Epistemological agency in the workplace

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to report and discuss research that sought to explore how the individually purposeful nature of new employee workplace learning might be understood through its conception as epistemological agency, that is, the personally mediated construction of knowledge.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a sociocultural constructivist perspective on learning as necessary action‐in‐context, the ethnographic study investigates the working and learning actions of three new employees through the first months of their employment.

Findings

This paper proposes that the actions of its participants can be interpreted within a framework that accounts for the major influences on their learning as mediational means. It suggests that these mediations comprise an individualised workplace agenda that is purposefully managed by the new employee. Epistemological agency is defined and presented as a conception of learning that captures the new employees taking charge of the conduct and accomplishments of their actions at work, that is, their self‐management of learning.

Originality/value

The findings are significant because they indicate how the personal agency of the new employee learner can be accounted for within the process and product of workplace learning. In doing so they help illuminate the role of the individual within social conceptions of learning and agency.

Citation

Smith, R. (2006), "Epistemological agency in the workplace", Journal of Workplace Learning, Vol. 18 No. 3, pp. 157-170. https://doi.org/10.1108/13665620610654586