ORIGINAL PAPER Investigating Team Learning in a Military Context Marlies Veestraeten & Eva Kyndt & Filip Dochy Received: 11 December 2012 / Accepted: 29 October 2013 / Published online: 21 November 2013 # Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013 Abstract As teams have become fundamental parts of today’ s organisations, the need for these teams to function and learn efficiently and effectively is widely emphasised. Also in military contexts team learning is vital. The current article examines team learning behaviour in military teams as it aims to cross-validate a team learning model that was originally developed and tested in an educational context. This team learning model includes several socio-cognitive factors that precede, constitute, and result from team learning behaviour. Findings based on path analyses indicate that psychological safety, social cohesion and group potency are positively related to team learning behaviour in military teams. In addition, team learning behaviour does not only foster the construction of mutually shared cognition and transactive memory systems, but also relates positively to the effectiveness of military teams. Keywords Team learning . Psychological safety . Shared mental models . Military teams Introduction The growing reliance on team-based structures in today’ s uncertain organisational environments creates an imperative to comprehend the factors that enable effective teamwork (Balkundi and Harrison 2006; Mathieu et al. 2008; LePine et al. 2008). Recent studies show that one of the prerequisites for effective teamwork is team members’ engagement in team learning, as it fosters efficient interaction and coordi- nation, continuous adaptation, error detection and correction, and effective performance (Bell et al. 2012; Chan et al. 2003; Kostopoulos et al. 2011; Sessa and London 2008). Vocations and Learning (2014) 7:75–100 DOI 10.1007/s12186-013-9107-3 M. Veestraeten (*) Research Centre for Organisation Studies, University of Leuven, HOG, Naamsestraat 69, 3000 Leuven, Belgium e-mail: Marlies.Veestraeten@kuleuven.be E. Kyndt : F. Dochy Centre for Research on Professional Learning & Development, and Lifelong Learning, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium E. Kyndt Institute for Education and Information Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium