Workplace e-learning success: Learner characteristics, burnout, and psychological safety

Abstract

Purpose:This article focuses on the learner characteristics as the main variables that influence the successful completion of e-learning. The roles of burnout and psychological safety were explored in relation to e-learning success. This study aims to provide insight into human resource development research and issues related to employee persistence in e-learning programmes.

Design/Methodology/Approach: This structured narrative review compiles previous studies that have addressed the factors influencing the success of e-learning in educational institutions and organisations. To this end, 61 articles were selected within the time frame (2014–2025). The learner characteristics included in the review are motivation, computer self-efficacy, Internet self-efficacy, cognitive engagement, self-regulation, and time management.

Findings: The review identifies motivation, computer and Internet self-efficacy, cognitive engagement, self-regulation, and time management as consistent predictors of e-learning success. It further shows that job burnout depletes the resources on which these characteristics depend, while psychological safety preserves them. The review proposes a conceptual model in which learner characteristics directly predict e-learning success and burnout and psychological safety act as moderating contextual factors.

Originality/Value: Although many studies have examined learner characteristics in educational settings, very little research has addressed their role in the workplace or examined how job burnout and psychological safety interact with them. This review integrates individual and contextual determinants of workplace e-learning success within a unified theoretical framework drawing on SCT, JD-R, and SDT.