Italian translation of the questionnaire for professional training evaluation

Towards an analysis of the transfer of training: empirical evidence from schools in Spain

Purpose

The transfer of training has been identified with the effectiveness of training. The purpose of this work is to analyse the impact of training stages (training needs analysis, application and evaluation) as they relate to training transfer.

Design/methodology/approach

The study participants correspond to a sample of 116 teachers with managerial responsibilities (management teams and department heads) from 17 secondary schools in Spain. This work hypothesises five significant relationships: needs analysis and application of training, application and transfer of training, evaluation and analysis of training needs, evaluation and application of training and evaluation and transfer of training. The hypotheses were tested using structural equations, namely, the partial least squares–structural equation modelling technique and SmartPLS version 3.2.9.

Findings

The relationships between application and transfer of training, between evaluation of training and needs analysis, application and transfer of training are positively contrasted. The relationship between the analysis and application of training is not contrasted.

Originality/value

This work analyses the relationship between the training process’s different phases (analysis, application and evaluation) in the training output (training transfer) and emphasises the role of evaluation in the training process.

Training evaluation: a configurational analysis of success and failure of trainers and trainees

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the formative evaluations of the training programmes of a Portuguese national railway public company for an entire calendar year. The aim is to uncover alternative configurations for the design of training programmes to create better levels of evaluation. This study is based on the following research question: What are the configurations that lead to the success and or failure of trainers and trainees? Among those, are there any common designs that generate the success and or failure of both trainers and trainees?

Design/methodology/approach

This study used matched data from an entire calendar year to examine the trainers and trainees’ evaluations of 429 training events. This study also used a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to provide configurations that generate the success or failure of trainers and trainees. This methodology offers alternative pathways to the same outcomes and thus gives managers different options to reach similar results.

Findings

The results show that there are more configurations that lead to trainers’ success (five) than to its absence (four). However, the configurations that lead to trainees’ success (three) are less than those that lead to its absence (six). The findings indicate that a single common configuration exists that leads to high evaluations.

Research limitations/implications

This study does not address summative evaluations. Regarding data, the study acknowledges the use of self-evaluations for trainees, although they serve as a proxy for a learning evaluation. The generalisation of the results outside the Portuguese railway company’s context is not possible.

Practical implications

The proposed analysis is applicable to other settings without restrictions. Managers may replicate this study’s approach in their organisations to uncover the alternative configurations that lead to the success or failure of trainers and trainees. They may adopt the ones that lead to successful outcomes and avoid the ones that lead to undesired ones.

Originality/value

This study is innovative because it addresses concurrently the success or failure of trainers and trainees that is only possible by using the fsQCA method. This study opted to use this method to provide alternative pathways to extreme outcomes: the most successful or the most unsuccessful. These multiple pathways are better results compared to traditional quantitative statistical methods that only provide a single estimated solution to the presence of the dependent variable; for example, a regression analysis or structural equation modelling.

Sales training and ICT: a literature review

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify in the specialized literature published in the past 20 years about sales training, some elements or key factors that could be applied to the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) as a support for the learning of the detection of business opportunities.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a study of a documentary nature in which a method of systematic literature review was applied to 132 studies published in journals indexed in Scopus and Scielo on sales training processes. The analysis of the data combined a process of categorization and frequencies statistical analysis.

Findings

The results highlight the role of ICT and specifically the use of mobile devices to support the strengthening of training in sales in terms of relationship, opportunity and flexibility in communication with the client, the construction of positive emotional environments and experiential/situated training.

Originality/value

The originality of this study lies in the extraction and interpretation of key factors focused on addressing a guiding question about the relationships between the use of ICT and sales training.

The Positive Relationships Between Paranoia, Perceptions of Workplace Bullying, and Intentions of Workplace Deviance in United Kingdom and French Teachers: Cross-Cultural Aspects

Cognitive models of psychopathology were applied to inform the relationships between paranoid cognitions, perceptions of workplace bullying, and intentions of workplace deviance in UK and French teachers. Sixty-six UK teachers and 50 French teachers were asked to fill in an online survey comprised of the Green Paranoia Thought Scales, Negative Acts Questionnaire, Depression, Anxiety and Stress scales, and Workplace Deviance Scale. The variables in this study were conceptualized as cognitions and not as facts because the study used self-report questionnaires of paranoid ideation, workplace bullying, and workplace deviance. Mann-Whitney tests showed that UK teachers report significantly more perceptions of work-related bullying and intentions of workplace deviance than French teachers. However, there was no statistically significant difference between UK and French teachers for the report of paranoid ideation. Mediation analyses showed that paranoia impacted on intentions of workplace deviance but perceptions of workplace bullying and negative affect did not mediate this association in UK and French teachers. Culturally tailored psycho-social interventions should be implemented targeting teachers' paranoid thinking and workplace bullying in order to deter teachers from engaging in workplace deviance and to promote their well-being.