International Journal of Training and Development最新文献

This article addresses policy transfer in international development activities in vocational education and training. Ownership has been identified and established as a key factor for sustainability of transfer activities in different fields of development cooperation. While the concept has been targeted from a macro-level perspective of government-to-government transfer for a long time, meso- and micro-level perspectives of multi-stakeholder involvement are increasingly emerging. Thus, the focus is on the function of ownership in terms of the role of local stakeholder commitment for sustainable transfer at the level of vocational training institutions in India. Using the example of the transfer of an approach for quality measurement, factors, potentials and challenges for ownership development are explored. Findings are based on the first evaluation cycle of a quality measurement framework developed with specific regard to Polytechnic Colleges and Industrial Training Institutes. Results of the evaluation were analysed considering the model intentions and theoretically based assumptions taken in the research process. Ownership at the meso-level can be established by high degrees of acceptability of measures, participation of stakeholders at the institutional level and internal and external moderation processes in implementation. This paper argues that increased participation and decision-making authority will contribute to measures in line with stakeholders' needs and enable Polytechnic Colleges and ITIs to engage in institutional development more effectively when considering stakeholders' views. This is the case, particularly when focusing on quality assurance and development at the organisational level.

This contribution aimed at investigating how work-related reflection as cognitive efforts towards developing an understanding of work tasks, the surrounding work context, and one's professional competencies adds to the role of psychological empowerment and participative safety in predicting innovative behaviour and job crafting as two forms of proactivity. Quantitative data from 295 employees of micro, small, and medium-sized organizations in the information sector were collected with a cross-sectional questionnaire. For hypotheses testing, structural equation modelling was employed. The results of the study showed that work-related reflection and psychological empowerment were substantially related to innovative behaviour and job crafting while participative safety only played a minor role. These findings imply that jobs need to contain empowering and sufficiently complex work tasks that require reflection and provide occasions for reflective interactions to enable employees to create efficient routines and adapt to changes at work. Furthermore, experiences of empowerment need to be rooted in social interactions at work. Likewise, the value of reflection will only unfold if employees and supervisors regularly engage in reflection.

To remain sustainably viable in today's business environment, employers require appropriate skills to support their commitment to social responsibility. When recruiting skills, employers recognize that graduate attributes are essential indicators of the capability to render constructive workplace outcomes. Graduates need to develop these attributes to demonstrate their employability potential to prospective employers. However, existing employability capital frameworks do not include the graduate attributes needed to measure capability in corporate social responsibility (CSR) skills. The objective of this study was to determine which graduate attributes would support employability capability in CSR skills. Following a theoretical investigation, a mixed-method exploratory study was undertaken in South Africa's state-owned electricity provider to determine the employability attributes required by the organization in CSR management. The first phase involved a data collection survey, 302 managers and supervisors in South Africa's primary electricity provider rated a proposed 44 personal attributes linked to nine theoretical determined CSR skills and their importance in CSR management. In the second phase, the survey results were validated through a separate Delphi technique with three Human Resource Development experts. Confirmatory factor analysis found significant relationships between the tested attributes and the nine CSR skills. The findings could assist graduates in understanding the attributes they need to develop to be deemed employable for CSR performance. Furthermore, higher education institutions can include the results in curriculums to contribute to the development of CSR skills. Finally, the attributes and skills could be used to conceptualize a focused CSR employability capital, which employers can use to test employability potential.

Germany and China have been engaged in a wide range of vocational education and training (VET) cooperation activities since the 1980s. To clarify what organizations have been involved and what project types exist within VET cooperation, a semistructured survey had been conducted for collecting data. By this approach, 99 VET project profiles with 258 organizations related were detected. To analyse these projects and organizations, the ‘general key factor model of sustainability’ is used to structure the analysis framework. In this framework, ‘cooperation type’, ‘content type’ and ‘project duration’ were considered as the three fundamental criteria for further categorization. On this basis, seven cooperation types were created by the organizations involved, three content types were established by the goal of the project and three project duration were distinguished by the time planned for the project. The result shows that governmental organizations are the main actors who play a major role in the Sino-German VET cooperation. However, numerically, German private organizations participated more in VET cooperation rather than Chinese private organizations. Civil social organizations show no significant function. Meanwhile, different cooperation types show different projects' emphasis: Type G (Governmental) projects focus on building or promoting on the organization level; Type G + P (Governmental + Private) projects tend to objectives on the individual and system level; Type G + C (Governmental + Civil) projects occur more often at an individual level; Type G + P + C (Governmental + Private + Civil) projects tend to pursue goals on organizational or system level.

This study explores alternative relationships between perceived investment in employee development (PIED) and turnover intention by including affective commitment, perceived internal employability, and perceived external employability as potential mediators. Data were collected through a structured survey from 337 employees working in two large companies in Italy. The factorial validity and dimensionality of the latent constructs studied were evaluated in a confirmatory factor analysis framework, and the mediation hypotheses were tested in a full structural equation model. Results show that the overall effect of PIED on turnover intention is negative and almost fully mediated by external employability and affective commitment, whereas the path through internal employability is not supported. More specifically, PIED increases commitment, which in turn limits the likelihood of turnover. In addition, although perceived external employability is positively associated with turnover intention, PIED seems to reduce this effect by negatively affecting employee perceptions of their marketability in the labour market. The study supports the assumptions of social exchange theory in explaining turnover behaviour as a consequence of employee development support. Contextually, it questions the existence of the employability paradox because it does not reveal either a retention path via perceived internal employability or a turnover risk via perceived external employability.

This paper examines a question posed in 2019 in the International Journal on Training and Development: ‘How do we solve a problem like apprenticeship?’ Data sources covering a substantial number of countries are used to present findings on, and analyse, initiatives that have been implemented or that have been considered, and then to develop some analytical constructs to help address the question. Fundamental issues such as the status of vocational education and training and the status of apprenticed occupations are important, but the nature of the apprenticeship arrangements, within countries and within industries are also major factors affecting perceived attractiveness. The paper therefore argues that the heterogeneity of apprenticeship systems and arrangements is a major barrier to solving the attractiveness problem. Moreover, the heterogeneity of potential apprenticeship applicants means that marketing campaigns or other efforts to attract more, and higher quality, apprentices need to be cognisant of individuals’ backgrounds, characteristics, and aspirations. Some tentative ways of addressing these matters are presented, but the conclusion is that the topic needs large-scale research.

The study analyses the effects of the technological and digital learning resources (DLRs) on the development of students' soft skills (SSk) in remote learning, mediated by the perceived efficacy of students in this modality of education. The study employed a survey research method, and the data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire. Participants included 637 students experiencing remote learning during the second COVID-19 lockdown in the north of Portugal (between 1 and 15 March 2021). The structural equation modelling analysis technique tested the hypothesized model. The study showed that technological and DLRs were strongly interconnected. The results supported our hypotheses, evidencing that, in remote learning, the adequacy of DLRs had a direct effect on the development of SSk, presenting the efficacy perceived by the students as a mediator of this relationship. The study demonstrated that, with the experience of remote learning, students perceived the development of their SSk, which is consistent with the literature review we carried out. Implications of these findings are discussed, considering the literature on technology-mediated learning and the development of human resources SSk in the context of the digital transition.

The transfer of the German dual vocational education and training to other countries is much discussed. The reduction of youth unemployment, in particular, is considered as a central motive. Similarly, some promoting factors and challenges that influence the transfer of vocational education are already known. The focus of this study is on the reform of the Mexican vocational education system and the facilitating and inhibiting factors faced by the different actors from German-speaking countries involved. The study is based on 22 expert interviews that were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The results show that there are factors that have both a positive and a negative impact on transfer in Mexico.