Employees in the road transport-sector will be affected greatly by increased robotisation and digitalization. Leadership is critical in developing sustainable employability among truck drivers, as it plays a crucial role in facilitating learning and development of employees. However, knowledge about leadership in road transport is scarce, and is accompanied by several constraints such as physical space (drivers are mainly on the road), and the lack of empirical data due to the lower educational levels of both drivers and leaders.
The aims of this proposal are to study: a) how leadership of truck drivers can be optimized to improve sustainable employability, b) the critical success factors for developing leaders in a context of learning communities within a road transport environment, and c) how learning communities can be designed and configured to support effective, adaptive and innovative collaboration networks that effect learning and working processes of leaders in road transport. This study is divided into three cohesive research projects, each addressing one of its objectives, and is facilitated by a consortium of partners that bring in complementary (practical) knowledge and expertise.
This research combines qualitative and quasi-experimental approaches to gain evidence-based knowledge about the effectiveness of current leadership development initiatives within learning communities, and uses this knowledge to develop and evaluate a Leadership Living Lab (LLL). Based on evaluations of the LLL, this study results in a framework of design principles for leadership development in learning communities that can be used for new and existing collaboration networks.