This article reviews theories and conceptual frameworks necessary to describe three factors affecting transfer of training. This information helps HRD professionals understand why people wish to change their performance after attending a training program, what training design contributes to people's ability to transfer skills successfully, and what kind of organizational environment supports the transfer. This article also provides HRD implementation strategies to help organizations achieve a high level of transfer.Today we believe that an organization' s competitive success is achieved through people (Pfeffer, 1994). It follows, then, that the skills and performance of people are critical. Many organizations spend much money on training, believing that training will improve their employees' performance and hence the firm' s productivity. In 1997, organizations with more than one hundred employees were estimated to have spent $58.6 billion in direct costs on formal training. And with the inclusion of indirect costs, informal on-the-job training, and costs incurred by small organizations, total training expenditures could easily reach $200 billion or more annually (Holton, Ruona, and Leimbach, 1998). However, unsettling questions continue to be raised about the return on this investment.There is strong consensus that acquisition of knowledge, skills, behaviors, and attitudes through training is of little value if the new characteristics are not generalized to the job setting and are not maintained over time (Kozlowski and Salas, 1997). In other words, training is useless if it cannot be translated into performance. According to Swanson (1995), for HRD to become a core business process, performance is the key. Transfer of training is a core issue with respect to linking individual change to the requirements of the organizational system. Therefore, if we believe that training truly makes a difference in organizational and individual performance, we must understand how to support transfer of training in organizations. A Transfer of Training ModelTraditional approaches to transfer of training tend to consider it as a horizontal link between training and performance. A comprehensive review of the literature (Baldwin and Ford, 1988) classified the factors affecting transfer of training into three categories: (1) training inputs, including trainee characteristics, training design, and work environment; (2) training outputs, consisting of learning and retention; and (3) conditions of transfer, which focus on the generalization and maintenance of training. All three sets of training input features are seen as affecting learning and retention, which directly influence generalization and maintenance. However, a significant purpose of training and development is to improve performance (Swanson, 1995). Learning is of little value to organizations unless it is transferred in some way to performance (Holton, Bates, Seyler, and Carvalho, 1997). Kuchinke (1995) also argued that learning is a means, not a primary organizational o...

To begin the validation process for the Learning Transfer System Inventory (LTSI) in Thailand, research replicating Holton, Bates, and Ruona's study (2000) was conducted in Thailand. The LTSI was administered to 1,029 employees. Exploratory factor analysis and MANOVA were used to identify factors. A factor structure almost identical to that of Holton and colleagues was identified. Perceived content validity of the training was identified as the most important factor. Organization type created the greatest number of differences among variables tested.

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