Table 1 Work environment influences, as outlined by Burke and Hutchins, with illustrative examples of how they may enhance or hinder training transfer [29]
| Â | Definition | Example |
|---|---|---|
Opportunity to perform | Providing trainees with opportunities to use new learning in their work environment | Enhancing Accounting manager being able to utilise skills learnt in training immediately on return to the workplace Hindering Airmen having varying opportunities to perform trained tasks due to differences in supervisor attitudes [30] |
Supervisor/Peer support | The social support learners receive from supervisors and peers to use their new skills and knowledge [31] | Enhancing Managers in nuclear power industry networking after training programme has ended and sharing current practice [32] Hindering Immediate supervisor being unfamiliar with the training content leading to a lack of coaching of new skills on the job |
Strategic link | Alignment of a training program with the strategic direction of an organisation [29] | Enhancing A management development programme including a discussion session with a chief executive to identify ways their managerial approaches contribute to the organisational mission [33] Hindering Unclear that training intervention supports organisational goals and therefore employees not appreciating the impact of their work on the bigger picture |
Transfer climate | The organisational culture, which projects to its employees varying degrees of a supportive image conducive to the application of new knowledge or skills obtained from training [1, 29, 31, 34] | Enhancing A school providing teachers with new workbooks corresponding to their recent training Hindering Workers in a fast-food restaurant being ridiculed by more experienced colleagues for using techniques learned in training [35] |
Accountability | The degree to which an organisation, culture, and/or management expects learners to use trained skills on the job and holds them responsible for doing so [29] | Enhancing Managers including goals relating to transfer of training in a formal appraisal process Hindering Lack of incentive for utilising new skills resulting in reverting back to old habits |