Learning by starch potato growers: learning in small businesses with no employees

Abstract

In small businesses with no employees, learning environments have a low learning readiness. Consequently, learners need to rely on their own agency to shape their learning experiences. Results from a study of agricultural entrepreneurs indicated that the components of motivation and self-regulated learning strategies shape learner's agency and explain learning environment configuration in small businesses with no employees. Configuration of the learning environment was found to be a weak determinant of the learning performance of these learners. However, results showed that prior performance of learners in small businesses with no employees dictates how their agency operates and what learning effect is achieved; higher prior performance results in higher learning effects. We conclude that mechanisms that underlie learning in traditional learning environments work similarly in learning environments in small businesses with no employees.

Keywords:

• small businesses with no employees
• learning environment
• MSLQ
• affordance selection
• entrepreneur

Acknowledgements

This research has been made possible by the AGROBIOKON research programme. AGROBIOKON is financially supported by the Northern Netherlands Provinces (SNN), the Product Board for Arable Products (PA), and AVEBE. Additionally, AGROBIOKON has been funded from the INTERREG III A-program of the Eems-Dollard region by the European Union, the Land Niedersachsen, and the Northern Netherlands Provinces (SNN), and has also been made possible by the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (Kompas/UIL-NN).

The information and modified MSLQ questionnaires used in this article are developed in close co-operation with Irmgard M. Starmann of the University of Applied Sciences Osnabrück, Germany.