Motivated to learn? Investigating the link of achievement goals and informal workplace learning of lecturers in higher education

Abstract

Research on lecturers' achievement goals and their impact on professional learning in higher education is a topic that has assumed importance in recent years. However, previous studies have neglected the multidimensionality of informal workplace learning and ignored the differences between self-based and social-based informal learning. Based on the Achievement Goal Theory, we propose positive links between learning approach goals and self-based informal learning, as well as positive links between normative goals and social-based informal learning. Findings from a first cross-sectional study with 317 lecturers from higher education institutions in Germany show associations that are largely consistent with our hypotheses. While learning approach goals are moderately related to self-based informal learning, normative avoidance goals are slightly related to social-based informal learning. In a second study, 185 lecturers from higher education institutions in Austria received three text-based vignettes and answered a survey about which teaching-related informal learning activities they would use in specific situations (i.e., before, during, and after the teaching phase). The results replicate most of the findings from the first study; however, the results are not stable when various control variables are included. Moreover, the associations between achievement goals and informal learning are largely consistent across the simulated semester, although lecturers with strong learning approach goals engage in self-based informal learning particularly before and during the teaching phase. Our findings provide support for the notion that personal motivational characteristics, in the form of achievement goals, are associated with informal learning in the workplace. We conclude by discussing practical implications for those teaching in higher education.