Exploring Informal Workplace Learning and Identity Development of Early Career Tech Workers in China

• In Event: Workplace Learning: Emerging Topics and Noncognitive Facets

Abstract

Through the narratives of five tech workers, this qualitative study aims to explore the informal workplace learning and identity development of early-career tech workers in the IT industry in China. Based on both first- and second-hand data sources including interviews, artifacts collection, institutional mapping, and document collection, this study identified three dominant hegemonic narratives produced, circulated, and received in China’s tech industries. Participants also engage in counter-storytelling to balance, construct, and negotiate their identity through the trust-building process in workplaces. This study points to implications for occupational preparation for STEM students in higher/vocational education, for human resource development in knowledge-intensive companies, and for government policies for lifelong/workplace learning that promotes employability, individual development, and social cohesion.

Author

• Hui Huang, University of California - Los Angeles
  Presenting Author