Learner Cultures and Corporate Cultural Differences in E-Learning Behaviors in the IT Business

摘要

Corporate cultural values have a major influence on learning. For learning to be effective it must be adapted to the cultural context in which it takes place. E-learning neither eliminates cultural differences nor is it culture free. This study focuses on two major Indian IT companies with different Corporate Cultures sharing the same expected Learner Culture. Since participants from these companies also come from different countries it was also possible to analyze the impact of the National Differences on their Learner Culture. Participants were divided between Indian professionals with international experience, those without, and international expatriates. The qualitative and quantitative findings of this study show that Cultural Attributes influence the level of e-learning behaviors. The international exposure of participants, the Corporate and the Learning Culture all influence E-learning behaviors. Participants from a High Context Learner Culture such as Japan or China, from an adaptive Corporate Culture and having worked abroad as an expatriate are far more involved in online participation than learners from Low Context cultures such as Europe or India and working in a conventional Corporate Culture. Since the cultural backgrounds of participants of an online course are a given, the pedagogical approach to be used has to be adapted.