The ongoing digitalization in the training sector produces new demands on the media‐didactical competence of trainers. We conducted an online survey of 279 trainers in Germany to investigate the relationships among media‐didactical competence, media‐didactical self‐efficacy, attitudes toward the use of digital media and the actual use of digital media in training. Furthermore, we compared trainers who attended a course on digital media with trainers who did not attend such a course. The analysis of the theoretically expected correlations between the variables resulted in not all hypotheses being accepted. The analysis of the group differences showed that the trainers who attended a course on digital media had higher media‐didactical competence and media‐didactical self‐efficacy scores and used digital media more often in training. There was no significant difference in negative attitudes. The implications for the promotion of the media‐didactical competence of trainers are discussed.
PurposeThis study aims to investigate whether soft-skills trainers and hard-skills trainers have different perspectives regarding their required instructional knowledge and skills.Design/methodology/approachAn online questionnaire was completed by 129 soft-skills trainers and 61 hard-skills trainers. The authors used 14 items covering relevant instructional knowledge and skills based on the training literature.FindingsAn exploratory factor analysis identified the following two factors: managing interactions and instructional activities. A multivariate analysis of variance showed significant differences in the assessments of managing interactions (p = 0.00) and instructional activities (p = 0.01) between soft- and hard-skills trainers. The differences in managing interactions were larger than those in instructional activities. The soft-skills trainers showed higher agreement with all items. Most individual items had medium effect sizes. The differing perspectives of soft- and hard-skills trainers are not an effect of different educational backgrounds.Research limitations/implicationsThese findings suggest that differences exist in the required instructional knowledge and skills depending on whether trainers teach soft or hard skills. Further research should consider the training content.Practical implicationsPractitioners can ensure that soft-skills trainers meet the respective requirements.Originality/valueThis study is the first to investigate the differences in soft- and hard-skills trainers’ perceptions of instructional requirements.
PurposeAlthough proposed from theory, the assumption that career‐related continuous learning (CRCL) has a positive impact on subsequent job performance has not been tested empirically. The present study aims to close this gap in the literature. A model is derived from theory that predicts a positive impact of CRCL, learning climate, and initial job performance on consequent job performance. In addition, CRCL is hypothesized to mediate the impact of learning climate on final job performance.Design/methodology/approachImplementing a longitudinal approach, this model was tested empirically in a call center context. Within the first year of their respective career, multiple source data were gathered from employees about their formal CRCL activities, their initial performance, as well as their perception about learning climate.FindingsResults indicated that CRCL predicted final job performance and mediated the impact of learning climate on final job performance. A total of 28 percent of final job performance was explained by the proposed model, highlighting the importance of CRCL for organizational contexts.Practical implicationsThe results of this study support the notion that CRCL programs are highly useful for both employees and organizations.Originality/valueFor the first time, the impact of CRCL on job performance is demonstrated empirically.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.