Abstract

Employee training programs need to develop ways of increasing the likelihood that learned skills and behaviours are used when employees return to their jobs, i.e., that "transfer of training" occurs. One way to facilitate transfer of training is to perform a post-training intervention designed to increase transfer of training. This dissertation has four main purposes. The first purpose was to test the effects of two post-training interventions, relapse prevention and transfer enhancement, in a 2 x 2 experimental design. The two interventions were designed to increase transfer of training by increasing self-efficacy for the training task, or a person's belief in his or her ability to perform the training task. Subjects were 147 nurses from one hospital who participated in a two day workshop. Self-efficacy and transfer of training were measured by both self-reports and supervisor reports at two and six months following training. Contrary to prediction, the two post-training interventions did not result in higher transfer of training than the control group. It is suggested that the training itself was effective in increasing self-efficacy and in leading to transfer of training in control subjects, making post-training interventions redundant for this training program. The second purpose was to test the effect of "motivation to learn" on transfer of training. Strong support was found for the hypothesis that "motivation to learn" is positively related to transfer of training. The third purpose of the dissertation was to examine the process by which transfer of training occurs. This study hypothesized that self-efficacy would be positively related to transfer of training, and strong support was found for this hypothesis. The fourth purpose of the dissertation was to examine the influence of transfer climate on transfer of training. It was found that supervisor and coworker support had a positive effect on self-reported but not supervisor-reported transfer of training. A model of transfer of training is presented and recommendations for research and practice are discussed