Concepts of Work and Professional Competence Development: a Phenomenographic Study with SEBRAE's Local Innovation Agents

Abstract Phenomenography is still little used in Brazil despite its great potential for competence studies. Research in this field has show that the individuals’ conceptions of work direct their learning so that they perform it well, since it is these conceptions forge, constitute, and organize attributes (knowledge, skills, and others) used to accomplish it. In order to develop professional competence, researchers suggest that individuals should move from less superficial work conceptions to more comprehensive ones. However, there is a lack of studies that empirically identify the triggers of this change. This article is intended to fill such gap. Its objective was to analyze the process of change in working conceptions of a group of Local Innovation Agents. Data were collected through interviews and analyzed by means of phenomenographic protocols. The “pursuit of goals” and the “desire to carry out quality work” were identified as triggers of changes in conceptions’ changes and the development of new competencies.