[Abstract]
This study began from an interest about how much small and midium
business employees are aware of transferring what they have learned and to what
extent learning transfer contribute to their jobs and attainments. The purpose of this
study was to have an overall understanding about the relationships among learning
transfer, individual performance and other variables when a certain amount of time
has past since receiving a small and medium business job performance improvement
educational training, and thereby provide basic data that will help educational training
designed for employees at small and midium businesses contribute to the
advancement of learning transfer and individual performance. To this end, the present
study utilized research models proposed by Baldwin and Ford(1998), Holton(2005),
and Holton and Baldwin(2003). These studies were employed since the proposed
models have been frequently cited as exemplary models explaining the learning
transfer process of educational training within an organization, and also because they
have been received well as preceding studies helpful for an overall understanding
of learning transfer process of business education due to their specific ion of
subfactors. In order to verify these models, this study measured the mediation effect
of learning transfer in terms of the effects the validity, transfer design, and
instructor's ability of small and medium business job performance improvement
educational programs and work environment have on individual performance.
The subjects of this study included 210 employees employed at a small and
medium-sized business with less than 300 employees and who participated in a small and medium business job performance improvement course. Out of the 210 course
participants, a total of 79 subjects responded to the research survey; survey respondents
were composed of 93.7% male employees, 6.3% female employees, 67.1% of employees
in administrative posts or higher class, and 32.9% of employees in worker level
positions.
For empirical verification, the present study conducted the survey related to the
educational program immediately after the completion of the small and medium business
job performance improvement program, and then, collected the questionnaires related
to work environment, learning transfer, and individual performance six months later.
Data from these two surveys were analyzed using SPSS 19.0. In order to raise the
empirical validity of the study outcomes and to carry out feasibility assessment of
questionnaire items, factor analysis was conducted using the principal component
analysis(PCA). In doing so, nine questions that indicated factor loading of less than
0.6 were eliminated. Cronbach's ¥á was confirmed to verify the reliability of measurement
tools. As a result, Cronbach's ¥á values on the research variables ranged between
0.834 and 0.984, indicating good reliability. In addition, the three-step regression
analysis for mediation analysis proposed by Baron and Kenny(1986) was employed
to verify the mediation effect of learning transfer in the effects small and medium
job performance improvement program and work environment have on individual
performance.
According to the study results, it was found that learning transfer played some
mediating role toward the effects small and medium job performance improvement
program and work environment have on small and medium business sales workers'
individual performance when demographic characteristics are held constant as control
variables. Study results showed that learning transfer partially mediated the relationship
between transfer design and job competency and that there is full mediation by learning
transfer in the relationship between transfer design and individual sales. On the other
hand, after regulating the demographic characteristics as control variables in the same
manner, it was found that learning transfer played no mediating role in the effects
small and medium business work environment have on small and medium business
sales workers' individual performance. With respect to the study by Baldwin and
Ford(1998) that suggests that learning transfer mediates the effects on performance
by educational training design and work environment that serve as factors of educational
input, the present study results support the part about educational training design.
However, the present study differs from existing studies in that its results do not
support the part about work environment such as organizational support, supervisor
support, and restrictions by supervisors, which were identified as major influencing
factors in most preceding international and domestic studies. Holton(1998) states
that self-efficiency which affects learning transfer has to do with the learner's conviction
that he/she has the ability to apply the contents learned from training to one's job.
Kim Youngmin(2005) views that there is a greater need for advises from surrounding
people and support from the organization and supervisors in order to have employees
experience learning transfer in their jobs. Kim also shows that, in the case of employees with positions higher than managers, their experiences and awareness for their job
performing abilities are more strongly related to learning transfer than the support
from the organization and supervisors. With these points taken into consideration,
it is surmised in this study that learning transfer has no mediating effect in how
work environment influences job performance, since the subjects, with 67.1% of
them having managerial positions or higher, were less influenced by factors such
as organizational support, supervisor support, and restrictions by supervisors, but
rather by the factor of personal volition.
Considering that each learner is the person in charge of a given job at a small
and medium business who can be the representative of that relevant job given the
nature of small and medium business, this study has the following implications that
will positively influence future learning transfer and job performance improvement
at small and medium business.
First, as shown in the present study, considering that learning transfer serves as
a mediator in the transfer design of educational programs among the effects of small
and medium business job performance improvement program have on individual
performance, it is necessary to include practical training, case studies, and experience
sharing that are appropriate for the small and medium business environment when
designing small and medium business job performance improvement programs. This
study suggests that for small and medium business employees who have to immediately
apply what they have learned on the field, educational training programs should be
designed in order to cultivate their abilities to apply the learned contents to on-site
duties as quickly as possible. It also implies that, viewed from a long-term perspective,
it is necessary to nurture internal design specialists who work within small and medium
business and are well informed of the situations of small and medium business in
order to provide designs that are customized for small and medium business. Second,
since the duties of sales employees who represent the small and medium business
can have a direct effect on the company's performance, the government and relevant
agencies should pay more attention to developing programs that will transfer learning
directly to performance improvement of sales workers at small and medium business
in the future.
Third, due to the nature of small and medium business, the business proprieter
holds the rights and the keys to developing human resources of the company. Without
the business owner's will, it is impossible to have the employees either actively
participate in the educational training or apply what they have learned into practice
after the training. Hence, studies covering various fields and ranges and efforts to
verify the effectiveness of more educational programs should be carried out in the
future in order to have business owners recognize that educational training have
a positive effect on the performance of an organization and of each member of that
organization.