Employee Training and Development as an Antecedent of Firm Customer Capabilities: Longitudinal Moderation by Firm Size and Market Type

Abstract

Employee training and development are usually believed to improve various elements of firm outcomes including customer outcomes and capabilities. However, theory and substantial evidence suggests that training outcomes differ by firm size, with larger firms potentially benefitting more. Theory may also suggest that that training and development have a greater overall impact in emerging economies which may lack the depth of educational systems as well as digitization and automation of customer service enjoyed in advanced economies. The current article extends this literature, testing the main effect of training and development on customer loyalty and moderation effects of firm size and market type on this main relationship among 2056 listed firms across 66 countries and using annual panel data spanning 2010–2016. However, the empirical results find support for neither strong effects of training and development on customer loyalty nor for the proposed moderation effects. Unique elements of this research include the longitudinal and large-sample, global methodology as well as the unusual null-effects findings which contradict earlier findings and may provide food for thought in this field.

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