Paper short abstract:

Data on learning-by-doing in South African and Kenyan firms reveals how workers develop production capabilities. Insights show that learning is informal, self-determined, and worker-led, raising questions about the (re)production of capabilities.

Paper long abstract:

Learning and capabilities acquisition is widely accepted as necessary for structural transformation and economic development (Otieno, 2013; Bloom et. al., 2006). This research unpacks the role of workers in driving learning, and developing diverse capabilities, and argues that worker-led learning is embedded and central to production.

Debates around learning-by-doing have focused on how firms learn, the policy environments, formal education, and training that support these processes, and the structural constraints that mediate these (Amsden, 1997; Jones, 2005; Andreoni, 2014). Resource-based economics has called attention to the different capabilities, including technological, managerial, and entrepreneurial skills, necessary for production (Ouma & Whitfield, 2012; Upadhyaya & McCormick, 2020).

More recently, the focus has shifted to exploring how and why individual workers learn. Drawing on original fieldwork data from micro-, small- and medium-sized firms in South Africa and Kenya, across several manufacturing and services sectors, we show that learning is a continuous and multilayered process. Rather than looking at the learning of firms, our evidence reveals the diverse actions of individual owners, managers, and workers within firms.

The evidence from our cases reveals that learning draws from informal and formal sources, is self-determined and ongoing rather than externally determined, and combines overlapping capabilities and skills. We show that workers occupy a central role in improving and developing production through identifying and updating capabilities and knowledge. Understanding learning as a lifelong and worker-led component of production raises new questions about the challenges and drivers of the (re)production of capabilities, and the solutions to address these.