مقاله سال ۲۰۱۷

Much has been written about fun in the workplace as an important means to engage employees and foster productive work cultures. In their book Built to Last, Collins and Porras (1997) found that two great companies, Marriott and Walt Disney World, have strong corporate cultures that emphasize fun. Marriott‘s core ideology statement is ―work hard, yet keep it fun‖ (p. 89), and Walt Disney World‘s annual report contained words such as ―fun, excitement, and joy‖ (p. 129). Moreover, a number of Fortune‘s 100 Best Companies to Work For, such as The Container Store, Google, SAS, Starbucks, Wegmans, and Zappos, promote fun to enhance their workplaces (Collinson, 2002; Karl, Peluchette, Hall, & Harland, 2005).

A growing body of research has shown that fun in the workplace has important consequences. For example, Karl and colleagues illustrated that fun is significantly related to job satisfaction (Karl & Peluchette, 2006; Peluchette & Karl, 2005), emotional exhaustion (Karl, Peluchette, & Harland 2007), and turnover intentions (Karl, Peluchette, & Hall, 2008). Furthermore, Tews and colleagues found that fun is related to applicant attraction (Tews, Michel, & Bartlett, 2012), job embeddedness (Tews, Michel, Xu, & Drost, 2015), job performance (Tews, Michel, & Stafford, 2013), and employee retention (Tews, Michel, & Allen, 2014). In the learning domain, Tews, Jackson, Ramsay, and Michel (2015) found that fun delivery of instruction was positively related to learner engagement.

The present study extends research on fun in the workplace by examining the impact of fun on informal learning. Informal learning typically occurs outside of the formal classroom, is not highly structured, is learner-initiated and controlled, and involves a conscious intent to engage in independent actions and interactions (Marsick, Volpe, & Watkins, 1999; Watkins & Marsick, 1990). Informal learning encompasses a variety of behavior to learn new knowledge and skills, such as self-reflection, experimenting with new ways of performing work, interacting with others, and reading job relevant material (Noe, Tews, & Marand, 2013). Such learning is particularly important to help individuals acquire new knowledge and skills on an ongoing basis in today‘s dynamic and competitive business environment. Because informal learning is largely volitional and under an individual‘s control, it is important to determine which features of the work environment lead to informal learning. Toward this end, research has demonstrated that a number of workplace characteristics facilitate informal learning, such as management‘s commitment to learning, a learning culture, access to resources, and positive work relationships (Ellinger, 2005; Berg & Chyung, 2008; Doornbos, Simons, & Denessen, 2008; Kyndt, Dochy, & Nijs, 2009). Notwithstanding these findings, much is yet to be learned.