A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Unlearning and public services – A case study with a Vygotskian approach




AuthorsStenvall, Jari; Kinder, Tony; Kuoppakangas, Päivikki; Laitinen, Ilpo

PublisherSAGE

Publication year2018

Journal: Journal of Adult and Continuing Education

Journal acronymJACE

Volume24

Issue2

First page 188

Last page207

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1177/1477971418818570

Web address https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1477971418818570


Abstract

All successful public service innovations require learning and just as importantly and often more deeply, unlearning. This research investigates the unlearning of health professionals focusing on the issue of why and how unlearning happens at an individual level for health care professions in the transition from product logic to service-dominant logic at Tampere University Hospital in Finland. We applied a qualitative single case study method, a problem-centred unlearning framework with a narrative approach, which facilitates understanding of how the informants perceived the service transition process. We identified three distinct unlearning narratives, and we recognised barriers and enablers to unlearning in the health care service culture and context and suggest ways in which these might be overcome. Results of the study shows that deep and radical change in public health care services is possible, by applying distributed leadership and allowing individual actors time for reflections, mind-wandering, listening and learning from users and, discourse between professionals.



Last updated on 26/11/2025 01:48:47 PM