How to increase social capital of organizations: identifying the role of informal learning behaviors

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to highlight the role of informal learning behaviors in increasing the social capital of organizations. The paper provides a brief overview of social capital and informal learning and proposes to interlink them for increasing knowledge capability of organizations. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on a review of social capital theory and informal learning behaviors, this article presents a conceptual approach for practitioners to deploy informal learning behaviors to increase social capital and subsequently, the knowledge capability of their organizations. Findings With the fast-changing global business scenario and limited availability of capital to invest in formal training behaviors, organizations continue to face difficulties in increasing their knowledge capability. This article suggests a simple, cost-effective and easy-to-deploy method of employing informal learning behaviors to build and sustain social capital and through it the knowledge capabilities of organizations. Originality/value There is currently limited research into the applicability of using informal learning behaviors in the field of social capital and knowledge capability building.

Social media activity: its impact on career-related perceptions

“…Our exploratory study answers the call for additional research on social media networks' impact on careers (Akkermans and Kubasch, 2017) and informal learning behaviors' impact on social capital (Joseph and Totawar, 2021). Specifically, we examined informal online learning via social media, as it relates to typical (e.g.…”

“…Informal online learning is defined as the unstructured learning that happens in daily life while people are accessing the internet (Holland, 2019). Joseph and Totawar (2021) noted that online learning is among the types of employee learning behaviors that research has shown to increase performance, knowledge/skill acquisition and learning in organizations. This is often due to relational social capital, which results when relationships develop through interactions with others (Joseph and Totawar, 2021).…”

Importance of Digital Skills for Competitive Labour Force – Challenges in Work-Based Learning in Latvia

“…Researchers in their academic research since long have stated the question -can workbased learning programmes help companies to become learning organisations (Ions & Minton, 2012) as such companies are increasingly on demand. For work-based learning there is another key question -how to increase social capital of organizations, also identifying and analysing the role of informal learning behaviours (Joseph & Totawar, 2021) becoming more and more significant. Creatively expanding research results from work-based learning (Scott, 2020;Walsh, 2007) has inspired future innovative steps and made practical explanations in understanding work-based learning (Sossi, 2011;Wall et al, 2017a).…”

Informal learning behaviors and the role of workplace support: preliminary findings from an India-USA workforce

“…However, there are alternative ways to develop employees' competencies, as even in highly institutionalized organizations, knowledge sharing occurs informally. Studies have shown that employees learn only 10-20% through formal learning behaviors while the rest are through informal learning behaviors (Joseph and Totawar, 2020). “Informal learning behaviors (ILBs) are activities pursued in the service of knowledge and skill acquisition that take place outside formally-designated learning contexts” (Cerasoli et al , 2018, p.204).…”