Summary of all papers of HRD.
Grade: 8.2
Burke, L. A., & Hutchins, H. M. (2007). Training transfer: An integrative
literature review. Human Resource Development Review, 6, 263-296.
Weissbein, D. A., Huang, J. L., Ford, J. K., & Schmidt, A. M. (2011) Influencing
learning states to enhance trainee ...
Theme 1: Training effectiveness and transfer of training
Burke, L. A., & Hutchins, H. M. (2007). Training transfer: An integrative literature
review. Human Resource Development Review, 6, 263-296.
To conduct this integrative review, first was identified a taxonomy of major conceptual factors
influencing transfer in order to categorize the diverse variables permeating the literature.
Specifically, the developing knowledge of three primary factors influencing transfer was
examine:
I. learning characteristics
II. intervention design and delivery
III. work environment
influences as based upon influential conceptual models in the field.
Training transfer generally refers to the use of trained knowledge and skill back on the job.
For transfer to occur “learned behavior must be generalized to the job context and
maintained over a period of time on the job” . We focus our review on empirical findings
grounded in theory and assessed using a sufficiently rigorous methodological approach (as
determined by the academic peer review process) or qualitative work guided by
a theoretical lens.
I. Learning characteristics (A learner’s characteristics influence training outcomes;
that is, one of the more enduring conceptualizations in the psychology literature is
that an individual’s ability and motivation affect performance
The primary learner characteristics influencing training transfer examined here include:
1. the trainee’s intellectual ability (Cognitive ability)
2. self-efficacy
3. motivation level
4. job/career variables
5. personality traits,
6. locus of control
7. Perceived utility/value
1.The trainee’s intellectual ability (Cognitive ability)
Cognitive ability for transfer is achieved by students with higher general ability scores.
Cognitive ability clearly exerted an effect on trainee performance due to its effect
on attentional resource capacity .
Found the corrected correlation coefficient between cognitive ability and training
transfer
Cognitive ability (as mediated by knowledge structures) improved retention of a
complex skill in a lab test of a 3-day video game training program
,2. Self-efficacy
Judgments trainees make about their competency to perform tasks, or self-efficacy, have
also received strong support for influencing transfer in the extant literature.
Self-efficacy development methods to enhance transfer have been demonstrated:
(a) when mastery experiences and supportive feedback were included as a transfer
intervention (Gist, 1986), (b) when goal setting and self-management strategies were used in
a posttraining transfer intervention, and (c) when participants used verbal self-guidance
as part of a transfer intervention.
3. Motivation
Training motivation refers to the intensity and persistence of efforts that trainees apply in
learning-oriented improvement activities, before, during, and after training.
Various motivation-relevant constructs have been examined in training research, including
pretraining motivation and motivation to learn.
Pretraining motivation - the learner’s level of intensity and desire as measured before the
training intervention - on actual transfer outcomes. Facteau, Dobbins, Russell, Ladd, and
Kudisch found the correlation between pretraining motivation and training transfer as
measured by supervisors was a healthy .45.
Quinones also found that motivation to learn was a key variable linking pretraining
characteristics and training outcomes, and motivation to learn was reported in Noe as having
a potentially substantial impact on training effectiveness, mostly based on prior studies in
military settings.
Motivation to transfer is the learner’s intended efforts to utilize skills and knowledge learned
in training setting to a real world work situation.
The extrinsic and intrinsic components of motivation have also been linked to training
outcomes. Found that intrinsic variables such as a sense of recognition were found to be
more influential on the retention of training compared to extrinsic factors such as pay and
promotions.
4. Personality
Influencing trainee performance are innate dispositional variables that can affect the
direction, level, and persistence components of trainee motivation.
Anxiety produced negative correlations with every training outcome examined in their study,
including transfer. Negative affectivity (i.e., the dispositional tendency of individuals to feel
negative emotions) as the only significant predictor of posttraining transfer implementation
intentions.
,Highly sociable (extroverted) in Barrick and Mount’s classic work also exhibited higher
training performance. Extroversion influences trainees’ motivation to improve their work
performance through learning, which is typically a social process.
Conscientiousness has been shown to positively impact training proficiency. The
perseverance component (i.e., a resolve to learn and transfer) and achievement
component (i.e., a desire to attain and enact training goals) of conscientiousness be studied
separately to isolate any differential effects on transfer.
5. Perceived utility/value
Transfer can be influenced by the perceived utility or value associated with training.
Managers who believe in the utility of training or value the outcomes training will provide are
more likely to apply skills learned in training.
Learner utility reactions (i.e., the extent trainees felt like training was useful to helping them
perform on the job) were associated with transfer of learning more than trainees’ affective or
emotional reactions.
6. Career/Job variables
Training transfer is also influenced by job and career variables in that trainees who rated high
on these variables tended to perceive more potential benefits from a training intervention to
enhance their current or future job performance.
Career planning deals with the extent employees create and update specific plans for
achieving their goals and career exploration refers to the degree of career value and skill
self-assessment activity.
Job involvement refers to the degree to which an employee identifies with her job, actively
participates in it, and considers job performance important to her self-worth.
7. Locus of control
Colquitt found those with an internal LOC were more motivated to learn; however, in their
metaanalysis, external LOC was moderately related to transfer.
Summary of learning characteristics:
In fact, certain learner variables have been fairly well established as having important
influences on transfer, including cognitive ability, self-efficacy, pretraining motivation,
negative affectivity, perceived utility, and organization commitment variables.
,II. Intervention Design and Delivery
1. Needs analysis. Training is best employed to address knowledge, skill, and ability
deficits; therefore, appropriate needs analysis can be useful for determining whether
training transfer is even relevant.
Holton, Bates, and Ruona developed the Learning Transfer System Inventory (LTSI) as a
diagnostic tool to assess the degree of support in the transfer system defined as all factors
in the person, training, and organization that influence transfer of learning to job performance
(includes 16 factors that tap trainee perceptions).
2. Learning goals
Presuming a learning intervention is needed, explicitly communicated objectives can inform
learners of the desired performance, the conditions under which the performance will be
expected to occur on the job, and the criterion of acceptable performance to maximize
transfer.
Goal-setting has been found to help individuals regulate their behavior by directing attention
and action, mobilizing energy expenditure or effort, prolonging effort over time (i.e.,
persistence),
and motivating the individual to develop relevant strategies for goal attainment all behaviors
necessary for transfer.
Brown found that participants who set proximal (short-term) goals plus distal outcome
goals reported increased transfer than those who set only distal outcome goals.
3. Content relevance
Trainers should keep the responses trainees make consistent from training environment to
the job to ensure near transfer. Although content relevance has consistently been a critical
cognitive component of instructional design approaches, it has only in the last decade been
,empirically examined as a correlate with transfer outcomes. Trainees must see a close
relationship between training content and work tasks to transfer skills to the work setting,
thus underscoring the utility of needs assessment in identifying appropriate training content.
4. Instructional Strategies and Methods
Researchers have also investigated how to design and teach for transfer.
The instructional design literature continues to burgeon, numerous instructional strategies
and methods have emerged to facilitate transfer. It has been suggested that learning
interventions be designed to provide adequate practice and feedback to enhance long-
term maintenance and application of skills.
As a design strategy, overlearning (i.e., repeated practice even after correct performance
has been demonstrated) can improve transfer especially for skills that may go unused for
long intervals. Overlearning works by creating automatic responses that conserve a
trainee’s cognitive resources so that cognitive ability may be dedicated to solving novel or
more complex tasks. Transfer of automatized task components is successful if the
component is applied in a similar fashion across tasks.
Learners can experience cognitive overload when attempting to understand and interpret
too much or irrelevant information at one time, thus decreasing learning and transfer
outcomes. Cognitive load theory, which recognizes learners’ limited cognitive resources,
should be considered by instructional designers for transfer implications. Cognitive load
theory suggests that learners can only learn so much at one time and that instructional
designers should organize content such that it minimizes extraneous load, or information that
is not necessary for learning, and maximize germane load, or information that directly
contributes to learning.
Transfer paradox - strategies such as having trainees repeatedly practice on similar or
exact tasks and providing frequent feedback on task performance— has been found to
enhance learning mastery for complex tasks but has not carried over to support transfer of
learning outcomes.
Active learning involves trainees in course material through carefully constructed
activities, compared to passive instructional methods such as lecture. Active learning is
thought to maintain the adult attention span, a likely precursor of transfer.
Behavioral modeling (BM) is a logical, transfer-strategy-based research regarding self-
efficacy. Descriptive learning points (i.e., descriptions of a model’s key behaviors) and
rule-oriented learning points (i.e., descriptions of a model’s key behaviors) enhance
transfer generalization for novel tasks.
A related instructional strategy that has been studied to promote transfer is the use of
error-based examples, or sharing with trainees what can go wrong if they do not use the
trained skills back on the job.
Negative pretraining events enhanced trainee performance by increasing the perceived
instrumentality of training to avoid negative outcomes (i.e., aviation mishaps).
5. Self-Management Strategies
Self-management strategies work to equip trainees with necessary skills to help them
transfer successfully back to the workplace, such as the use of self generated positive
feedback. Having trainees set specific, but challenging goals, use action plans and engage in
self-regulatory/management behaviors will direct and indirect effect the trainee transfer.
, 6. Technological Support
Emerging transfer technologies, largely anecdotally supported in the practitioner training
literature, amplify the blurring line between training and constant on-the-job learning.
Technological tools geared specifically toward transfer include e-coaching, nagware, and
EPSS (Electronic Performance Support Systems). EPSS reinforce training and learning and
appear best used when a task is information intensive and job performance relies on
information that periodically changes. A simple example of an EPSS is the paper clip in
Microsoft Word® that answers on-the-spot questions posed by a learner. Unfortunately,
empirical research in this area is scant and case evidence reigns supreme.
Summary of Intervention Design
III. Work Environment Influences
Research on work environment factors that influence transfer has notably expanded since
Baldwin and Ford identified supervisory support and opportunity to perform as critical
components of supporting trainee skill maintenance.
Strategic Link
Learning and training interventions do not exist in a vacuum and as such we should consider
their support of organizational goals and strategies. Korean trainees perceived higher
transfer when their learning outcomes matched trainees’ departmental goals.
Transfer Climate
Those situations and consequences in organizations that either inhibit or facilitate the use of
what has been learned in training back on the job—referred in the literature as transfer
climate. Features of a positive transfer climate have been identified as cues that prompt
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