Age and learning during unemployment

Citation

Niessen, C. (2007), "Age and learning during unemployment", Development and Learning in Organizations, Vol. 21 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/dlo.2007.08121aad.008

Age and learning during unemployment

Age and learning during unemployment

Niessen C.Journal of Organizational Behaviour, September 2006, Vol. 27 No. 6, Start page: 771, No. of pages: 22

Purpose – to examine the influence of age and other factors (past experience of job control, social support and financial hardship) on the continuous learning activities of unemployed individuals. Design/methodology/approach – drawing on the literature, develops a number of hypotheses specifying the relationships between continuous learning (comprising motivation to learn, education initiative, and updating behavior), age, and the factors which are expected to support or hinder continuous learning, and tests these hypotheses using data from 172 unemployed individuals (no younger than 20 and no older than 59) with at least six months of work experience mainly recruited through an employment centre in Saxony, Germany. Findings – the relationship between age and continuous learning differed according to personal and situational factors in that when past job control and social support were lacking, age was positively associated with continuous learning but when these resources were available, there were no age effects on continuous learning. Contrary to expectations, no significant moderator effect of financial hardship on age-related deficits in continuous learning was found. Research limitations/implications – identifies four major limitations of this study, including its reliance on self-report measures and its cross-sectional design. Future research should explore other individual and situational characteristics that support continuous learning for younger individuals. Originality/value – notes that compared to research on the relationship between retraining and re-employment success, relatively little is known about the antecedents of retraining efforts during unemployment.ISSN: 0894-3796Reference: 35AW926

Keywords: Age groups, Continuing professional development, Learning, Unemployment