13873: Leisure as a Source of Group Learning: The Impact of Group Leisure Learning on Work Groups

As work becomes increasingly complex and group-based, organizations have a greater need for group members to learn from one another and perform together. Practitioners and scholars have set their sights on understanding how groups build knowledge and skills that are useful in group environments. While scholars have explored the ways groups learn knowledge from one another, we explore the skills that benefit groups that members possess when entering their group. Specifically, we explore the benefits of group learning originating from group leisure experiences pursued outside of work as it spills over into the workplace. Integrating social learning theory and work-life enrichment theory, we argue that participation in nonwork group leisure experiences promotes a specific type of group learning called group leisure learning, or the gaining of new knowledge through group leisure activities that provide learning opportunities, interpersonal skill development, and social interaction through participation. We first validate this concept through an exploratory qualitative study and a scale validation. We then develop a conceptual model that explains how, at the group level, group leisure learning facilitates work group cohesion and group performance. We test this model using a multiwave, multisource field study of 120 groups and their managers. We find that group leisure participation generates group leisure learning, which in turn spills over to benefit work groups through higher group cohesion and performance.

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