To transfer or not to transfer? Investigating the combined effects of trainee characteristics, team leader support, and team climate

Eighty pilots participated in a study of variables influencing the transfer process. Posttraining performance was assessed in a flight simulation unde r 1 of 2 conditions. Those in the maximum performance condition were made a ware of the skill to be assessed and the fact that their teammates were con federates, whereas those in the typical performance condition were not. The results indicated that (a) simulator ratings correlated with a measure of transfer to the cockpit for those in the typical condition only; (b) team l eader support, manipulated in a pretask brief, moderated the disparity betw een maximum and typical performance; (c) team climate mediated the impact o f support on performance in the typical condition; (d) those with a stronge r predisposition toward the trained skill viewed their climate as more supp ortive; and (e) perceptions of team climate were better predictors of perfo rmance for those with a more external locus of control.