Internal lateral mobility is a key feature of European labour markets, particularly in large organisations seeking to support reskilling, internal employability, and workforce adaptability in response to economic and technological change. While lateral job transitions are often framed as opportunities for growth, they entail substantial learning demands, as employees encounter unfamiliar work practices, social dynamics, and performance expectations without the formal onboarding typically associated with vertical transitions. Within European policy and organisational discourse, internal mobility is increasingly positioned as a mechanism for lifelong learning and sustainable employability, yet limited empirical attention has been given to how learning is actually supported during lateral transitions. This study focuses on the dynamics of learning in the absence of formal onboarding during internal lateral transfers. 

The research examines informal learning during the year following an internal lateral job transition, with particular attention to how employees’ learning practices develop over time and how workplace affordances shape these practices. Situated in the domain of workplace and adult learning, the study responds to calls for process-oriented, empirically substantiated accounts of learning as it unfolds in everyday work activity. 

Drawing on well-established European and international traditions in workplace learning research, the study is theoretically grounded in situated learning theory, which conceptualises learning as participation in social practice, and in the concept of workplace affordances, which highlights how organisational arrangements and social relations enable or constrain learning opportunities. From this perspective, learning during a lateral transition is understood as a negotiated process shaped by access to people, tasks, tools, and guidance, alongside employees’ agency in engaging with these opportunities. 

The purpose of the study is to describe how informal learning practices emerge during internal lateral transitions and how peers and managers influence these practices through the provision of workplace affordances. The study addresses the following research questions: 

1. Which informal learning practices do employees report using during the first year after an internal lateral job move, and how do these practices change across different phases of the transition? 

2. How do managers and peers enable or constrain these learning practices through workplace affordances? 

3. How do employees exercise agency in seeking, negotiating, and sustaining informal learning opportunities during the transition? 

The paper draws on qualitative interview research with employees who have recently undertaken an internal lateral transfer within a large organisation. A qualitative panel design is employed, involving semi-structured interviews conducted at specified points during the first year following the move. Interviews focus on participants’ everyday work activities, challenges encountered, sources of support, and strategies for learning to perform in the new role. Supplementary interviews with managers provide additional perspectives on expectations, support practices, and learning conditions. 

Data are analysed using an iterative coding process informed by constant comparison, with attention to learning practices and workplace affordances across different phases of the transition. The analysis focuses on identifying patterns of change in how learning is enacted and supported over time. 

The study explores how informal learning during lateral transitions shifts from early reliance on social support and observation towards more selective, agentic, and context-specific practices embedded in everyday work. It highlights how work arrangements, access to colleagues, and managerial involvement shape learning trajectories, and how misalignments between role expectations and available affordances generate tensions in the learning process. By examining how employees negotiate participation, expectations, and responsibility over time, the study provides empirical insight into the relationship between learning and identity development during lateral moves and contributes to understandings of learning as participation in practice during organisational change. 

The study employs a qualitative research design to investigate informal learning during the first year following an internal lateral job transition. A qualitative approach is used to capture participants’ accounts of everyday work activities, learning practices, and interactions as they unfold within the organisational context of the transition. Participants are employees who have recently completed an internal lateral transfer within a large organisation, and they are based in both European and North American branches of the organisation. A lateral move is defined as a change in professional domain, responsibilities, or tasks without a change in hierarchical level. Participants were recruited shortly after assuming their new roles. Managers were included to provide complementary perspectives on learning expectations, support practices, and working arrangements. Data are generated through semi-structured interviews conducted at specified intervals during the first year following the move. Interviews focus on participants’ experiences of learning to perform in the new role, including challenges faced, sources of support, interactions with colleagues and supervisors, and strategies used to acquire the knowledge and skills required for routine work. Manager interviews address perceptions of the transition, support provided, and learning opportunities available. All interviews are audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The study follows a qualitative panel design, enabling comparison of accounts across different phases of the transition. Data analysis is conducted using an iterative coding process informed by constant comparison. Initial coding identifies learning practices, sources of support, and workplace features described as enabling or constraining learning. Subsequent analytic cycles examine patterns across interviews and time points, with theoretical concepts from situated learning and workplace affordances used as sensitising concepts to support interpretation while remaining grounded in the empirical material.

This study is expected to produce a process-oriented account of informal learning during the first year following an internal lateral job transition. By focusing on learning as it unfolds within everyday work practices, the analysis moves beyond static descriptions of skill acquisition to show how learning develops in response to changing role demands and workplace conditions. The findings are expected to demonstrate how learning during lateral transitions is shaped by workplace affordances, including access to people, tasks, tools, and organisational arrangements. Attention to both employee and manager perspectives clarifies how learning opportunities are offered, taken up, and evaluated within organisations. The study is also expected to illuminate how learning during lateral transitions is intertwined with processes of identity development, as employees negotiate legitimacy, confidence, and accountability while becoming effective in new roles. In addition, variation in learning trajectories is expected to show how employees exercise agency differently depending on work context and available support structures. The findings are expected to inform how international organisations design learning support for internal mobility, particularly in contexts where formal onboarding is limited and learning is expected to occur through participation in work.

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