Exploratory factors influencing design practice learning within a Thai context

Purpose - Development of staff learning enhances work productivity and sustains organizational development. In particular, design practitioners require both theoretical knowledge and mentoring with their practical experience. Without extensive knowledge, designers may produce design work errors that produce poor quality of work and this leads to project cost and time overruns. This paper aims to explore staff's perception of the factors that influence learning in construction design companies. Design/methodology/approach - Twenty-six variables are reviewed from literature, and evaluated by 70 designers from construction design and consulting firms in Thailand. A factor analysis technique is applied to the group of identified variables. Findings - Eight factors that affect staff learning are identified: organizational support for learning; group learning; individual learning and sharing; absorptive capability; personal relationships; characteristics of the knowledge source; learning equilibrium; and work characteristics. Practical implications - Knowledge of these factors can help senior managers deal with learning within these kinds of organizations. In addition, these factors can be used to assess the level of support that facilitates learning within an organization. Originality/value - Construction designers have had scant attention paid to them by researchers regarding how they develop their learning. Moreover, recent work on knowledge transfer in the construction industry has tended to focus on countries such as the UK and Australia, with little work done in Asian countries. This paper attempts to help bridge that gap within a design context using data from Thai construction design companies.