INFLUENCE OF GENERAL PERCEPTIONS OF THE TRAINING ENVIRONMENT ON PRETRAINING MOTIVATION AND PERCEIVED TRAINING TRANSFER

The present study was conducted to determine whether trainees' general beliefs about training affect pretraining motivation and transfer of training in a large-scale training curriculum. In addition, the influe nce of social support for training from four organizational constituen ts (top management, supervisors, peers, and subordinates) and task con straints in the work environment on pretraining motivation and trainin g transfer were evaluated. Nine hundred sixty-seven managers and super visors completed a questionnaire that assessed 14 constructs. Structur al equations analysis with LISREL VII indicated that the overall reput ation of training, intrinsic and compliance incentives, organizational commitment, and three social support variables (subordinate, supervis or, and top management support) were predictive of pretraining motivat ion. In addition, pretraining motivation and subordinate, peer, and su pervisor support were predictive of managers 'perceived training trans fer. These findings suggests that previous theory and research (e.g., Noe, 1986; Noe and Schmitt, 1986) serve as a useful heuristic for pred icting the effects of general beliefs about training on training effec tiveness. Implications of the findings for future research and practic e are discussed