Construct Validity of a General Training Climate Scale

Abstract

Keywords: training climate; training effectiveness; construct validityOne of the growing areas of research in the training and development field focuses on the nature and types of factors outside formal learning contexts that may influence the acquisition and application of new knowledge and skills (Salas & Cannon-Bowers, 2001). Although many variables may influence the effectiveness of training and development efforts, an organization's training climate appears to play an important role. For example, previous research has demonstrated that an organization's training climate is instrumental in preparing individuals for formal development activities and achieving desired learning objectives (e.g., Tracey, Hinkin, Tannenbaum, & Mathieu, 2001) and in helping to ensure that individuals successfully transfer their newly acquired knowledge and skills to the job upon completion of formal training (e.g., Holton, Bates, & Ruona, 2000;Rouiller & Goldstein, 1993;Tracey, Tannenbaum, & Kavanagh, 1995;Thayer & Teachout, 1995).The mounting evidence regarding the relevance of the work environment, and training climate in particular, has shifted attention toward broader and more integrative models of training effectiveness. For example, Kozlowski and Salas (1997) presented a multilevel, systems model of training implementation and transfer that described the ways in which variables at one level of analysis (e.g., work environment) may influence or interact with variables at other levels of analysis (e.g., individual motivation to attend training). Research based on this and related models has gener-

Training Transfer: An Integrative Literature Review

“…Their model included items tapping external factors impacting transfer (e.g., support from manager, job, and organization). Despite their prior support for a single-factor model representing transfer climate, Tracey and Tews (2005) later substantiated a multifactor model (now referred to as the General Training Climate Scale) and found each set of items loaded on distinct factors, confirming a three-factor model.…”

“…In addition, several researchers have undertaken the challenge of validating comprehensive models of transfer (cf. Holton et al, 2000;Kontoghiorghes, 2004;Tracey & Tews, 2005), thus providing evidence that transfer is affected by multilevel variables (Kozlowski & Salas, 1997). A common theme in current work is the need to view transfer from a systemic (rather than linear) multilevel perspective and to incorporate variables that have been found to have consistently strong relationships with transfer, such as informal learning practices (Enos et al, 2003) and organizational learning culture (Bates & Khasawneh, 2005), to better represent the challenge of transforming learning to performance.…”

Examining the Link Between Ethical Leadership and Employee Misconduct: The Mediating Role of Ethical Climate

“…Previous research suggests three responses is a sufficient number to aggregate to the unit level (Colquitt et al, 2002;Mayer et al 2009a;Richardson and Vandenberg, 2005;Schneider et al, 1998;Tracey and Tews, 2005). We also collected data from 327 unit supervisors; however, not all supervisor surveys had corresponding employee surveys with at least three responses, nor did all employee surveys have corresponding supervisor data.…”

Inventário de Suporte Organizacional à Aprendizagem: Desenvolvimento e Evidências de Validação

“…Essa escala contribui para o campo por abordar o suporte à aquisição de competências funcionais e gerenciais, mas nenhum de seus itens foca o suporte oferecido por pares, equipes e superiores hierárquicos, tipos de suporte muito evidenciados em estudos anteriores do campo da aprendizagem individual (Coelho et al, 2005;Cheng et al, 2011;Tracey & Tews, 2005), medindo a percepção de suportes relacionada a aprendizagens formais e informais genéricas de aquisição de competências.…”

“…Escalas de suportes validadas no campo da aprendizagem individual (Coelho et al, 2005;Kraimer, Seibert, Wayne, Liden, & Bravo, 2011;Tracey & Tews, 2005) abordam, em regra, somente uma das etapas do processo de aprendizagem. Em vista disso, não permitem identificar se há diferenças quanto aos suportes por fase do processo de aprendizagem.…”