EXPLORING DIFFERENTIAL EFFECTS OF SUPERVISOR SUPPORT ON TRANSFER OF TRAINING

AUTHORS: DERK-JAN J.M. NIJMAN,WIM J. NIJHOF, A.A.M. (IDA) WOGNUM AND BERNARD P. VELDKAMP (JOURNAL OF EUROPEAN INDUSTRIAL TRAINING VOL. 30 NO. 7, 2006 )

Presented by -Aswathy Premanand -Dona Saji

PURPOSE

To gain an insight into the relationship between supervisor

support and transfer of training, by taking into account the effects of other transfer-inuencing factors in a systemic approach of the transfer process.

Essential for training programmes to be effective and

efcient,

Return on investments in training programmes will only be

achieved to the extent that training is transferred.
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 one of the most powerful tools of enhancing transfer of

training- support from supervisors

feedback from supervisors supervisor could affect transfer outcomes directly, or

indirectly by means of the trainees motivation to transfer or different factors in the transfer climate

RESEARCH AND RESULTS

Mixed results Positive results

Brinkerhoff and Montesino(1995) Lim and Johnson (2002)

Negative or no affect

Branderhorst (1994) Study by Fitzgerald (2002)

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Research so far was focused mainly on the direct effects of supervisor support

Stress on the importance of examining transfer and transfer-inuencing

factors from a larger and more comprehensive systemic point of view.

This view is referred to as the transfer system Dened as all factors in the person, training, and organization that
inuence transfer of learning to job performance
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RESEARCH QUESTION
What is the effect of supervisor support on trainees transfer outcomes, when
taking into account the inuence of other factors within a systemic model of the

transfer process?

METHODOLOGY

Developing a systemic approach to the transfer

process

Focus on
1. characteristics of trainees, 2. characteristics of the training programme, 3. characteristics of the work environment.
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CHARACTERISTICS OF TRAINEES
Trainees ability and willingness to use the new knowledge and skills on the
job

Major categories of trainee characteristics regarding training effectiveness:

Ability,
motivation personality motivation to transfer perception of intervention fullment.
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TRAINING TRANSFER DESIGN CHARACTERISTICS

Inuence of identical elements- notion of the effects of the correspondence between a training
and an application setting.

General principles - extent to which trainees are being taught general principles, along with the
acquisition of applicable skills.

Varied practice - learning new knowledge or skills under a variety of conditions and using a
variety of examples during training.

Over-learning - deliberate training and practice beyond a set criterion performance.

TRAINING TRANSFER DESIGN CHARACTERISTICS ( CONTD.)

Relapse prevention - a self-management technique for individuals to
become aware of environmental and intrapersonal threats to skill maintenance, in order to anticipate and recover from possible lapses into old behavior and prevent these in the future

Goal-setting - setting of goals with regard to the implementation of new

knowledge, skills and attitudes on the job

Self-management cues and management support.

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WORK ENVIRONMENT CHARACTERISTICS

Three levels of work related environmental factors

General environmental factors- like budget restrictions and a lack of
coordination between different organizational departments, importance of trainees job autonomy,

Transfer climate (factors generally related to training)-

characteristics of the work environment that may facilitate or inhibit the use of trained skills Different components of the transfer climate has : supervisor support, opportunity
to use, peer support, supervisor sanctions, personal outcomes-positive, personal outcomes-negative, and resistance to change

Factors specically related to training.

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 Measures :
Developed Questionnaire scales.

Sample :
3 organizations participated. Final response 179 trainees 32 supervisors
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 All three organisations provided products and services in

the fields of advanced technology.

Training programmes : Off-the-job programmes on the

development of social and/or managerial skills.

Period of training : Between three months to two years. Major respondents : Males ( 90 %) .
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ANALYSIS

The transfer model indicates that motivation to transfer

and the transfer climate act as both dependent and
independent variable at the same time.

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 LISREL (Linear Structural Relations)

Indicated the sample size of the main data to be insufficient Due to this, it was decided to carry out analysis through
Multiple Regression.

STEPWISE regression analyses were conducted on the

data.
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RESULTS
Trainee
Supervisor support produces only a significant direct effect on transfer outcomes. Supervisor support has a negative direct effect on motivation to transfer. Thus, results indicate that supervisor support reduces motivation to transfer in a
direct way.

Thus results indicate that, supervisor support improves motivation to transfer

indirectly - through improvement in the transfer climate.

In other words, the influence of supervisor support on motivation to transfer is

therefore partially mediated by the prevailing transfer climate.
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Supervisor

Supervisors who provided trainees with support

also felt that these trainees worked in a more favourable transfer climate.

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COMPARISON BETWEEN TRAINEE AND SUPERVISOR DATA.

Both trainees and supervisors were included in the study.

Both trainee and supervisor data indicate learning outcomes to be

the most important predictor of trainees transfer outcomes

Trainees motivation to transfer moderately predicts their transfer

outcomes.
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 A more positive transfer climate slightly leads to higher transfer

outcomes.

The transfer climate positively predicts trainees motivation to

transfer.

Trainee responses indicate a significant negative relationship

between supervisor support and motivation to transfer.

Supervisor responses point to a positive relationship.

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 Trainee responses, indicate that supervisor support might enhance

motivation to transfer by improving the transfer climate, but diminish motivation to transfer in a direct way.

Neither trainee nor supervisor data confirm the expected direct

relationship between supervisor support and transfer of training.

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CONCLUSION
The objective of this study was to gain a better insight into the relationship
between supervisor support and transfer of training.

The results indicated that supervisor support indeed positively relates to

transfer outcomes.

Supervisor support has no direct effect on trainees transfer outcomes. The results show that supervisor support has a moderately positive effect on
the transfer climate.

Transfer climate has a slight positive effect on trainees transfer outcomes

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Negative effects:

In some instances, the analyses indicated supervisor support to

have a direct negative effect on trainees motivation to transfer.

Reason :

They concluded that imposed instrumental support might restrict

employees perceptions of freedom of choice to perform, that affects trainees self-esteem.

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 The conclusion, therefore is that ,supervisor support positively affects

trainees motivation to transfer, by improving the transfer climate.

Supervisor support has a slight positive indirect effect on transfer

outcomes.

Trainees who have learned new knowledge, skills and attitudes have an
additional positive effect on transfer outcomes.

A remarkable finding is the negative effect of intervention fulfilment on

motivation to transfer.

Eg: Training programme interfering in daily job performance.

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LIMITATIONS

Insufficient sample size Extensive number of variables Use of structural equation modelling was impossible. Thus, separate regression analysis was used. Future research on the relationship between supervisor
support and transfer outcomes should be conducted using more objective measures, such as performance indicators.
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