The Effects of Self-Regulated Learning Processes on E-Learning Outcomes in Organizational Settings

This paper focuses on employees' e-learning processes during online job training. A new categorization of self-regulated learning strategies, that is, personal versus social learning strategies, is proposed, and measurement scales are developed. The new measures were tested using data collected from employees in a large company. Our approach provides context-relevant insights into online training providers and employees themselves. The results suggest that learners adopt different self-regulated learning strategies resulting in different e-learning outcomes. Furthermore, the use of self-regulated learning strategies is influenced by individual factors such as virtual competence and goal orientation, and job and contextual factors such as intellectual demand and cooperative norms. The findings can (1) help e-learners obtain better learning outcomes through their active use of varied learning strategies, (2) provide useful information for organizations that are currently using or plan to use e-learning for training, and (3) inform software designers to integrate self-regulated learning strategy support in e-learning system design and development.