THE IMPACT OF PERSONAL VALUES ON PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPMENT IN THE CONTEXT OF ONLINE LEARNING

摘要

This paper contributes to an understanding of the impact of personal values on personal knowledge development in online learning environments. Personal knowledge development was investigated from the perspective of Nonaka's SECI model of organisational knowledge creation. This served as the basis for conceptualising personal knowledge development in online learning at the individual level. The personal value types of the Schwartz Value Survey were adopted to measure the personal value scores of individuals. To achieve the research objectives, a two-stage research process was followed. First, a Delphi study was carried out to identify which of the ten individual-level value types identified by Schwartz are likely to be particularly relevant in the context of online learning. Then, an online survey was used to measure the impact that personal values have on personal knowledge development in online learning. An instrument was developed that measures three of the SECI modes. This instrument measures the magnitude of online learners' Externalisation and Combination activities as well as their level of Internalisation, i.e. the outcomes of personal knowledge development. The results of the Delphi study suggest that Self-Direction, Stimulation, and Achievement are particularly relevant value types in this research context. The online survey confirms this view, as all three value types were found to be positively correlated with Externalisation, Combination, and Internalisation, with the exception of the Achievement-Combination relationship.