Exploring the corporate university phenomenon: Development and implementation of a comprehensive survey

Abstract

This study explores and advances the understanding of the corporate university phenomenon. In order to do that, a three-step approach was taken. First, a comprehensive review of the literature was undertaken to develop an aggregated view of corporate university literature. Second, a survey was developed based on the result of literature review. Third, a survey was implemented about corporate universities to gain a perspective on prominent processes of corporate universities. A total of 210 corporate universities participated in the study in the North America region. The findings revealed five prominent processes of corporate universities based on a factor analysis. The five processes are: alignment and execution, developing skills that support business needs, using technology to support the learning function, learning and performance evaluation, and partnership with academia. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.