gms | German Medical Science

Introduction: Personal epistemology (i.e. beliefs and assumptions about knowing and knowledge) affects intellectual development, learning and education. The system of individual beliefs about the nature of knowledge and learning is known as epistemic beliefs (EB; [2]). Although the majority of research on EB has been conducted in an academic context, they may also be of importance in the context of organizations, because these beliefs may influence supervisory and collaborative relationships at the workplace. For instance, if a supervisor possesses a more sophisticated personal epistemology, he is more likely to welcome multiple perspectives and try to understand supervisees rather than trying to change them [1], [3].

Methods: There is a lack of empirical EB research in the organizational context, so our study aimed to investigate (a) the influence of supervisors’ EB on supervisees’ EB, (b) potential moderating effects of culture, and (c) identify further factors that potentially affect these relationships. A literature search was conducted via EBSCOhost (ERIC and PsycINFO databases), yielding 2,833 potentially relevant publications. Title and abstract screening were followed by full-text critical appraisal and 40 studies were finally included into the analysis. Although EB research in the organizational context is gaining popularity, the majority of the studies found still investigated teacher-student relationships.

Results & Discussion: Study results indicate that supervisors’ EB indeed have a strong effect on the development of supervisees’ EB. Moreover, they can affect supervisees’ meta-cognitive strategies as well as reasoning and argumentations skills. EB should thus be addressed in educators’ and trainers’ programs as it is apparently important for instructors to understand their own beliefs and how these may influence their supervisees. Cultural aspects and social factors (e.g. educational level, socio-economic status, life experience) should also be taken into account as potential moderators of the relationship of collaborating supervisors’ and supervisees’ EB.