Purpose The purpose of this paper is to establish the role of training in building employee commitment and the task of job satisfaction in the association between training and employee commitment in the banking sector in Uganda. Design/methodology/approach The authors used correlation, regression and MedGraph to investigate the hypotheses. Findings The findings revealed that there is a positive relationships between training and employee commitment (r = 0.507**, p < 0.01), a positive relationship between training and job satisfaction (r = 0.744**, p < 0.01) and a positive relationship between job satisfaction and employee commitment (r = 0.519**, p < 0.01). The regression model showed that the predictor variables explain at least 29.7 per cent of the variance in employee commitment (adjusted R2 = 0.297). MedGraph results revealed a partial type of mediation because the correlation between training (independent variable) and employee commitment (dependent variable) decreased from 0.507*** to 0.271*** by inclusion of job satisfaction (mediating variable). Originality/value This study is one of the pioneers to extend the employee commitment debate to Ugandan banking sector. It provides an explanation with empirical evidence by demonstrating that training extends direct positive effect on employee commitment in the banking sector in Ugandan situation. The study also demonstrates that, in the banking sector in Uganda, job satisfaction helps to partially transmit the effect of training on employee commitment. This study further builds a model that will help researchers and practitioners in investigating and explaining employee commitment in the banking sector in Ugandan situation.