Workplace learning in civil-military crisis exercises: constructive alignment, context support and defensive routines

Purpose This paper aims to examine how constructive alignment, context support, psychological safety and defensive routines are associated with observable indicators of workplace learning in civil-military crisis exercises and why exercise participation should not be equated with demonstrated learning. Design/methodology/approach This study is a comparative qualitative reanalysis of two previously studied Swedish exercise settings conducted between 2022 and 2024. No new empirical data was collected for this study. The structurally nonequivalent cases are compared using the same deductive workplace-learning framework; the comparison is used to elaborate theory rather than to estimate causal effects. Findings Case A exhibited more observable indicators of learning progression, along with clearer objectives, sequenced activities, feedback opportunities and stronger contextual support. Case B displayed fewer such indicators alongside vague objectives, limited assessment, heterogeneous participant experience and recurring defensive routines. Because the cases also differ in duration, immersion, group stability, participant composition and unit of analysis, these patterns are interpreted as associations rather than causal effects of exercise design. Research limitations/implications The comparison concerns one five-day exercise and a composite of seven exercises, uses unequal qualitative corpora and lacks independent pre- and postmeasures or behavioral evidence of transfer. This study therefore identifies theoretically relevant patterns and observable learning-process indicators, not verified individual learning outcomes or causal effects. Practical implications Exercise planners should connect specific learning objectives to role-relevant activities and structured feedback, while deliberately providing legal expertise, role clarity, facilitation and conditions for speaking up. Evaluation should distinguish immediate exercise outputs from subsequent transfer to ordinary work. Originality/value This study does not add new empirical data. Its contribution is a standardized cross-case reanalysis that integrates constructive alignment with workplace-learning affordances, psychological safety, defensive routines and training-transfer research and specifies the boundary conditions under which exercise outputs can be interpreted as indicators of learning progression.