The Influence of Situational Learning Orientation, Autonomy, and Voice on Error Making: The Case of Resident Physicians

Every organization is confronted by employee errors. Situational learning orientation may mitigate an employee's tendency to err. A situational learning orientation refers to the extent to which employees share the perception that there is an emphasis on improvement and on actively searching for additional knowledge and feedback in their department. The present study suggests that situational learning orientation interacts with two other organizational factors---autonomy and voice---as it influences employee errors, using the example of resident physicians' medical treatment errors. Senior nurses tallied the number of errors made by 123 residents from 25 departments over a three-month period. Results demonstrated that encouraging employee autonomy and voice fosters the benefits of learning by decreasing the number of treatment errors. Specifically, when the situational learning orientation was high, the number of errors decreased at an increasing rate as the perceived autonomy increased. When the learning orientation was low, there was a u-shaped relationship between autonomy and number of errors. In addition, only when the situational learning orientation was high did a higher employee voice lead to fewer treatment errors.