The moderating role of a high-performance culture on growth mindset attitude and informal workplace learning behaviour

Abstract

The theory of planned behaviour was applied to understand behaviour regarding one’s attitude (growth mindset), subjective norms (high-performance culture), and informal workplace learning behaviours (perceived behavioural control) that predicts behavioural intention and determined one’s behaviour. Understanding the cause-and-effect relationships between these components and intention has not been well researched and this research therefore allowed the opportunity to gain new insight into organisational life and an aspect of human behaviour. A self-reported online survey was distributed, and data collected from 137 respondents. The sample population were individuals employed by medium to large South African organisations in the private and public sector holding a non-executive role. The findings for hypothesis 1 showed growth mindset attitude was not a predictor of informal workplace learning behaviours, however accepting the null hypothesis leads to a false negative (type II error) as previous research had shown such a relationship could be predicted. The findings for hypothesis 2 showed high-performance culture was statistically significant to moderate growth mindset and informal workplace learning component, intrinsic intent to learn. This indicated that a behavioural change would occur when an individual was intrinsically motivated to learn informally. By considering combinations of behaviour-specific components and their cause-and-effect relationships, organisations can encourage lifelong learning by their employees to remain successful and have competitive advantage.