Employees’ experiences and perceptions of e-learning for training and development in a South African Bank

Abstract

Technological advancements have transformed corporate learning, with e-learning playing a key role in training and development, especially in the banking sector. While existing research highlights general benefits such as accessibility, cost-effectiveness, and flexibility, there remains limited understanding of employees’ lived experiences with e-learning especially in the South African banking context. There remains a significant gap in understanding how employees' experiences and perceive e-learning used for training and development, especially within the context of a South African bank. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore employees’ experience and perception of e-learning used for training and development in a South African bank. By focusing on employees' lived experiences and perceptions, this research seeks to provide understanding on how e-learning impacts employees knowledge, career growth and skills gap. The research uses Activity Theory (AT) as a conceptual framework, examining tools, rules, community, division of labour, object, and outcomes in the e-learning environment. A qualitative approach was applied, using semi-structured interviews with ten employees across junior, mid-level, and senior roles. Thematic analysis (TA) was used to interpret the data. Findings show that employees value both mandatory and voluntary e-learning. Interestingly, the employee level has an influence on the perceptions of mandatory training, with junior employees appreciating skills learnt, mid-level employees who find these sessions necessary but mundane, and senior employees who feel mandatory training lacks leadership content. Subsequently, higher level employees value voluntary training more due to the leadership e-learnings available despite challenges in time management, and junior employees gain confidence and become more self-reliant in their daily duties, from skills learnt from voluntary training, however there are challenges with management support and training prioritization. Key challenges of e- learning include time management, workload, and lack of prioritisation of learning. The study recommends policy adjustments to allocate dedicated training time and increase management involvement. This research contributes to the body of knowledge on e- learning in financial institutions and illustrates how AT can be applied to evaluate training in sector-specific contexts.