Abstract
There is contrary research around whether collaboration at work fosters individual learning and skill development. This study’s purpose was to examine the relationship between social characteristics of jobs on adults’ cognitive skills as measured by the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). For select industry sectors, we used a linear regression model to predict scores for PIAAC scales—literacy, numeracy, and problem solving in technology-rich environments—based on the independent variables gender, education level, frequency of workplace collaboration, and frequency of sharing work-related information. Results showed level of collaboration at work is negatively associated with PIAAC scores, contradicting current thinking on the role of social interactions in the workplace. We conclude there may be an overemphasis on the social characteristics in job design in some industries and workplaces, leaving little support and time for other activities known to support workplace learning, like management support and time for reflection.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 140-174 |
| Number of pages | 35 |
| Journal | Adult Education Quarterly |
| Volume | 70 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - May 1 2020 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Lopes Tobin 1 Scully-Russ Ellen 2 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1728-1796 Zarestky Jill 1 Collins Joshua C. 3 1 Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA 2 The George Washington University, Ashburn, VA, USA 3 University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, USA Jill Zarestky, School of Education, Colorado State University, 1588 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1588, USA. Email: [email protected] 11 2019 0741713619884567 © The Author(s) 2019 2019 American Association for Adult and Continuing Education There is contrary research around whether collaboration at work fosters individual learning and skill development. This study’s purpose was to examine the relationship between social characteristics of jobs on adults’ cognitive skills as measured by the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). For select industry sectors, we used a linear regression model to predict scores for PIAAC scales—literacy, numeracy, and problem solving in technology-rich environments—based on the independent variables gender, education level, frequency of workplace collaboration, and frequency of sharing work-related information. Results showed level of collaboration at work is negatively associated with PIAAC scores, contradicting current thinking on the role of social interactions in the workplace. We conclude there may be an overemphasis on the social characteristics in job design in some industries and workplaces, leaving little support and time for other activities known to support workplace learning, like management support and time for reflection. workplace collaboration workforce development cognitive skills PIAAC American Institutes for Research https://doi.org/10.13039/100002585 U.S. Department of Education https://doi.org/10.13039/100000138 edited-state corrected-proof Declaration of Conflicting Interests The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Funding The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This project has been partially funded by the American Institutes for Research through a contract with the National Center for Education Statistics of the U.S. Department of Education. ORCID iD Jill Zarestky https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1728-1796
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2020.
Keywords
- PIAAC
- cognitive skills
- workforce development
- workplace collaboration
