International Journal of Training and Development最新文献

The Innovation Scholars Program (ISP) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) targets the issue of organizational capacity development in higher education institutions (HEIs). HEI's are susceptible to patterns of isomorphic mimicry, manifested where institutions often replicate behaviors perceived to be ideal without developing internal capacities for maintaining or adjusting. ISP addresses these patterns through individual and organizational capacity development leading to a focus on institutional function. Isomorphic mimicry is characterized by a focus on form over function (e.g., a new classroom building with no classes scheduled vs. building capacity of instructors to deliver relevant learning outcomes for their society); and incentives for leaders to use new resources to maintain the status quo (agenda conformity). Isomorphic mimicry is driven by global pressures but felt in part by HEI leaders and faculty. To address these issues, the ISP employs human-centered design (HCD) as a cornerstone of its approach. HCD is a user-focused problem-solving methodology that involves understanding the needs of the end-users whom we include as faculty, administrative leaders, and community-based stakeholders. Participants in ISP design and create prototypes and refine solutions through iterative, interdisciplinary, cross-hierarchical, feedback loops. Within the ISP, HCD was operationalized through workshops matched to design phases which led participants to deploy a working prototype. We measured individual and organizational learning, including participants' outcomes and collective patterns of organizational responsiveness, observed in part through a cross-case comparative analysis. As participant observers, we noted individual and organizational outcomes and conducted interviews, document analysis, and field observations to identify and understand new patterns. In each of the three ISP programs, individuals developed capacity, faculty and administrators learned to use HCD together (organizational capacity) as a problem-solving approach. Participants built trust in the process of local problem identification. Specifically, we observed where HCD ideas and principles appeared in locally identified use cases. The HCD approach fostered a shared language for making change, built trust among participants, and led to changes that outlasted project funding. By integrating individual learning and organizational change through HCD principles, HEIs established a new pattern of work, and focused on function, moved away from intensification (more of the same spending) toward repeatable processes and the needs of end-users. Integrating individual and collective learning with function in mind was key to interrupting components of isomorphic mimicry. The ISP helped ensure that organizational novelty was aimed at functional outcomes rather than status quo actions. Several of the initiatives begun in ISP continue to resonate and evolve post-project funding and have become self-sus

The successful implementation of the German-originated dual learning system in various national settings inspired Kazakhstan to introduce this approach to address the shortage of specialists. The self-employed status of professionals in the agri-food industry raises concerns about the intentions of young individuals to remain in the industry. This study aims to identify factors influencing the intentions of students and graduates to remain with the same employer in the agri-food industry, change employers in the same industry or leave the industry altogether. The study evaluated 651 learners undertaking dual learning (hence dual) and 217 learners undertaking traditional education (hence non-dual). Kirkpatrick's training evaluation model provided the theoretical framework for designing satisfaction dimensions potentially influencing the career intentions of students and graduates. Multinomial Logistic Regression was used to examine the career intentions of both dual and non-dual groups. The dual learners demonstrated a stronger association between tested factors (satisfaction and motivation) and intention to remain with the company/industry than the non-dual learners. Despite positive outcomes in retaining skilled professionals, concerns remain regarding the career intentions of young people in the agri-food industry. Stakeholders should provide career development opportunities and incentives to attract and retain young individuals within the agri-food sector.

Among the contributions on skills in economic geography and related disciplines, the skills required in a regional context for putting circular economy into practice remain largely unaddressed. Labour markets have however a strong regional dimension, and industry development and transformation is often heavily reliant on already existing skills in a region. The objective of this paper is to make explicit the skills required by employers for implementing circularity in regional manufacturing industries. Furthermore, it addresses where these skills are obtained from, and whether there is a connection to already existing industrial specialisations. The theoretical framework of the paper draws on contributions from the economic geography of labour markets as well as the circular economy. The paper is based on in-depth interviews with companies and supporting actors engaged in circular economy development in the vehicles/automotive and the textile industries in the West Gothland region in Sweden. The findings reveal that circular economy imposes new skill demands on manufacturing industries, many of which are applicable across various industrial contexts. The industries face an increased need for material-specific and technological skills to ensure an improved durability and separability of materials and components. At the same time, the outcomes emphasise the importance of a variety of non-technological skills and point towards so far less addressed opportunities for learning and skill transfer between different industry contexts. Furthermore, the circular economy puts focus on a variety of low-skill jobs that have largely been unconsidered in the literature.

In academic continuing education, the transfer of learning from an academic setting to the workplace is critical. Current research on transfer of training has focused less on the situative determinants for such transfer, and how these are construed by the learner. We assume an actor-oriented perspective on transfer for investigating the individual pathways of what and how professional learners transfer between contexts. Using the lens of self-directed learning, the paper sheds light on the support useful in this process. We conducted a design-based research project, in which we created and implemented a learning design for a continuing education course with a specific focus on learning transfer. We then interviewed a cohort of students on their transfer experience 8 months after the course to understand what the students were transferring, evaluate the support provided during the course and detect opportunities for further support. Results indicated that it was important to establish structures that bridge the academic and work contexts, and prompt reflection and interaction. We discuss the opportunities for further support, especially improving possibilities for personalised feedback.

Although continuous vocational education and training (CVET) trainers are relevant stakeholders who can initiate and support transfer, they have received little attention in the context of transfer research, especially with respect to their transfer knowledge. In this study, we investigated the extent to which the transfer knowledge of CVET trainers can be increased through an intervention. Based on our conceptualization of transfer knowledge, which is a three-dimensional construct that includes knowledge about learner characteristics, training design and the work environment, we implemented a 5-week digital training programme (intervention) for CVET trainers. We employed a nonrandomized pretest‒posttest design to investigate N = 81 trainers and examined the effects of the training programme on trainers' transfer knowledge. While 47 trainers participated in the training programme (experimental group), 34 trainers were included in the control group and received no intervention. As hypothesized, we found a significant interaction effect on the development of trainers' transfer knowledge ($��\; ��{\eta }_p^2��$ = 0.386). Furthermore, we found significant interaction effects pertaining to all three dimensions of transfer knowledge: learner characteristics ($��\; ��{\eta }_p^2��$ = 0.196), training design ($��\; ��{\eta }_p^2��$ = 0.246) and the work environment ($��\; ��{\eta }_p^2$