This brief reflection began as a two-part conversation (one professional, one academic) about network effects in the knowledge economy and was intended to be a podcast. A knowledge worker is a person whose effectiveness is determined by the use of critical thinking and their capacity for decision making (brainpower). Creating a podcast about this would have been professionally inauthentic content for this prolific emailer and digital workflow documenter, so let’s frame the problem simply in text:
If we are not actively contributing to the knowledge economy by ranking, rating, creating, sharing, and co-validating the skills and experiences of colleagues instead of merely consuming the products, we are out of the future employability game and more likely to be subsumed and dissolved by process of automation.
What worries me about this is that I am not yet sure on which side of the debate I am most comfortable. I trust my colleagues who endorse me, do not accept reviews from people that I have not worked with, and do not fully understand which metadata is used when I appear in searches, which I’ve been left out of, and why I appear in some that are less relevant. Peer effects is a term commonly used in education literature, but it refers to external, social interaction effects that affect our behaviours and possible outcomes. I wonder whether the peer effect from professional networking sites have truly transformative potential for humans and their careers.
2021 marks my thirteenth year working in eLearning with Pearson’s higher education group in Canada. Search for terms on my LinkedIn profile and discover learning strategy, learning technology and delivery, cross-functional leadership, innovation, and design thinking, and there are a handful of skills endorsed by peers. In my workplace I sit on an innovation team tasked with a measurable outcome to help foster a culture of innovation. On March 10, 2021 I attended a webinar by business strategy experts at Strategyzer called Demystifying Innovation Theatre. The point of the webinar was to help leaders understand innovation management from the C-level throughout the company, exploring practices associated with design thinking that can create true value when applied properly. I did not Tweet about it and there is no digital certificate for participation that I can link to my aforementioned profile. While I discussed important facets of innovation theatre to be avoided with my local innovation team that would help guide the conversation beyond using post-it notes towards the creation of something with value, I did not receive any sort of digital artifact or peer validation of my contribution to the company’s organizational goals. Does the lack of evidence of the experience, knowledge gained, and shared results hinder my access to future opportunities within my company and beyond?
According to LinkedIn Learning’s 5th Annual Workplace Learning Report 2021: Skill Building in the New World of Work, resilience and digital fluency were cited as the #1 or #2 most important skills. Qualifying the value of learning or resilience is not exactly straightforward. I use Saba for compliance training at work, and none of the cultural, technical, or information-security knowledge nuggets achieved there are Open to demonstrate to the world. Endorsements on LinkedIn may not be from peers, may not be from industry experts, and may be contrived. Does this activity obscure perceived value? It indicates that someone has valued a contribution or even better has actually witnessed some effort and will back it with their own credibility. The power may lie in their credibility to help build value in yours, but what part of that value is factored in to the powerful search algorithms to help recruiters select or filter out eager professionals? On a human level, those peer validations provide a multiplier role whereby their experiences and network should give yours a boost. Do machine learning algorithms work the same way? They are not just making choices for you in your social network, they may also be choosing your future professional opportunities. Are you relatable, empathetic, credible? Many jobs can be automated and those in transition may require human relatability. What will be the recommendation guidelines from your network of peers, or will this be left to metadata scrapers that check validation scripts in digital badges?
PRO: Two years before the outbreak of covid-19 that drove current and future knowledge workers home from universities and workplaces, Deloitte’s Future of Work study examined how tomorrow’s job seekers would increasingly need to “find others who can help them get better faster — small workgroups, organizations, and broader and more diverse social networks.” What if the process is not fast, but slower and reliable? Would that be better? Evidence of this shift to control substance and peer-networked verifiability on a smaller and focused scale is Peer Effects, an innovative BC company that currently fosters a closed community of certified dentists who will share peer-validated knowledge, using the power of local and global professional networks and platform analytics to help individuals construct a professional reputation, gather continuing education credentials, and benefit from industry-specific news and professional networking that can be relayed to certification bodies. That seems like a worthwhile future, and as it grows it may find a way to evolve into an Open community where experiential learning can be exploited across industries when upskilling and automation change the focus of the community. A good example of the eLearning standards sharing economy can be facilitated by xAPI.
“The Experience API (or xAPI) is a new specification for learning technology that makes it possible to collect data about the wide range of experiences a person has (online and offline). This API captures data in a consistent format about a person or group’s activities from many technologies. Very different systems are able to securely communicate by capturing and sharing this stream of activities using xAPI’s simple vocabulary.” Content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
CON: Chris Ryan’s “Measurement of Peer Effects” includes a literature review of academic papers that aim to measure peer effects on an individual’s educational outcomes, and suggests that studies of peer effects face at least two problems in credibly estimating effects. One is a sorting problem, where alike individuals tend to sort together into similar groups and validate one another, and the other is a problem with personal reflection that if peers affect us, we must also affect them (the problem with peer endorsements mentioned earlier). Angrist too speaks about the perils of estimating the value of peer effects, where external validations of human capital illustrate a class of peer effects where the group average (perhaps deliberately setting a low bar) is presumed to positively influence individual outcomes that come later. If I am endorsed by a C-Suite manager that others looking to hire already respect, my chances may be more favourable. Would it be socially awkward for me if that same C-Suite manager is removed from their position? It is quickly becoming less useful or even possible to talk about the workplace as being only physical or local, which makes generalizable statements about peer endorsements of the sorting kind even more challenging. Virtual meetings make it more difficult to develop the kind of rapport with colleagues that a conversation with body language can foster over a lunch table. According to Cornelissen, Dustmann, and Shonberg, empirical evidence on peer effects in coworker productivity is still limited and mainly related to peer-pressure activities over visible production activities (not knowledge work) and a small potential to affect wages. Where’s the concrete data to suggest my peers have the potential to promote my interests and career? I maintain that peer networks are important resources in an organization. They are sources of influence in the workplace, help to develop trust, and together deliver organizational objectives in a variety of ways: sharing standards for individual task-based work, sharing the results of externally facing work (interactions with people outside the company), managing down, managing across (interactions with colleagues), managing up (interactions with a manager or senior leader), and ongoing training and development.
FORECAST: Covid-related expansion of online skills development programs and employment will continue in the post-covid world. The LinkedIn Learning report clearly outlines examples from large, well-funded companies that place value on L&D. The state of the job-seeking industry relies not only on individual resiliency and adaptability, but also on the resiliency of peers and their ability to continuously build and validate open and connected networks of digitally archived experiences. The potential impact of the gig/mobile economy on traditional ways of working, searching for work, and being sought after is clear. A mentoring connector database and active online community like Peer Effects could be hugely beneficial to students and recently unemployed workers who need to build an online community and develop credit for the value that they are currently able to offer, and with support — foster. This could become enormously successful if the bar for the peer group average is not set deliberately low by the community; how it’s regulated and how peers encourage community growth will determine success. How gigs or mobile employment affect how we are valued when there is no permanence and where individual value is temporary is yet another challenge that requires Open and Mobile technology. “We’d better get to know the growing gig economy” is a 2020 article from Montreal that outlines some of the key aspects of shaping the recovery period, including choice and flexibility and portable benefits on the positive side, and potential for exploitation as a negative. An interesting facet of flexibility is raised, where companies may present it as a perk that workers value with options for working hours, but be mindful of what’s present in the non-knowledge labour market by comparison, where schedules and payment rules may restrict and influence choices (e.g. Foodora, where choice is designed and controlled by the app).
References
- Angrist, J.D., The perils of peer effects, Labour Econ. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2014.05.008
- Cornelissen, T., Dustmann, C., and Schonberg, U. (2017). Peer Effects in the Workplace.
- American Economic Review 2017, 107(2): 425–456. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20141300
- Hagel, J., Schwartz, J. (2017). Navigating the future of work: Can we point business, workers, and social institutions in the same direction? Deloitte Review, Issue 21, July 31, 2017.
- LinkedIn Learning’s 5th Annual Workplace Learning Report 2021: Skill Building in the New World of Work.
- “Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence” by mikemacmarketing is licensed under CC BY 2.0
- Ryan, C. (2017). Measurement of Peer Effects. Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, Vol. 50(1), pages 121-129, March.
- Ziegler, E., MCCallum, K.E. (2020). We’d better get to know the growing gig economy. Policy Options IRCC, October 15, 2020
Hello Ben,
Your perspective is fascinating. I believe people, especially young adults, sometimes don’t value feedback as much as they should. Throughout my professional life, I could easily identify that the students who searched for constructive criticism, and knew how to use it, were the ones who excelled. Therefore, I believe qualified, tailored feedback is crucial for improving your knowledge/ability in any area you may pursue. After all, expertise is achieved by identifying mistakes and learning how to make the right choices, and there is no better way to do that than through receiving feedback. As you mentioned, the post-Covid-19 world puts Peer Effects to the test because the platform would never be as useful as it would be now. Considering that, I do believe to be genius the concept of online communities where one can find opportunities, feedbacks, and support through these difficult times. Newcomers to the professional world may find themselves lost in the process, and Peer Effects can be the solution for that. Congratulations on your job!
Thanks, Alexei,
I agree with you that feedback is critical to learning, and if managed responsibly I think peer effects of the educational sort and the professional sort will take off within and post covid times. I didn’t invent either effect, but will be watching and participating in them as we emerge into the next generation of the online knowledge economy.
Hey there Ben,
This was absolutely fascinating to read on. As a high school teacher myself, it is pretty helpful to understand what kind of world is out there awaiting ambitious post-secondary students. Thank you for beginning to light what peer effects are and how it potentially influences our everyday lives. I understand your concerns about how peer influence may push people one way or another, and the speculation is killing me now. I am eager to follow up on this topic and see how it develops over time.
Do you think we will see drastic changes to the peer networking effects manifest themselves within the next five, ten, or twenty years?
Do you think universities should change their way of delivering their curriculum and model it after a faster pace, with smaller classes, and across more diverse social networks? I wonder if playing into the model that is being created by peer networks could benefit knowledge workers in the long run?
Hi Anton,
I too wonder how knowledge workers will benefit authentically by participation in peer-validated networks. There’s enough research in education to suggest positive correlation, and even LinkedIn articles continue to report that 70-80% of jobs are not posted externally and roles are offered based on network connections, or who we know. But how valid are those network connections, and what are the signs of authentic vs contrived experiences and peer verifications? Emerging seems not quite the right word given how vast and swift the market size and potential are.
On the education side (and this could be applied by extension to professional continuing education), there is an interesting application called Peer Scholar backed by solid learning research by Steve Joordens at the University of Toronto. It has been floating around in various iterations for over a decade now.
Pedagogical value of peerScholar is outlined in these explanations by Joordens:
Assessing Peer Assessment: https://youtu.be/MmU-weQmFXY
Importance of Providing Students with a Rationale for Assessment: https://youtu.be/ZfqIIFsqOjM
Critical Thinking Utilizing Peer Assessment: https://youtu.be/36rKpN0XHuo
I think the research and principles of peer effect are sound, though the application varies widely. That’s where I think there is massive potential in the professional space, where digital badge and micro-learning markets stand to grow immensely over the next five years. Quality assurance and verified credentials are going to be important factors (in my opinion) in the success of any platform that offers a service with peer analytics.
“The Global Microlearning market accounted for $1.30 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach $4.65 billion by 2027 growing at a CAGR of 15.2% during the forecast period.” https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191001005833/en/Global-Mi%20crolearning-Market-Outlook-Report-2019-Market
ReportLinker’s September 2020 Global Digital Badges Industry report [https://www.reportlinker.com/p05818886/Global-Digital-Badges-Industry.html?utm_source=GNW] includes a timely market impact survey that accounts for the recession related to COVID-19. The report estimates the global market for Digital Badges at around US$97.7 Million in the year 2020 and is projected to reach US$340.6 Million by 2027 growing at a compound annual growth rate of 19.5% over the period 2020-2027. The report cites growth in industry and academic institutions where employment and skills training are the primary focus. A key market driver is the increased need to bridge the skill gap as the economy recovers and workforce changes occur due to automation.
Which is the long way to say that teachers for themselves and their community and on behalf of their students may want to learn more abut peer effects.
Hi Ben,
Well done! Your analysis is insightful and contributive to peer network industry. I guess your idea about peer network is different from the social network of Linkedin, which is a global cross-industry network for all kinds of professionals. Up to my understanding, Linkedin is like a huge job market, in which activities, such as L&D, are designed for attracting people to gather and keep activities on it, thereby increasing users’ sticky. Compared to Linkedin’s global market of job-seeking and headhunting, does your peer network target on being applied in a specific geographic territory or a specific industry, like the circle for BC certified dentists which you exampled?
Regardless of the size of the social circle, it is essential to keep sufficient activities in order to gain ever-growing new knowledge. It’s a good idea by xAPI, learners are continually learning in their activities through their devices. However, the key point here is how to keep a learner/individual/peer constantly generating activities which can impact others.
Hi Shirley,
I was initially reluctant to deliver an opinion post for something like this, especially since the time limit and packaging are restricted in this format. LinkedIn is open to millions of people and is great for a lot of sound reasons; however, there is nothing that prevents colleagues and strangers from endorsing skills that a member may not have, and those endorsements may not be from people that are considered skilled experts in their field. I wondered over the long term how useful those endorsements could be for an individual’s credibility in the employment market, especially as we shift globally to a gig economy.
Peer effect is legitimate in education and in professional training. In higher education, there are quite a few applications and LMS tools that claim student peer evaluations in numbers are as effective with rating and grading assignments as an instructor, and the more that students use the systems the better the peer effect. My intention was to question how it will/might affect people and their careers positively with professional learning and continuing education without the noise of lowest-common-denominator or rigged ratings over time. I’m fascinated by the potential of the currently closed system underway with the Peer Effects company in BC simply because a closed system will be easier to monitor and improve algorithms, is more likely able to help determine what low vs high professional learning, performance, and honest credibility looks like before scaling up to another community on the platform.
In the longtail, I would hope that all closed systems allow users to share their professionally validated continuing education accomplishments openly on any platform. This will be especially important as our roles change over time with increasing technology automation.