Based Social Learning era. His key contribution in this era is Expansive Learning at Work: Toward an activity theoretical reconceptualization [6], a framework that reframes workplace learning as collective growth through changing practices and intertwined activity systems, which was important for understanding how learning emerges in everyday work. Mary Crossan [2] is affiliated with Western University [5] during this era. Her works An Organizational Learning Framework: From Intuition to Institution [7] and Organizational Learning: Debates Past, Present And Future [8] contributed to moving organizational learning from intuition toward codified institutions and to debates about how learning is created and sustained in organizations, thereby advancing the understanding of workplace learning as social and institutional practice.

Informal Learning Ecosystems era

Arnold B. Bakker [1] is a prominent figure in this era of informal workplace learning, with affiliations at Erasmus University Rotterdam [3] and University College London [4]. The 2011 paper An Evidence-Based Model of Work Engagement [6] presents an empirical framework that links engagement with everyday learning processes in workplace settings, clarifying why engagement matters for informal learning and employability in this era. Michael Eraut [2] is a central figure in this era, associated with University of Sussex [5], and his 2007 paper Learning from other people in the workplace [7] foregrounds informal social learning as a core mechanism. Eraut's work [2], anchored at University of Sussex [5], and the insights from Learning from other people in the workplace [7] illuminate how social networks, collaborative interactions, and transfer climates sustain learning and contribute to career capital within informal workplace ecosystems.

Transfer-Oriented Work-Integrated Learning era

Karen E. Watkins [1], affiliated with Thomas Jefferson University [3] and the University of Georgia [4] during this era, anchors scholarship on workplace learning in a digitizing, outcome-focused landscape. Her contribution is exemplified by the paper Informal and Incidental Learning in the time of COVID-19 [6], which analyzes how informal learning during the pandemic supports rapid transfer of skills to work, a critical mechanism in Transfer-Oriented Work-Integrated Learning. Victoria J. Marsick [2], with affiliations at Columbia University [5] and Thomas Jefferson University [3], extends these insights by foregrounding reflective practice and institutional learning processes as core drivers of workplace readiness. Her work, including collaboration on the Informal and Incidental Learning in the time of COVID-19 [6], emphasizes transfer-oriented learning pathways mediated by digital infrastructures and crisis adaptations, reinforcing the era's emphasis on measurable outcomes and AI-ready skill architectures.