The impact of learning culture on worker response to new technology

Abstract

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to provide a framework to measure the response of blue‐collar workers to new technology in manufacturing and to establish the relationship between learning culture and that response.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected with a survey questionnaire from 12 manufacturing sites that were implementing a number of diverse new technologies. The dimensions of worker response were identified with exploratory factor analysis and the relationship between these factors and learning culture was established with path analysis.FindingsFactor analysis identified seven dimensions of worker response: disgruntlement, job‐security concerns, accommodation, informal learning, resistance, discussion, and formal learning. Learning culture had a large, statistically significant relationship with disgruntlement and medium, statistically significant relationships with job‐security concerns, accommodation, informal learning, and formal learning.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample was limited to manufacturing locations in the southeastern USA and the respondents were almost all male and either White or African‐American.Practical implicationsThese findings establish a strong positive relationship between learning culture and behavioral, affective and cognitive responses of workers to new technology. This is key for supporting learning culture in organizations that naturally are inclined to worker isolation and independence.Originality/valueEmpirical work of this nature is limited in manufacturing facilities. These organizations tend to be closed to research because of concerns regarding the security of proprietary information or the personal safety of the researcher.