The influence of the work environment on the transfer of newly trained supervisory skills was examined. Participants were 505 supermarket managers from 52 stores. The work environment was operationalized in terms of transfer of training climate and continuouslearning culture. Climate and culture were hypothesized to have both direct and moderating effects on posttraining behaviors. Accounting for pretraining behaviors and knowledge gained in training, the results from a series of LISREL analyses showed that both climate and culture were directly related to posttraining behaviors. In particular, the social support system appeared to play a central role in the transfer of training. Moderating effects were not found. Implications for enhancing the transfer of training are discussed.
The purpose of this paper is to describe the process for developing reliable and valid measurement instruments that can be used in any hospitality industry field research setting. Many instances exist in which the researcher cannot find an adequate or appropriate existing scale to measure an important construct. In these situations it is necessary to create a new scale. Failure to carefully develop a measurement instrument can result in invalid and unintegratable data. Hence, a systematic seven-step process is outlined here to assist researchers in devising usable scales. Examples from the authors' own research are used to illustrate some of the steps in the process
Although procedures for assessing content validity have been widely publicized for many years, Hinkin noted that there continue to be problems with the content validity of measures used in organizational research. Anderson and Gerbing, and Schriesheim, Powers, Scandura, Gardiner, and Lankau discussed the problems associated with typical content validity assessment and presented techniques that can be used to assess the empirical distinctiveness of a set of survey items. This article reviews these techniques and presents an analysis of variance procedure that can provide a higher degree of confidence in determining item integrity and scale content validity. The utility of this technique is demonstrated by using two samples and two different measures.Although procedures for assessing content validity have been widely publicized for many years, Hinkin noted that there continue to be problems with the content validity of measures used in organizational research. Anderson and Gerbing, and Schriesheim, Powers, Scandura, Gardiner, and Lankau discussed the problems associated with typical content validity assessment and presented techniques that can be used to assess the empirical distinctiveness of a set of survey items. This article reviews these techniques and presents an analysis of variance procedure that can provide a higher degree of confidence in determining item integrity and scale content validity. The utility of this technique is demonstrated by using two samples and two different measures.
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-
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.