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AGORA INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ECONOMICAL SCIENCES, 
AIJES, ISSN 2067-3310, E - ISSN 2067 – 7669, VOL. 16 (2022) 

The Role of Learning Orientation in the Context of Sustainable Human 

Resources Development 

Valentina-Simona Pașcalău1, Ramona-Mihaela Urziceanu2  

1Doctoral School of Economics and Business Administration, West University of Timișoara, Romania 

E-mail valentina.pascalau73@e-uvt.ro  
2 Faculty of Economic Sciences, Agora University of Oradea, Oradea, Romania 

E-mail ramona.urziceanu@gmail.com  

 

Abstract 
The belief that learning and innovation are important to flourish in competitive and dynamic situations has sparked an 

increase in interest in the learning process within the organization during the past two decades. The actions that the 

entire company engages in to generate and apply knowledge to gain a competitive advantage are included in a firm's 

learning orientation. 

Keywords: learning orientation, human resource, sustainable human resource development,  

 

1. Introduction 

The firm's learning orientation affects the sort of information gathered as well as how it is 

assessed, understood, and disseminated (Stelmaszczyk, 2020). The company's orientation towards 

learning is closely related to the sustainable development of human resources, respectively to the 

permanent education of adults. Adult education is, in its content, development through activity, 

through action, through experimentation, where exercise occupies a prominent place. Hence the 

idea - to learn by doing - present in modern works on the sustainable development of human 

resources. In this context, knowledge, skills, and new skills are, to a large extent, the result of the 

production of the subject of education (the adult) and not simple records of external events. 

Here the very important substitution operation is present in relation to the expository 

method, for example. Thus, expression is substituted for impression, the production of reception, 

the externalization of ideation and the invention of understanding. Impression, reception, ideation 

and understanding are also present, but they are surpassed and therefore assimilated to production 

and innovation, expression and externalization. 

 

2. The role of learning orientation  

According to Argyris and Schon (1996), Fiol and Lyles (1985), Nonaka and Takeuchi 

(1995), organizational learning is the process through which additional information and knowledge 

are received by comprehending some approaches and practices for enhancing performance. The 

development of managerial skills and technological expertise required to compete in a global 

market is thus made possible by organizational learning. 

As a result, managers can update their knowledge base faster than their rivals, maintaining 

a long-term competitive advantage while responding to uncertainties and external developments 

(Harrison and Leitch 2005, Santos-Vijande et al. 2012). Learning orientation has an important role 

in the field of human resources because it facilitates the acquisition and use of knowledge (Bature 

et al. 2018). 

Motivation is considered one of the most important factors that underlie the achievement 

of a goal, and learning orientation, as an impetus and sustained involvement in the accomplishment 

mailto:valentina.pascalau73@e-uvt.ro
mailto:ramona.urziceanu@gmail.com


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of tasks, is the result of a complex of factors, including social and cultural factors, beliefs and 

personal values and contextual factors, specific to a learning situation (Liao et al. 2017). Social 

and cultural factors exist at the level of norms, values and learning styles that exist in the cultural 

endowment of a company. The differences between cultures are found at the level of: the types of 

interaction they encourage in the learning activity (cooperation and competition), the partnerships 

for survival (in some, survival refers to the acquisition of well-founded knowledge, in others to 

the development of knowledge) and the learning resources are ensured through use of 

organizational tools in these companies (Baker et al. 2022).Intellectual factors influence the learning 

orientation, whether it is the acquisition of competence in the field, or just the achievement of a 

specific performances. 

According to Vega Martinez et al. (2020) among these factors are: the type of learning 

tasks (applicative tasks and those related to current activities are more attractive than 

decontextualized ones and facilitate the orientation towards the acquisition of skills and not only 

towards obtaining a particular performance), the authority relationship in the company (autonomy 

in learning determines an intrinsic motivation and a positive perception of one's own learning 

skills), the formal and informal use of rewards (rewarding competence has a strong motivational 

role in the long term), the evaluation modality (the competence orientation within formative 

assessments determines an orientation of superior learning versus performance orientation), the 

time allocated to a learning period (too short a period of time tends to demotivate employees), the 

way of grouping employees (a rigid grouping of skills can have serious consequences in terms of 

performance and learning orientation it has). 

It is important for organizations and especially the HR department to understand the 

different types of learning orientations in order to create effective training strategies that take into 

account the individual needs of employees. By understanding the different types of learning 

orientations, organizations can create individualized training programs that will help employees 

learn more active and effectively, leading to improved organizational performance. 

Work used to be the most obvious and important place where learning occurred. But, 

technical-scientific and technological development has made education through professional 

experience ineffective. Nowadays, a long period of formal training is required to be able to practice 

a job at a high level, while the job opportunities for the unskilled are fewer and fewer. Proponents 

of the sustainable development of human resources affirm the need to develop a program that 

cultivates personal initiative in view of permanent development and self-improvement. 

There are a number of very important additional factors, among which we mention: the 

provision of self-assessment tools; self-assessment possibilities; establishing an organizational 

climate favorable to creativity; knowledge of work incentive projects that promote solutions 

applicable directly in production to certain problems; interaction in the peer group, in order to 

promote the exchange of ideas and information. 

 

3. Conclusions and proposals 

In conclusion, learning orientation, lifelong education or sustainable human resource 

development should create the framework to provide the necessary inspiration, stimulate 

creativity, guide people to critical thinking, to cooperation, in order to solve complex problems, 

real. Therefore, for a sustainable development we need education, first of all to educate ourselves 

and then those around us, there are always new things that deserve to be explored and, why not, 

efficiently exploited. 



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Also, for sustainable human resource development, organizations should become more 

adept at generative learning, be able to predict environmental and market changes, and respond 

appropriately when necessary. Innovation and performance within a company largely depends on 

its orientation to learning. To understand and interpret new market information and technical 

advances from the external environment, organizations need competent people. Employees of an 

organization must be able to process information quickly as well as learn new things faster than 

their competitors. 

 

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