Peer Relationships, Learning Forums, And Work Outcomes: An Empirical Analysis

The pace of organizational and environmental change seems to demand that such professional organizations as CPA firms become learning organizations in order to compete with other firms. The flattening or thinning out of traditional hierarchical structures within organizations argues that traditional mentoring and supervisory structures may be inadequate for fostering needed individual learning about (a) organizational goals and politics, and (b) personal learning about job context and skill development, thus the ability of individuals within CPA firms to master new skills may be impaired. One effect of the lack of such learning may be increased role stress, job burnout, loss of commitment to the organization, intention to leave, and diminished job satisfaction. Using a sample of 440 accounting professionals from major CPA firms in the southeastern, southwestern, and northeastern regions of the United States, this research studies the ability of peer developmental relationship functions foster the requisite personal and organizational learning, and also to directly and indirectly influence attitudinal outcomes. We further examine whether the impact of developmental peer relationships on attitudinal outcomes is mediated by personal and organizational learning. A hierarchical regression-based test was used to evaluate our hypotheses. The results partially supported our expectations that such peer developmental relationship functions were significantly related to attitudinal outcomes, to elements of organizational learning, and to the skill development aspect of personal learning. Elements of organizational socialization, personal learning, and team-source learning were significantly related to attitudinal outcomes as well