Transfer of training through productive networking

Abstract

Developing strategies for successfully transferring knowledge, skills and attitudes from a training programme to the workplace continues to be a key challenge facing organisations. Studies have found that, in general, employees transfer less than 10% of the training they acquire to their workplaces (Georgenson, 1982; Kelly, 1982; McGuire, 2014). Fitzpatrick (2001) and Saks (2002) argue that research regarding transfer of training could be complex because the figure of 10% has never been proven scientifically. Based on this study, we propose that the transfer of training models limit the transfer process because they focus solely on the whys and the why nots of the 10%, limiting the discussion to only the transfer of knowledge, skills, and attitudes from a training programme to a job. We contend that if the transfer of training research and discussion is broadened to include the remaining 90%, which is viewed as a lost job efficiency, one might discover some additional determinants contributing to the transfer of training. Therefore, this study is based on a new determinant called productive networking. In the study, interviews were used as a research instrument to investigate the significance of productive networking in the transfer of training process. Two bodies of literature were reviewed for the study. They were the frameworks of the transfer process set forth by Baldwin and Ford (1988) and Holton (2008), and the theories that support training transfer in organisations. The study determined that productive networking among trainees was a critical factor in the successful transfer of training.

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