Purpose-The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between perceived employee training effectiveness and job satisfaction, motivation and commitment. Design/methodology/approach-The study examined the responses of 134 employees and lower managers, of five large Greek organizations, after they had completed a training program. The questions asked contained information about the employee attitudes towards tvhe training received, as well as their attitudes towards their employers. Findings-The results of the study provide support to the hypotheses proposed, indicating that there is a significant correlation between the employee perceived training effectiveness and their commitment, job satisfaction and motivation. Additionally, high correlations were found between the latter three variables. Research limitations/implications-The study is limited to examining employee feelings, not taking into account their personal characteristics, which may be important. Practical implications-The implications of the findings of this study for managers and especially for Human Resource professionals are quite significant, given their roles in funding, designing and delivering training interventions. Not only does it appear to be important, offering training programs to one's employees but, the training program content must be perceived as effective and of value to those participating in it. This will have a positive effect, according to the findings of this study, on key employee attitudes, which appear to be related to a greater or a lesser extent, in the pertinent literature, to organizational performance outcomes including, productivity, turnover and absenteeism Originality/value-The study is groundbreaking , given that there are no prior studies examining the relationship between the variables considered in the present one.

The level of the Greek economic growth is highly depended on three vital factors: a) entrepreneurship and business development b) innovation and creativity c) education and skills. The correlation among these factors are direct and clear. This is why it is so important to monitor economic growth in respects of innovation, education and business development and to pursue a methodical policy to stimulate and reinforce them. In this paper we focus on analysing the factors which affect the process of innovation in Greece in comparison with member states of European Union. More specific we attempt to measure innovation in Greek enterprises for the last decade and identify barriers to innovation in Greece as compared to other EU countries. We also evaluate the statistical relationship between per capita GDP (as a proxy to level of Greek people prosperity) and Research & Technological Development (RTD) Expenditure (as indicator to innovation-creativity activity) using Linear and Exponential Regression Models. In the knowledge-driven economy, economic growth was achieved mainly through innovation, technology diffusion and new product applications. Therefore, we probe deep into considerations which influence -either positively or negatively - the advancement of the innovation activity, through empirical evidence and statistical methodology. Since, innovation and Research & Technological Development (RTD) are often considered as a main drive for economic development, recommendations proposed in this article become more intense and must be incorporated in the industrial infrastructure and in management attitudes at national and regional level.