There is contrary research around whether collaboration at work fosters individual learning and skill development. This study’s purpose was to examine the relationship between social characteristics of jobs on adults’ cognitive skills as measured by the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). For select industry sectors, we used a linear regression model to predict scores for PIAAC scales—literacy, numeracy, and problem solving in technology-rich environments—based on the independent variables gender, education level, frequency of workplace collaboration, and frequency of sharing work-related information. Results showed level of collaboration at work is negatively associated with PIAAC scores, contradicting current thinking on the role of social interactions in the workplace. We conclude there may be an overemphasis on the social characteristics in job design in some industries and workplaces, leaving little support and time for other activities known to support workplace learning, like management support and time for reflection.

中文翻译：

---

工作的社会特征对美国成年人认知技能的影响：PIAAC分析

关于工作中的协作是否促进个人学习和技能发展的研究相反。这项研究的目的是检验由国际成人能力评估计划（PIAAC）衡量的工作的社会特征与成人认知技能之间的关系。对于某些特定行业，我们使用线性回归模型根据自变量性别，教育程度，工作场所合作的频率以及共享的频率，预测PIAAC量表的得分（识字，计算和在技术含量很高的环境中解决问题）与工作相关的信息。结果显示，在工作中的协作水平与PIAAC分数呈负相关，这与当前关于工作场所社交互动作用的看法相矛盾。