Exploring the Learning Styles of the Construction Practitioners in Hong Kong: Fid-Bau Portal

Exploring the Learning Styles of the Construction Practitioners in Hong Kong

Wong, Peter S. P. / Cheung, Sai On / Lai, Wally S. W.

There has been strong advocate that through effective inter-organizational learning (inter-OL), construction project efficiency and effectiveness can be improved. In this regard, some researchers recommended exploring the possible ways to facilitate inter-OL. It has been suggested that project team members may have different learning styles that shape how they imbibe knowledge, communicate, solve problems and make decisions. Through understanding the learning styles, members can realize each others' strengths and weaknesses in learning. Thus, appropriate strategies can be adopted for facilitating others' learning. Some researchers have used the Learning Style Questionnaire (LSQ) developed by Honey and Mumford (1982) to measure the learning styles of the individuals. Nevertheless, the reliability of the LSQ in measuring the learning styles of the project team members has yet been examined. This paper reports a study that aims to examine the use of the LSQ in identifying the learning styles of members from two types of firms: the contractor firms and the consultant firms. Data were obtained from a questionnaire survey in Hong Kong and were analyzed by using Cronbach alphas reliability testing, Pearson correlation Analysis and Analysis of Variance. The results suggested that LSQ is reliable in identifying the learning styles of the respondents. Furthermore, the respondents from the consultant firms are found to be flexible in adopting different learning styles to grasp experience and transform it to knowledge. In contrast, respondents from the contractor firms are oriented towards a Reflector learning style when transforming experience to knowledge. This suggests that longer time is needed when actions are required to be taken in response to environmental change.