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Trinh Dissertation 5.3 FINAL.pdf (917.76 KB)

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Overcoming the Shadow of Expertise: How Humility, Learning Goal Orientation, and Learning Identity Help Experts Become More Flexible

Trinh, Mai Phuong
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7317-3928
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1465498549

Abstract Details

2016, Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Organizational Behavior.
Although experts are valuable assets to organizations, they suffer from the curse of knowledge and cognitive entrenchment which prevents them from being able to adapt to changing situational demands. Research using the cognitive approach to study expertise has little to offer in resolving these problems. In this study, I use Dweck’s (1988) goal orientation framework to offer alternative explanations and solutions for expert performance pitfalls. I propose that experts’ performance goal orientation resulting from social pressures to perform is what makes them inflexible, but this mechanism can be moderated by learning goal orientation, learning identity, and humility. In study 1 and study 2, I developed and validated a scale measuring learning identity, the degree to which individuals see themselves as learners and enjoy the learning process. Learning identity complements learning goal orientation to capture individuals’ holistic motivation to learn. Results yielded a six-item scale with good factor structure and sufficient evidence of construct validity. In study 3, data from a small sample of healthcare professionals in Northeast Ohio suggested that performance goal orientation partially explained the mechanism of why experts may be inflexible. Humility, both as self-report and other-report measure, was found to be the most consistent moderator of this indirect effect. Experts with low levels of humility suffered from the negative effects of performance goal orientation, leading them to be less flexible compared to their counterparts with higher levels of humility. Experts who reported high levels of humility, on the other hand, were perceived to be more flexible as their expertise increased. Meanwhile, learning goal orientation partially moderated the indirect effect of expertise on flexibility through performance goal orientation, and learning identity did not moderate this effect. These findings lead to new ways to resume conversations on how to get experts unstuck and how to develop educational curriculum around humility and lifelong learning.
Corinne Coen, PhD (Committee Co-Chair)
David Kolb, PhD (Committee Co-Chair)
Ronald Fry, PhD (Committee Member)
Christopher Burant, PhD (Committee Member)
161 p.
Organizational Behavior
expertise, flexibility, goal orientation, humility, learning identity

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Trinh, M. P. (2016). Overcoming the Shadow of Expertise: How Humility, Learning Goal Orientation, and Learning Identity Help Experts Become More Flexible [Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1465498549

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Trinh, Mai. Overcoming the Shadow of Expertise: How Humility, Learning Goal Orientation, and Learning Identity Help Experts Become More Flexible. 2016. Case Western Reserve University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1465498549.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Trinh, Mai. "Overcoming the Shadow of Expertise: How Humility, Learning Goal Orientation, and Learning Identity Help Experts Become More Flexible." Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1465498549

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

case1465498549
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© 2016, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies and OhioLINK.