The first scientific paper on the effectiveness of Working Out Loud®

Can a social learning program change people’s behavior and sense of empowerment? If so, can these changes stick? Here’s what the researchers found:

“The results indicated that WOL significantly increased participants’ WOL behavior and psychological empowerment at work….

The effect remained stable for psychological empowerment in the follow-up measurement [six months later]. WOL behavior…remained significantly higher compared to the pre-measurement.”

The full paper in the Journal of Workplace Learning is now available on ResearchGate. This post summarizes the study, its findings, and ideas for future research.

Click on the image to view the full article on ResearchGate.

“WOL works!”

When people asked us for evidence that Working Out Loud worked, we would share statistics of how many people recommended it, or how many would join a Circle a second or third time. We would offer a sample of the thousands of testimonials like these:

“WOL creates a mindset we strongly need in today’s world of work: learning from each other, achieving goals together.”

“The WOL method brought people together, strengthened mutual understanding, and fostered their sense of belonging.”

“Being part of WOL was an incredible experience of connection and commitment.”

“WOL works!”

But companies wanted proof. In particular, they wanted to know what behaviors changed as a result of being in a WOL Circle, and whether those changes were sustainable.

The Study

There have been many Bachelor and Master theses written on Working Out Loud, but there was never a study that was subject to rigorous statistical analysis or peer review. Until now.

The co-authors of the research paper are Tabea Augner (a Ph. D student at SRH Berlin University of Applied Sciences), Carsten Schermuly (Professor at SRH Berlin, author, and leading figure regarding psychological empowerment and New Work), and Franziska Jungmann (Professor of Business Psychology at the International School of Management in Berlin). 

The data comes from a WOL program for female empowerment created by Katharina Krentz called #FrauenStärken, which has had 5000+ participants over the past few years. Franziska designed a survey and collected data. In one of these programs she surveyed participants at the beginning and end of the program, and again six months later. More than 500 people completed all three surveys.

The researchers analyzed this data to determine if behavior and self-perception changed. “WOL Behavior” included knowledge sharing and network building. 

“WOL behavior comprises observable work performance alongside the creation of meaningful connections in a supportive network.”

“Psychological empowerment” was measured using a widely-cited 12-item questionnaire by Prof. Gayle Spreitzer.

“The scale comprises four dimensions: meaning, self-determination, competence and impact.”

The Results

The findings, as quoted above, show that Working Out Loud did indeed "change people’s behavior and sense of empowerment” and that those changes did indeed “stick”.

The two go together. As a social, experiential learning method, WOL enables participants to build skills and relationships through practice over time, and that gives them a feeling of self-determination and empowerment.

“We propose that WOL acts as a launching point for developing psychological empowerment by triggering self-initiated changes at work. WOL drives individual development. This newly developed skillset might initiate a change in the work context, increasing the perception of psychological empowerment at work.”

What’s next?

So now we have one more form of proof that “WOL works,” one that has undergone the rigors of statistical analysis and peer review. 

But of course there is more we aspire to do. One obvious step is to conduct a similar kind of study inside an organization instead of a public program. I think we will see that the effects are even more significant. Another step is to conduct such research on our other methods, including WOL for Teams, WOL Shop Floor (for operational workers), and WOL Resilience. Prof. Julia Schorlemmer (also, coincidentally, in Berlin) has done analysis of WOL Healthcare programs, for example, with promising results:

"WOL increases motivation, mental health, and important aspects for team collaboration.”

I would like to offer my deep appreciation to Tabea, Carsten, and Franziska for their tremendous work on the research paper. And I am grateful for my friend and collaborator of many years, Katharina Krentz and her #FrauenStärken team, for their innovative use of WOL for female empowerment and the generous sharing of their data.