We investigate mental stress and relaxation patterns in professionals occupying leadership roles in emergency care and special police units. A key finding is that on days that involve critical missions, these individuals experience negative mental stress (i.e., distress) that escalates as the day unfolds. In contrast, on non-leadership workdays, mental distress remains relatively stable, while on non-workdays, participants exhibit positive mental stress (i.e., eustress) that subsides over time, facilitating relaxation. These findings stem from a four-day naturalistic study of $n=24$ professionals, during which we collected physiological, mobility, and psychometric data. Using participant debriefings and sensor-based validation triggers (e.g., GPS, cadence), we labeled activities in 5-minute intervals and focused our analysis on sedentary periods. We defined stress during these periods as a normalized heart rate that exceeds two standard deviations above a personalized baseline, thus isolating mental stress uncontaminated by physical exertion. A logistic regression model based on this stress labeling method yielded results largely consistent with those obtained from Kubios' SNS Index, reinforcing its validity. In cases of disagreement, our method aligned better with participant reports and established literature, highlighting advantages in interpretability and specificity. Overall, our work makes three contributions: (a) to affective science, by quantifying the mentally stressful nature of leadership in high-stakes environments; (b) to affective computing, by proposing a wearable compatible method for estimating mental stress during sedentary activity in the wild; (c) to data science, by introducing a well-annotated, multimodal dataset suitable for machine learning benchmarking in stress detection.

Crisis team leaders face exceptionally high performance standards. Prior research has identified acute and chronic stress in these roles, yet little is known about crisis team leaders' personal stress experiences in high-stakes environments. This qualitative study explores crisis team leaders' stress appraisals, coping strategies, and reactions through 17 semi-structured interviews, addressing: (1) Which stressors do crisis team leaders appraise when leading a multi-team system during crises? (2) What coping strategies do they use during and after crises, and how do these strategies evolve? (3) How do physical, emotional, and cognitive stress reactions impact their well-being and performance? The findings revealed central stressors, including the unpredictability of crises, the demands of leading multi-team systems, and tactical and socio-emotional responsibilities. At the team level, coping strategies included preparation, protocol use, and network support; personally, leaders relied on a positive stress mindset or detachment. Acute stress was described as enhancing cognitive function and performance, though frequently reported adverse stress symptoms raise concerns about leaders' long-term emotional and physical well-being, especially in prolonged crises or without backup support. The study underscores the need for robust organizational support to ensure crisis team leaders' coping with stress and regeneration. Future research should explore causal links between stressors, coping strategies, and health outcomes.

Does student perception of Assessment for Learning (AfL) predict intrinsic motivation and is this relation mediated by the fulfillment of the needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence? A total of 1658 students from junior vocational high schools completed a questionnaire assessing intrinsic motivation, need fulfillment for autonomy, relatedness, and competence, and perceptions of AfL practices. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the multiple mediation model of intrinsic motivation predicted by AfL through basic need fulfillment. Results indicated that AfL positively predicted intrinsic motivation, and this relation was fully mediated by fulfillment of needs for competence and relatedness, but not for autonomy. Perceived scaffolding predicted the fulfillment of all three basic needs and emerged as the primary predictor of intrinsic motivation. These findings indicate that fostering competence and relatedness through AfL practices may enhance student motivation.

This study explores the impact of adult basic education programs aimed at enhancing social inclusion for immigrant learners in the Netherlands. Basic literacy skills are vital for performing everyday tasks and building human capital, which in turn facilitates employment and skill acquisition. Low adult literacy is often associated with social exclusion and poverty, which can have detrimental effects on mental health and further reinforce marginalization. We analyzed two adult education programs (N = 171) conducted in 2019, within the context of lifelong learning policies designed to support adults with low literacy skills. Our findings confirm the positive effects of these educational programs on social inclusion outcomes. Through logistic regression and moderation analyses, we examined how participants’ sociodemographic backgrounds influenced their social inclusion outcomes following the program. Key pre-training conditions, such as prior education and employment status, influenced how participants engaged with a positively perceived learning environment. Assertiveness emerged as a significant outcome, affecting changes across various aspects of social inclusion. These results suggest that acquiring new skills empowers participants to reshape their self-perceived literacy identity. This study adds to the body of literature on adult education by emphasizing the importance of training design and sociodemographic factors in fostering social inclusion for immigrant learners.

This study explores the potential of a new perspective on research into the impact higher education has on the civic engagement of students. We propose a shift from viewing engagement itself as the key dependent variable to two ‘fundamental constituents’, political interest and agency. Both constituents have been presented as either static or determined entirely by factors external to education such as maturation, but also as dynamic and affected by various aspects of the educational experience in higher education. Furthermore, as analyses of these effects based on sample means do not account sufficiently for the intersectionality of background variables that define the student experience, we propose that data are explored through cluster analysis. Employing this type of analysis, a case study conducted at a small international liberal arts college in the Netherlands showed four distinctly different patterns in the development of both constituents of civic engagement. Based on further data obtained from the same sample, we offer suggestions for specific foci in further research about the impact of higher education on the development of civic engagement.

The present study aims to develop, validate, and cross-validate an instrument measuring three proactive social informal learning activities, namely feedback seeking, help seeking and information seeking. Prior research mainly focused on detecting or measuring the frequency of these seeking behaviours and did not consider whether the information, help or feedback that has been sought was also used. Furthermore, although these seeking behaviours were studied extensively in different research fields, the current study takes a learning perspective and interprets feedback, help and information seeking as learning activities. The questionnaire was completed by a convenient sample of 650 professionals working in higher education, consultancy, retail and food production. We performed an exploratory factor analysis (N = 230 educators) to explore the structure of the questionnaire. This was followed by a confirmatory factor analysis (N = 230 educators) to confirm the structure. Finally, we cross-validated the questionnaire in a sample of business professionals (N = 190) by testing for measurement invariance. The final questionnaire resulted in a five-factor structure measuring the (1) Use of Feedback Seeking, (2) Frequency of Help and Information Seeking, (3) Use of Help seeking, (4) Use of Information Seeking and (5) Frequency of Feedback Seeking. The current study presents a preliminary, yet promising instrument that taps into proactive social informal learning.

To keep up with technological advances and macro-economic trends, higher education has increasingly focused on developing students’ employability competences through mentoring programs. However, measuring the effectiveness of such mentoring programs has remained difficult, because many mentoring measurements are not validated or grounded in theory. Furthermore, existing questionnaires have mostly focused on one or two types of support, ignoring the wide variety of support types offered by a mentor. Therefore, the current study’s aim was to develop and validate a new questionnaire measuring various types of mentoring support. Based on a systematic literature review, a 35-item questionnaire was developed and data were collected from mentoring programs at four higher education institutions. Data were analyzed through exploratory factor analysis ( n = 225), confirmatory factor analysis ( n = 208), and cross-validation ( n = 101). The results support a 6-factor model (21 items) that is statistically valid and reliable for use in universities (of applied sciences). The model includes the following factors, referring to types of support and their features: trust and availability, emotional support, networking support, autonomy support, similarity, and empathy. This questionnaire makes an original contribution insofar as (1) it is based on a sound, theoretical framework, and (2) it was demonstrated to be valid and reliable across different sub-populations in higher education. The questionnaire provides educational practitioners with a sound and valid tool to evaluate the quality of their mentoring program. It can also be used to assess what types of support could be offered to a greater extent.

Mentoring has nowadays become a prevalent educational practice in higher education, as it allows for personalized learning trajectories and competence-based education. However, the effectiveness of mentoring programs is difficult to measure due to a lack of conceptual clarity about the mentoring concept and the broad variety of measurements used. Therefore, a systematic literature review was conducted to conceptualize mentoring by looking at the definitions, characteristics, and measurements. A total of 106 studies were reviewed and a summative content analysis was applied. The results of this study are three-fold. First, a synthesis and integration of existing definitions resulted in a newly developed, holistic definition of mentoring. Second, evidence-based characteristics of mentoring are discussed that give insights into how to design and implement mentoring programs. Third, an overview of existing mentoring measures is presented, and a subsequent in-depth analysis shows their alignment with the proposed conceptualization on mentoring.

One of the biggest concerns that has come to the fore in the field of education recently is whether colleges and higher education institutions offer educational programs providing their students with the basic skills and competences necessary to meet the requirements of the globalising and rapidly changing world and the accordingly changing labour market. To answer this question, this review investigated the effects of 11 high impact practices (HIPs) based on single HIPs (RQ1), limited combinations (LC) of HIPs (RQ2), and extended combinations (EC) of HIPs (RQ3). For this study, selected 56 studies were analysed by narrative analysis. As a result, 18 different positive effects were determined on which single HIPs enhanced. Among these effects critical thinking, communication and collaboration were the most promoted ones. In addition, fourteen LC of HIPs with 17 different positive effects were detected. Communication, collaboration and career related opportunities were the most common effects of LC of HIPs. Furthermore, 16 different positive effects of EC of HIPs can be grouped under five main headings as achievement-focused effects, motivation-focused effects, competence development-focused effects, personal development-focused effects and learning process-focused effects. EC of HIPs have the most competence/skills development-focused effects with their features of developing transformative learning, leadership skills, student and faculty/peer/community interaction, critical thinking, time management and job-readiness skills. Also, the most common effects of EC of HIPs were increased student engagement and motivation, increased critical thinking, higher academic achievements, higher graduation rates and retention.

We investigated the relation between leader airtime management and team effectiveness in Emergency Management Command and Control (EMCC) teams. Leader airtime management concerns leaders' interventions to structure who shares information when using opening and closing statements to respectively stimulate or reduce information sharing. We coded leaders' airtime management statements across different meeting phases (structuring, information sharing, decision making) using video-recordings of 12 EMCC exercises involving two consecutive meetings each. Experts rated two components of team effectiveness: Team Situation Awareness (TSA) and Team Decision Making (TDM). We found that closing statements were more frequently used in the decision-making phase than in any other meeting phase. Also, leaders of teams with lower TSA used more opening statements in the decision-making phase of the first team meeting than leaders of teams with higher TSA. These results confirm the importance of the timing of leader airtime management for EMCC team effectiveness. Practitioner summary: We investigated leader airtime management and team effectiveness in EMCC teams. We video-coded 12 exercises; experts rated team effectiveness. In the decision-making phase, leaders use more closing statements, and leaders of less effective teams use more opening statements. Leaders are advised to adjust their airtime management to meeting phases.

Due to developments in information and communication technology, increasing knowledge production in the economy, globalisation and changes in professional structures and expectations, the call for reshaping education to increase its impact in terms of value for societal demands has become acute. In addition, many scholars have formulated criticisms on the low impact of education and higher education specifically. For this reason, it is of great importance for higher education institutions and colleges to offer their students an educational programme providing them with the basic skills and competences they can adapt to the globalising, fast and constantly changing world and meet the needs of the business life. The aim of this study is to determine the roles of seven High-impact Learning that Lasts (HILL) building blocks (urgency, learning agency, collaboration and coaching, action and knowledge sharing, flexibility, hybrid learning, and assessment as learning) in the effects of high-impact practices (HIPs). After analysing the 56 selected studies by narrative analysis, it was determined that almost all of the effects of HIPs (collaboration, personal growth and social development, communication, enhanced learning, appreciation of diversity, student-faculty/peer/community interaction, critical thinking, motivation, academic success, retention and/or engagement, job-readiness skills, knowledge transfer, positive learning environment, meaningful education opportunities, sense of belonging and institutional acceptance, problem solving, being a leader of one's own learning, social responsibility, career related opportunities, leadership skills, being aware of one's own skills/abilities/beliefs) were supported and strengthened by the seven HILL building blocks. To conclude, the application of the HILL building blocks will make the HIPs more applicable and effective.

Lifelong learning is crucial for professionals to continuously develop and update their knowledge and skills, and for organizations to create and sustain competitive advantage. In this regard, feedback seeking is a powerful vehicle to gain new knowledge and insights in one’s development and performance. The current research dives deeper in the concept of feedback seeking by investigating the act and use of feedback as well as multiple feedback seeking methods. Leadership as a contextual factor can affect employees’ feedback seeking behavior. As such, this study also explores the role of learning leadership for feedback seeking. Learning leadership supports, facilitates and encourages employees’ professional development. To address these aims, two independent studies were conducted. Study 1 was a quantitative, survey study that investigated the direct relationship between learning leadership and (the act and use of) feedback seeking. Study 2 was a qualitative, interview study that explored which concrete learning leadership behaviors were linked to different methods of feedback seeking. The findings confirmed the pivotal role of leaders in employees’ feedback seeking behavior and provided an overview of concrete learning leadership behaviors.

Education is one sector being challenged by aging staff, as well as by increased pressure to innovate. In order to cope with these challenges, educational institutions require teaching staff members, who include teachers, support staff and managers, to show a high level of employability. In this survey-based study, the predictive value of quantitative and qualitative job demands, job autonomy and self-directed learning orientation for three employability competences (occupational expertise, personal flexibility, anticipation and optimization) was investigated using a Dutch sample (N = 3139). Moreover, three teaching staff age groups were compared: < 35 years old (young), 35–50 years old (middle-aged), and > 50 years old (senior). Path analysis results showed that self-directed learning orientation was positively associated with the three employability competences across all three different age groups. Positive relationships across age groups were also found between quantitative job demands and occupational expertise, and between qualitative job demands and personal flexibility. In addition, multi-group comparisons revealed age differences in our model relationships. The relationship between self-directed learning orientation, on the one hand, and personal flexibility and anticipation and optimization on the other, was stronger for seniors in comparison with the young employees. For the young employees, the role of autonomy was more important in enhancing their occupational expertise. Implications for school principals and HRD managers are discussed. Promoting a self-directed learning orientation and custom-made workplaces that take into account age differences among teaching staff members appear to be key for protecting and enhancing sustainable employability.

Employees’ feedback-seeking networks at work are important for employees’ learning and employability. Earlier studies often neglected the specific characteristics of the different relationships an individual employee has at work. We conduct social network analyses in seven samples to study inter-individual differences in feedback-seeking relationships in detail. We investigate 2,058 feedback-seeking relationships of 118 employees to study how similarity-attraction affects the composition of feedback-seeking networks at work and how the composition of these feedback-seeking networks influences employees’ employability. This research study aims to contribute by taking into account both the mechanisms that shape feedback-seeking networks and the effects of this on employability. The results show that similarity-attraction affects feedback-seeking in the workplace and that having a largely homogeneous feedback-seeking network has detrimental effects on employability.

Within competitive business markets, involving our employees in learning and development (L&D) activities is increasingly necessary for various reasons. In addition, L&D opportunities play a role in why applicants choose one job over another and are clearly an important reason for long-term retention within the same organisation. Benefits of employee-led learning in terms of teamwork, knowledge-sharing, and longer term employee satisfaction are significant. L&D should be an on-going process that strengthens long-term sustainable business growth. Allowing flexibility in learning and being open to informal learning in the daily training and work situation can be very effective and necessary to further develop professional expertise. It is important to make use of spontaneous learning opportunities and to consider what has been learned afterwards. Argyris' double loop learning is characterised by taking 'governing variables' into account in all learning processes, reflecting on their influence before any action is started.

In this chapter, the authors describe some of the core paradigms and viewpoints on learning relevant for workplace learning. The idea of stimulus-response is at the heart of the behaviourist perspective whereby learning is described as reacting to stimuli in the environment and the goal of learning is to tap into stimulus-response parings that already exist to form new stimulus-response patterns. This type of 'classical conditioning' was at the heart of the famous experiment by Pavlov, in which a dog was presented food together with sound of a bell. Over the years, social learning theory gradually adopted a more cognitive approach to understand the black box between stimulus and response. Social cognitivists propose the interplay between behaviour, person, and the environment. A powerful idea behind professional learning analytics is that by making both formal and informal learning processes visible, professionals can be connected with the knowledge they need and provided with the feedback that will help them to develop further.

This research examines the social side of learning among professionals in the fast evolving and knowledge intense field of consultancy. Its first aim is to unravel social informal learning by proposing a new, integrated framework of workplace learning. Its second aim is to explore the role of learning climate for social informal learning behavior among consultants. Our qualitative inquiry using interviews based on the critical incident technique illustrates that consultants engaged in deliberative and reactive learning, thereby indicating a clear intention to learn. The source of learning was often the direct colleagues and direct supervisor, which highlights the relevance of close proximity of other individuals. The consultants mainly learned from others in a passive manner, followed by proactive and collaborative learning. Finally, this study shows that granting professionals responsibility and autonomy in their learning process as well as having a leader who facilitates learning are important elements of a learning climate that enhances social informal learning. We conclude with recommendations for organizations and directions for future research.

Purpose This study examines whether learning climate relates to employability competences through social informal learning (i.e. feedback, help and information seeking). Design/methodology/approach Multiple regression analyses and structural equation modeling were used to test direct and indirect effects in a sample of 372 employees working in two Dutch governmental institutes. Findings The analyses confirmed that learning climate has an indirect effect on employability competences through feedback, help and information seeking. More specifically, the findings suggest that learning climate is important for employees' engagement in proactive social informal learning activities. Engaging in these learning activities, in turn, relates to a higher level of employability. Originality/value This study employs an integrative approach to understanding employability by including the organization's learning climate and employees' social informal learning behavior. It contributes to the extant literature on professional development by unraveling how proactive social informal learning relates to employability competences. It also provides new insights on learning climate as a determinant for social informal learning and employability.

The purpose of this research is to provide a systematic review and integrative framework of the antecedents of knowledge withholding. A systematic literature review led to a selection of 42 empirical research papers that collected data from 16,649 respondents. The included papers identified 93 antecedents that showed a high degree of theoretical variety. We used the theories of interdependence, social exchange, and social identity to construct a framework that integrates and explains why people withhold their knowledge. We developed propositions of the antecedents of knowledge withholding, which we compare against the SLR. We propose and find that (a) negative interdependence increases knowledge withholding behaviors, but (b) positive versus negative social exchanges may respectively decrease or increase withholding in situations where the default may be positive interdependence. We also propose and find that actors who strongly identify with their immediate team will less likely withhold knowledge from them. In contrast, actors who strongly identify with a different identity will more likely withhold knowledge from their team. The integrative framework provides a strong theoretical foundation for future study and identifies many valuable new research questions