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Kolb's Learning Model: An innovation towards career commitment
Dr. Shaji Kurian
Professor, IFIM Business School, Bangalore
Saswata Chanda
PGDM Student, IFIM Business School, Bangalore
Chandrabhanu Naik
PGDM Student, IFIM Business School, Bangalore
Prof. Namrata Nanda*
Research Mentor, IFIM Business School, Bangalore
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Volume XI, Issue XII, 2019
Issn No : 1006-7930
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Abstract
Purpose: This paper aims to identify one’s level of career-commitment with the help of self-
effectiveness with their preferred learning style.
Design/ Methodology/ Approach: A structured questionnaire was prepared to collect data.
Out of 200, 151 responses were found to be valid. The data was interpreted using Grey
Analysis in Microsoft Excel.
Findings: The interpretation reveals that the pragmatists are leading, followed by reflectors,
theorists and activists respectively. It is observed that the competency of influencing and
openness, plays a vital role in the career-commitment.
Practical Implications: To identify the mindset of an individual, type of learning, best suited
for them. This helps the process of employee recruitment and retention.
Originality/ Value: Grey analysis segregates individuals based on their preferred learning
style, self-efficacy & effectiveness, to understand their career-commitment. Ultimately,
opening a new door towards the advancement of contemporary learning system.
Keywords: Kolb’s learning style, Self-efficacy, Effectiveness, Career commitment,
Experiential learning.
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Introduction
An enhancement in the field of learning, can be highly improved by using Kolb’s
Experiential Learning model. This theory or this philosophy is mainly based on Dewey’s
(1938) “theory of experience”. Kolb (1984), suggested that the learning works by acquiring
abstract concepts and applying it upon various situations. It is a process which provides
knowledge with the help of various experiences. Few researches have been done in this field
by scholars focusing on the enhancement of the learning process in education. Branford,
Brown, & Cocking (2000), worked with Kolb’s model and devised “the new science of
learning”, discussing how the brain works while learning. In this paper, we are focusing on
how Kolb’s model can help to improve self-efficacy & effectiveness and in turn the career
commitment of individuals. This study can help in the training programmes in office as well
as in any educational institutions.
Learning model of Kolb is divided in four stages which creates a circle, representing the
learning process. Each of these styles represents the preferred style of two combinations.
First, “Concrete Experiencers”, who likes to learn by gaining experience. Second is the
“Reflective Observation”, where the observer learns by reflecting, they also look at things
very differently and carefully from every perspective. Third is the “Abstract
Conceptualization”, who are logical and are systematic. They praise deductive thinking
which are based on the carefulness of their understanding. They can create well-structured
and clear ideas. And the fourth one is the “Active Experimentation”, who learn through doing
activities. They like practicing and trying new things but are not at all afraid of taking risks.
They can easily make thing done and appreciate small group activities. That acts as one stable
indicator which tells about the perception of the learner and how they interact with the
learning environment, as well as their response towards it (Keefe, 1979). Keefe & Languis
(1983), suggested an individual approaches educational experiences, with the use behavior &
perception.
Coming to Self-efficacy, which is defined by one’s trust in his or her distinctive ability to
achieve goals. Albert Bandura (1986), characterized this individual judgement of how
prospective situations are dealt with the execution of proper course of action. Psychologists
have contemplated self-efficacy from a various viewpoint. They noticed that several
developmental paths in self-efficacy and its dynamics are in a wide range of settings in
associations with self-efficacy and self-concept. On the other hand, Self or personal-
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Effectiveness is the application of performing certain tasks in life, using all the resources and
materials at your disposal which will in-turn enable you to master your life and attain your
goals. Self-effectiveness touches upon life which includes behavior, physical and mental-
health and responses, their academic pursuit and last but not the least, career choices.
Ormrod, a social cognitive theorist, believes that one’s previous success and failures develop
into effectiveness. It uses one’s resources not only from personal, but also from professional
areas; it includes: talents, skills, strengths as well as time & energy, etc.
Literature Review
Kolb (1976), depicted a model of learning, demonstrating a new way in which the method of
learning and the learning style of an individual, motivates the management education, in the
field of managerial decision making and critical thinking. Kolb used this ELT for developing
a tool to measure learning characteristics also known as the Learning Style Inventory (LSI).
This LSI was widely accepted and used by educators around the globe, such as Carlisle in
2002, then by Boyatzis and Mainemelis in 2001. This LSI instrument over the years, has been
successfully used in higher education and in business environments (Kolb, 2001). It is one of
the most significant and widely distributed tools, that has been used for measuring
individual’s learning preference.
Kolb’s model serves as relatively stable indicators of how a learner perceives, interact and
responses to the learning environment (Keefe, 1979). They are clearly shown in a way of
behavior and performances by which an individual approach the educational experiences
(Keefe & Languis, 1983).
Learning Style
Kolb & Kolb (1984), suggested Experiential learning Theory (ELT) is the acquisition and
transformation of experience, which is the central idea of the learning process. Learning
works in four-stages of the cycle, each representing one learning style. First one is Concrete
Experiences, is the learning style which is preferred by those who like to learn from their
experiences. Secondly, the Reflective Observation explains that the observer learns by
looking at things from every perspective. Third is the Abstract Conceptualization, these are
the people who are logical and are systematic. They have the deductive thinking capability,
which are based on the carefulness of their understanding. They can create well-structured
and clear ideas. Fourth and the last one is the Active Experimentation, people learning by
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doing activities. They like to practice and try new things and are not afraid of taking risks.
They can easily make thing done.
David A. Kolb et al. (2005), suggested the use of Learning Styles and Learning Space which
enhances Experiential Learning in Higher Education. This was defined earlier that the ELT is
an integration of previous knowledge, perception, cognition, and experience (Kolb et al,
1984). It provided the opportunity to find out why most of the population communicate
differently and how they gain and transform one information, in various ways. It showed how
they are combined with existing knowledges, and why it creates different opportunity,
recognition and exploitation abilities for different people. Learning has been defined by ELT
is to gain knowledge by modifying experiences. Knowledge effects as a mixture of,
understanding and convert experiences (Kolb, 1984). This paper introduced new progresses
in the field of ELT, using the Learning Style Inventory (LSI). It represented the thought of
learning space, as a way of understanding the relation of learning styles and the instructive
learning conditions.
Kolb and Kolb (2011), suggested on how ELT can be used to design and implement in
management education programs in higher educational institutions. They invented several
models to explain and study the learning process at an individual level. It represented the
Learning Theory from a Dynamic & Holistic viewpoint towards Management Learning as
well as Education and Development.
Armstrong and Mahmud (2008), found out that the levels of accumulated managerial tacit
knowledge (LAMTK) are associated with the dominant learning styles of managers and
students. Findings included, that the people who are frequent in performing management
functions, had a significantly higher LAMTK score than those with different functionalities.
Kayes (1999), had made changes to this instrument, which Kolb has made since the 70’s.
Like, he revised the initial instrument so that the psychometric properties could be improved.
The LSI has been designed in such a way that the teachers who use it in their classes can
understand each student’s learning style in a better way and this helps in adjusting their own
teaching style for the students to yield maximum potential achievement. This also helps the
students to increase their own learning potential and use it to produce maximum result.
Further research has been done on the same. (Svinicki and Dixon, 1987; Sutliff and Baldwin,
2001).
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Kolb (1976), endorsed learning as one of the challenges or a lie-long process of every
individual in the world. He suggested that there is always a big and strong relationship
between how people learn and how they response in every situation in their life. Recent
researches on the adult learning and development have focused on the differences between
learners and the problems they face. (Cross, 1981; Knox, 1977).
Self- Efficacy & Effectiveness
Alexander Murdock & Scutt (2007), discussed on the development of self-knowledge in daily
tasks to improve the effectiveness which acts as a guide for managers, in improving their
effectiveness.
Cohen, Ledford & Spreitzer (1996), tested effectiveness with a theoretically-driven model of
self-managing work teams. With the help of theoretical perspectives of work design & self-
leadership, four categories of variables are theorized to predict self-managing work team’s
effectiveness. These four, are group task design, encouraging supervisor behaviors, group
characteristics, and employee involvement.
McCormick (2001), focused on one of the most routinely reported finding of leadership
literature which is the relation of self-confidence and successful leadership. It is a theoretical
enlightenment of the long-recognized theory of effectiveness.
Bandura (1986), by using social cognitive theory, proposed a new leadership approach. This
hypothesis recommended, the leadership self-efficacy as the key psychological variable for
directing a leader, working in a dynamic situation. This full model considers leader’s insights
withstanding leader’s practices and the circumstances, bringing about a more extensive
perspects of the Leadership Procedure. It also discussed the implication of “Personal
Effectiveness", which in turn inspires one to persistently create and upgrade their own skill
sets or abilities, as well as their knowledge & practices to be appropriate for the perceivers.
When one manages themselves, it impacts their own personal effectiveness.
Gist and Mitchell,(1992), argued that the People who think they can perform well in a task,
do better then those who think that they will fail. Differences in self-efficacy are associated
with bona fide differences in skill level; however, perceptions of efficacy also can be altered
by altering personalities.
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Kwantes & Boglarsky (2007), discussed leadership-effectiveness and personal-effectiveness
across six different countries as well as the perceptions of organizational culture of each
country. It was argued that the aspects of organizational culture that promote employee
fulfillment and satisfaction, were uniformly viewed as positively related to leadership and
self-effectiveness.
Mathieu, Martineau & Tannenbaum (1993), had proposed a model that included individual
and situational antecedents of self-efficacy for the improvement of Training programs. Self‐
efficacy showed the importance of positive influences on the training and their subsequent
performance. However, the estimated relationship was not supported by the modern
researchers, but the implications of the findings are used to build Training Effectiveness.
Career Commitment
Ballout (2009), found out that the people who have average to high self-efficacy, are very
much successful; but not for those people who are low in self-efficacy. Watkins & Yuen
(2009), examined the career commitment with five factor personality model and their self-
efficacy in a sample size of 785 Chinese graduate students. Findings implies, career decision
and self-efficacy is associated with greater progress in vocational commitment as well as with
the tendency to foreclose.
Niu (2010), examined the relationship between self-efficacy and career commitment in the
food service sector. And the findings suggested that the higher an employees’ self-efficacy,
the higher their career commitment is.
Cherniss (1991), analyzed 25 human service professionals and discovered that the age,
attitude toward life, and job satisfaction were positively correlated with career commitment.
Married people are more committed than singles, and those who had already switched their
jobs were less committed to their present careers than were those who had not changed their
careers.
The objective of our model to investigate the competency, specifically towards the openness
of one individual and their work effectiveness, as well as how they express their feelings &
their reaction towards seniority in work-place. Which in turn will signify the level of career
commitment they have towards their job.
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The Conceptual Model
This paper aims to identify the linkages from the learning style of people with self-efficacy
and effectiveness which ultimately leads to carrier commitments. Kolb (2005), elaborated
how we approach to the task of learnings and how one responds towards it. When
approaching for a task, there are sets of preference which is different for every individual. It
can be in ways of doing or watching; and the experience it provides will in turn, influence
feelings and mind-set of an individual. The combination of these set of preferences creates
the four main learning styles. These 4 styles are: Activists, Theorist, Reflector and
Pragmatist. This could also ultimately influence an individual’s self-efficacy and self-
effectiveness. Gist and Mitchell, (1992) argued that an individual’s confidence in their ability
or the self-efficacy, is directly related to the job performance. Personal effectiveness is the
ability that contributes to a individual’s overall skills which is based on practical learning
(Johnson, 1972).
The current model is aimed to create a clear relationship between learning style, self-efficacy,
and effectiveness with career commitment. Personal effectiveness makes use of all resources,
for example strength, time-skills and energy and this effectiveness come from the learnings
which incorporates with the self-efficacy level of the individual. Finally, their effectiveness
and efficacy will indicate their career commitment.
(Insert Figure 1)
Research Methodology
This study aims to identify Kolb’s Learning Styles depending on various groups of working
professionals. The learning styles included Activist, Reflector, Pragmatist and Theorist. The
paper, not only focused on Kolb’s Learning Style, but also quantified efficacy and
effectiveness of an individual towards influencing others. The research quantified a
qualitative data. The study observed how the individuals express their feeling and react
towards hierarchy, in their work-place. A sample size of 200 surveys was shared with the
working professionals, spread all over India. The primary data was collected using 4 set of
items and compiled into one questionnaire. This was done to find out, the learning style along
with the effectiveness, efficacy and career commitment. Out of those 200 responses, 151
responses were found to be valid. This validity of the responses were based on the
completeness of the survey and the eagerness and interest shown by the respondents. This
interest has shown the uniqueness of responding by the students and hence reduces the
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chance of perceptual biases thus making this response rate of 75.5 % a valid set of data to be
analysed. This data was collected through Google Forms and stored into one single excel
sheet. Further, based on the responses, the data was analyzed using Grey Relational Analysis
(GRA). This analysis could overcome the disadvantages of the statistical method. GRA had
been applied successfully in solving a variety of Multi-Criterion Decision Making (MCDM)
problems. This was a method of convenient operation, less data and clear conclusions. The
response received from the questionnaires would derive the learning style and the
effectiveness in influencing others. It would also derive the efficacy to define how an
individual would approach his own goal or target, which would further lead to the answer of
their career commitment.
The response rate observed through the survey was 151/200*100=75.5%. The mean of the
observation is created for the priority matrix using the formula:
V1=(min+0.5*max)/(Δ1+0.5*max)
The above formula is the main algorithm which has calculated the priority of learning style
with self-efficacy & effectiveness along with career commitment. So, each cell has its own
correspondent priority value. This is known as the priority weight. Finally, average value was
derived. On every criterion, we calculated the priority weight by taking the mean of the
criteria. This average value of each criteria (efficacy, effectiveness and career commitment)
forms the basis of the ranking in accordance to the Learning Style. For every learning style
there will be different efficacies, effectiveness and career commitment. It was also observed
that the criteria varied in ranks depending upon the learning styles. The highest value is
ranked as first because it has the maximum impact on the learning style. Each of the learning
style is again ranked based on global weights calculated by averaging all the efficacy levels.
Similar calculation is done to obtain the priorities of learning style depending upon the
weighted average of the other two criteria (effectiveness and career commitment). The Grey
system theory is also known as Deng’s Grey Incidence Analysis and was created by Professor
Julong Deng of Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 1982. It tells us about the
positivity and negativity of these responses.
Data Analysis and Interpretation
Grey relational analysis (GRA) is a part of the Deng’s Grey Incidence Analysis Theory. It is
an effective means of analyzing the relationship between factors, to determine the important
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factors that influences a defined objective. Factors of this paper being, Learning Style, Self-
Efficacy and Effectiveness as well as Career Commitment. GRA solves MCDM problems by
combining the entire range of performance attribute values for each alternative into one
single value. This reduces the original problem and helps in faster decision making.
Sample Demography
(Insert Figure 2)
Most respondents were from the urban India being 58.28% of population among the sample
size. Very few of the data were from From Rural India, which is 5.96% of the population
sample. The rest were from Semi Urban area, which was 36.76%. This chart deciphers that
most of the responses were from urban section.
(Insert Table 1)
As per the style of learning, efficacy has been used to check what style is accepted by an
individual of particular efficacy level.
So, let us talk about Activists first. It can be observed in efficacy 4, i.e. “I am adaptable to
change” which reflects the adaptability level of an individual, ranks the highest among all
other efficacies. Whereas efficacy no 7, i.e.” my communication is weak” that reflects the
openness of an individual, comes across as the lowest for an Activist. Both efficacy 4 and 7
scores are 0.712 & 0.526 respectively.
Similarly, in the case of Reflectors, efficacy 8: “I work to meet deadline”, representing the
goal-oriented attitude of an individual, turns out to be the top scorer & the efficacy 7, i.e.” my
communication is weak” reflecting the openness of an individual, as the lowest for a reflector
among all other efficacies. The scores for efficacy 8 and 7 are, 0.846 and 0.482 respectively.
Now coming to the Theorist style of learning, which has efficacy 1: “I want to serve my
organization as a team player”, representing the desire of an individual to be a team-player, as
the highest among all the efficacies. While the efficacy 7 had the lowest score once again,
which is, ”My communication is weak”. Both efficacy 1and 7 scored, 0.776 and 0.433
respectively.
The Pragmatist style of learning shows efficacy 6 to be the highest. It reflects the decision-
making skills. Once again efficacy 7, i.e.” my communication is weak” which reflects the
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openness of an individual, turned out to be the lowest for a Pragmatist among all other
efficacies. Scores of efficacy 6 and 7 being 0.851 and 0.5894 respectively.
It is a general belief in Leadership that communication is not a primary competency.
However, the responses showed different results. All the people from different learning styles
ranked efficacy7, i.e.” my communication is weak” which reflects the openness of an
individual, as the lowest. It in-turn, tells that the leadership style depends on how well you
communicate.
Overall, it is observed that when we take all the criterias together from the efficacy levels, the
Pragmatists leads with the score of 0.775, followed by the Reflectors with0.751, then comes
Theorists with the score of 0.678, and finally Activists with the score of 0.647.
(Insert Table 2)
Now coming to effectiveness of an individual, let us discuss about Activists first. In the case
of Activists, the results showed that the effectiveness question 4, i.e. “I respect what my
senior colleagues have to say about my behavior and competence” which reflects the ability
of an individual in taking criticism, ranks the highest among all other effectiveness. Whereas,
effectiveness question 6, i.e.” I unknowingly say things which disturbs people” which reflects
insensitive behavior of an individual, to be the lowest for an Activist. The effectiveness 4 and
6 scores are, 0.630 & 0.530 respectively.
Similarly, Reflector shows that the effectiveness 4: “I respect what my senior colleagues have
to say about my behavior and competence”, representing goal orientation of an individual, to
be on the first rank & effectiveness question 6, i.e.” I unknowingly say things which disturbs
people” which reflects insensitive behavior of an individual, to be the lowest for a Reflector.
The effectiveness scores of 4 and 6 are, 0.818 & 0.436 respectively.
Now coming to the Theorist style of learning, which has effectiveness 4: “I respect what my
senior colleagues have to say about my behavior and competence”, which represents the goal
orientation of an individual, to be the first & effectiveness question 6, i.e.” I unknowingly say
things which disturbs people” which reflects insensitive behavior of one individual, to be the
lowest for a Theorist. Both effectiveness 4 and 6 scores, 0.696 & 0.490 respectively.
The Pragmatist style of learning shows that the effectiveness 1: “I am not frank with the
person unless I know them very well”, which represents goal orientation of an individual, to
be the first & effectiveness question 6, i.e.” I unknowingly say things which disturbs people”
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which reflects insensitive behavior of one individual, to be the lowest for a Pragmatist. Both
effectiveness 1 and 6 scores, 0.714 & 0.505 respectively.
Overall, it is observed that when all the criterias are taken together from the effectiveness
levels, the Pragmatists leads with the score of 0.6198, followed by Reflectors with 0.611
followed by Theorists with the score of 0.581, and lastly Activists with the score of 0.569.
(Insert Table 3)
Next in line, is the career commitment. First, let us consider Activists. It shows the career
commitment choice question 1, which was:” My career is a central interest in my life”, to be
the highest among other factors taken in consideration. It reflects on the individual’s interest
and motivation. Whereas career commitment 3:” Changing my career now would be
difficult”, have attained lowest scores from the responses. This choice indicates, the level of
devotion of an individual towards his work. The scores of choice 1 & 3 are 0.655 & 0.567
respectively.
Similarly, Reflectors shows, the career commitment 1, which was:” My career is a central
interest in my life”, to be the highest among other factors taken in consideration. It reflects on
the individual’s interest and motivation. Whereas, career commitment 4:” I would leave my
profession if I could”, had the lowest scores from the responses. This choice indicated, their
commitment towards their own goal in worklife. The scores of question 1 & 4 are 0.813 &
0.497 respectively.
Now coming to the Theorist style of learning, which has the career commitment 2, which
was: ”Working in my current profession is important to me”, to be the highest among other
factors. It reflects on the individual’s dedication towards his job. Whereas career commitment
4: ”I would leave my profession if I could”, attained the lowest scores from the responses.
This choice indicates, their commitment toward own goal in their career. The scores of
question 2 & 4 are 0.718 & 0.536 respectively.
The Pragmatist style of learning shows that the career commitment 1, which was: ”My career
is a central interest in my life”, to be the highest again, among the other factors, taken in
consideration. It reflects on the individual’s interest & motivation. Whereas career
commitment choice question 3:” Changing my career now would be difficult”, got the lowest
scores from the responses. This choice indicated, the level of devotion of an individual
towards his work. The scores of question 1 & 3 are 0.947 & 0.709 respectively.
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Overall, it is observed that when we take all the criteria together from the career commitment,
the Pragmatists leads with the score of 0.811, followed by Reflectors with 0.669, then comes
Theorists with the score of 0.654, and lastly Activists with the score of 0.619.
Discussion
This paper highlights several facts. First, it speaks about individual learning styles, then
proceeds into their work effectiveness & efficacy and finally into their career commitment.
To achieve this, Kolb’s learning style is corelated with the other three factors, which are:
Efficacy, effectiveness & career commitment.
Using a structured questionnaire, we collected 200 responses; and out of those 151 were
valid. The findings from the analysis shows the pragmatists to be the leading style for
learning, and when the learning style is mapped with efficacy levels Pragmatists are followed
by Reflectors, then by Theorists and lastly by Activists. This indicates, the Pragmatists have
the highest efficacy for a given work. As we know pragmatists are those who are guided
more by practical considerations than by ideals. So, it is evident that this type of learning
helps one, to grow the ability to produce a desired result or output. Activists, with their “Let’s
do it”-attitude, are left behind by all the other styles of learning. This type of learning does
not provide one the desire to produce better results. On the other hand, when an individual
reflects before a task and thinks out a plan for execution, they are given more priority than
Activists as well as Theorists; which made the Reflectors to hold the second rank & theorists
to have the third rank.
It is also observed that the outcomes of the other two factors including effectiveness and
career commitment, when corelated with Kolb’s Learning Style, have the same scores. This
in turn tells that the Pragmatist have high effectiveness in their jobs and their career
commitment towards their job is also high. This could be because of a simple fact, that the
pragmatist is the one who learns through experiences and they prefer new ideas over old. This
means that they are always actively looking for opportunities to implement new ideas that
they have learnt recently, provided it can be put to practice. Thus, they differentiate
themselves from the others. Pragmatists are followed by the Reflectors, because of simple
reasons like their thoughtful thinking & their thorough and methodical approach. It is one of
the crucial factors, having its effect on effectiveness and efficacy which in turn has their
effect on career commitment. This is one of the reasons behind them getting the second spot.
Right after Reflectors, comes the Theorists on 3rd. The reason for their 3rd spot could be the
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prime weakness which is evident in most of the theorists. The weakness being that they tend
to over analyze and this in turn lowers the effectiveness, efficacy and career commitment.
Activists are the last one in this ladder, due to various reasons. The largest one would be
because they take the immediately obvious course of action without weighing up other
possibilities & they jump into action without enough preparation. So, this inference shows
that the Activists though are the most enthusiastic among all, lack in proper planning and
thorough thinking which is the reason behind their downfall.
Conclusion
Using the Grey Relational Analysis method, we could simply segregate and analyze the
individual learning style with their self-efficacy, effectiveness which in turn leads to career
commitment.
When using grey relational analysis methods, the findings were always the same as
the Pragmatists have the highest score among all the criteria. Pragmatists are guide by
practical considerations than by ideals. So, it is evident that this type of learning style
helps one, to strengthen the ability to produce a desired result or output. Activists,
with their “Let’s do it”-attitude, are left behind by all the other styles of learning. This
type of learning does not provide one the desire to produce better results.
On the other hand, when an individual reflects before a task and thinks out a plan for
execution, they are given more priority than Activists as well as Theorists; which
made the Reflectors to hold the second rank & theorists to have the third rank.
Contributions of this study can help to have a successful training program and it can also be
used for educational purposes. Such a result strengthens the link between the learning style
and the level of self-efficacy as well as the effectiveness level which can result into their
career commitment. It will also help the trainers to identify the state of mind of an individual;
and also, the type of learning best-suited for them. This can also provide help in the process
of recruitment and retention of employees with future research. This paper provides the
opportunity to learn how learning style can be used to improve individual self-efficacy and
effectiveness in strengthening their career commitment.
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Acknowledgement
The satiation and euphoria that accompany the successful completion of this research would
be incomplete without the mention of the people who made it possible. We thank the research
team of Accendere Knowledge Management Services, CL Educate Ltd. for their unflinching
guidance, continuous encouragement and support to successfully complete this research
work.
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Appendix A (Figures)
Figure 1 The conceptual model
Figure 2 Sample demography
Learning Style
Activist
Reflector
Theorist
Pragmatist
Self-Efficacy
Team Player
Planning
Orientation
Future Orientation
Self-Effectiveness
Self-disclosure
Openness
Perceptiveness
Career Commitment
Interest
Importance
Attraction
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Appendix B (Tables)
Table 1 Learning style versus Efficacy
Items of
Efficacy
Activist Reflector Theorist Pragmatist
Rating Ranking Rating Ranking Rating Ranking Rating Ranking
Efficacy1 0.677273 2 0.846154 2 0.776444 1 0.842105 2
Efficacy2 0.64697 7 0.692308 7 0.740889 2 0.810526 5
Efficacy3 0.655303 4 0.812821 4 0.717778 4 0.824561 4
Efficacy4 0.712121 1 0.766667 6 0.735556 3 0.842105 3
Efficacy5 0.675 3 0.807692 5 0.689778 6 0.789474 6
Efficacy6 0.651515 6 0.679487 8 0.715556 5 0.850877 1
Efficacy7 0.525758 9 0.482051 9 0.432889 9 0.589474 9
Efficacy8 0.626515 8 0.846154 1 0.659556 7 0.682456 8
Efficacy9 0.653788 5 0.825641 3 0.637333 8 0.747368 7
Overall 0.647138 4 0.750997 2 0.67842 3 0.775439 1
Table 2 Learning style versus Effectiveness
Items of
Effectiveness
Activist Reflector Theorist Pragmatist
Rating Ranking Rating Ranking Rating Ranking Rating Ranking
Effectiveness1 0.599242 2 0.748718 2 0.652444 2 0.714035 1
Effectiveness2 0.560606 3 0.728205 3 0.578667 4 0.65614 4
Effectiveness3 0.557576 4 0.458974 6 0.546667 5 0.519298 6
Effectiveness4 0.630303 1 0.817949 1 0.696444 1 0.684211 2
Effectiveness5 0.55 6 0.523077 5 0.521778 6 0.668421 3
Effectiveness6 0.530303 7 0.435897 7 0.490222 7 0.505263 7
Effectiveness7 0.553788 5 0.561538 4 0.583556 3 0.591228 5
Overall 0.568831 4 0.610623 2 0.581397 3 0.619799 1
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Table 3 Learning style versus Career commitment choices
Items of Career
Commitment
Activist Reflector Theorist Pragmatist
Rating Ranking Rating Ranking Rating Ranking Rating Ranking
Career
Commitment 1 0.655303 1 0.812821 1 0.710667 2 0.947368 1
Career
Commitment 2 0.65 2 0.769231 2 0.717778 1 0.845614 2
Career
Commitment 3 0.566667 4 0.594872 3 0.651111 3 0.708772 4
Career
Commitment 4 0.602273 3 0.497436 4 0.536 4 0.740351 3
Overall 0.618561 4 0.66859 2 0.653889 3 0.810526 1
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