Center for Research on Information Technology and Organizations

Although software training is widely seen as an essential contributor to the productive use of computers in organizations, research has not focused on identifying the processes through which software trainers assess end users' training requirements. This research draws from self-regulation theories to examine the impacts of pretraining end-user participation on the outcomes of software training. Self-regulation theories aim to explain why individuals behave in a certain manner in an organizational context. Pretraining end-user participation consists of a pretraining interview designed to learn the needs of the trainee, and to gain insights into a training design that can make learning the target software more relevant to the trainee. The context of the study was a training programme for a database retrieval software package in a medium-sized manufacturing company. Approximately half the trainees were involved in the pretraining interview process. Trainees also received one of two training approaches, either applications-based (relevant problem focused) or construct-based (generic training approach) training. Data were gathered from questionnaires, quizzes and interviews. Although no clear differences were found, the data indicate that pretraining end-user participation should be considered a potentially effective tool in enhancing training effectiveness. Pretraining end-user participation is more likely to suggest who will or will not use a software application after formal training, provide a more realistic view of the content and usefulness of the training, and facilitate motivation planning and management. The paper discusses some potential critical success factors for making pretraining end-user participation more effective.

An exploratory study of the value of pretraining end-user participation

This study aims to examine the link between supervisor support, transfer motivation and post-training usage of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. The study tested the influence of supervisor support and transfer motivation on training transfer in a complex information systems environment. Second, the study tested the mediating effect of transfer motivation in the relationship between supervisor support and training transfer.,An online survey method was used to collect data from 170 ERP system users, who had previously attended ERP system training. The descriptive analysis was conducted with SPSS version 24, while Hayes Process Macro was used to test the research model and the mediation analysis.,The findings from this study showed that supervisor support and transfer motivation positively influence training transfer. The additional result also confirmed that transfer motivation mediates the relationship between supervisor support and training transfer.,The study contributes to training theory by specifically analysing the interactions among supervisor support, transfer motivation and training transfer in a complex information system environment. One of the limitations of this study is the cross-sectional design adopted; future studies could improve by using multiple sources of data collection.,The study highlights the importance of social exchanges in an ERP transfer environment.,This paper provides a better understanding of the influences of supervisor support and transfer motivation on the transfer of hard skills in a complex environment.

Training effectiveness in an enterprise resource planning system environment

End-user training (EUT) does not deliver the expected value to the organisations when end users do not transfer the skills learned to their workplace. Training effectiveness occurs when end users not only have the ability but are willing to transfer the skill learned to improve their job. This study proposes a model of EUT effectiveness which explicitly considers training effectiveness outcomes and incorporates attitude and motivation as two key antecedents. We propose a longitudinal field experiment to examine the influence of persuasive communication and goal-matching on EUT effectiveness. The proposed theoretical framework is based on a thorough review of literature from multiple disciplines such as Psychology, Education, Organisational Behaviour and Information Systems.

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Improving the Effectiveness of End-User Training Outcomes

Previous research on computer personnel, or the "people part" of the computer technology equation, has stimulated understanding of the interaction between people and technology. This paper presents the results of quantitative and qualitative analysis of proceedings from the 1991 through 1999 annual conference of the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Computer Personnel Research. The study develops a framework defining the domain of management information systems personnel research, summarizes lessons learned, organizes and presents research questions from the past decade's research, and identifies exemplary research streams that provide support for expanding theory and application knowledge in this field. While the continual evolution of technology sets the stage for future research, the need for development of new knowledge in several specific areas is suggested.

A view from the SIGCPR conference: what have we learned in this decade?

Software training research indicates that some end-users do not subsequently transfer learned skills to their jobs. Yet, money, time and effort continue to be invested in formal software training. The three dimensional view presented in this article demonstrates that although the reasons for non-transfer are sometimes caused by trainee characteristics, software features, training approaches, the social context of work, and by the interaction between the four, training research generally focuses only on trainee characteristics and training approaches. We identify goal matching as a method that can ensure that trainees are getting what they need from the training process. Using goal matching and more directed training sessions should enhance the ability of software trainers to account for more transfer of learning to the work place.We propose a research program that can be used to explore the parameters of goal matching with respect to software training. We describe in detail a critical study in this program, and also discuss the need for replications such as an embedded multiple unit study that goes beyond the individual and includes the work group, department, or entire organization as the unit of analysis. We conclude that the replication of our proposed research design in different software training settings, organizations and work contexts hold a promise for improving software training design, and bringing a compatible solution to all the stakeholders of software training.

Conrad Shayo

Papers

A three dimensional view and research agenda for the study of transfer of skills gained from formal end-user software training