A study of conceptual model for learning transfer in Thai banking sector

Abstract

The main purpose of this research was to study Holton’s HRD evaluation and research model for learning transfer, excluding the organizational performance outcome portion, in order to develop and validate an instrument to measure the factors affecting the learning transfer of Thai employees and to test the emerging conceptual model of learning transfer with samples in the Thai banking sector, and to investigate the factors affecting the learning transfer and its relationship. The study includes an exclusive literature review of Edward Holton’s HRD evaluation model proposed by Edward Holton in 2005, the process of developing a new instrument of learning transfer, and testing the emerging learning transfer model. The research process was composed of three phases: Phase I, scale development, involved drafting an English version of a 72-item-scale from a related literature review, conducting back translation, and testing content validity with HR experts by using the index of item-objective congruence (IOC); Phase II, scale validation, involved analyzing all of the items using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with 679 front-line employees from three large-sized Thai commercial banks; and Phase III, model testing with structural equation modeling (SEM), was carried out in order to ascertain the causal links among the latent variables. The exploratory factor analysis results yielded six emerging constructs of the 71-item-scale; namely traits, employee commitment, motivation to improve work through learning, lack of opportunity to apply, a supportive environment, and transfer design. The confirmatory factor analysis results confirmed that the six-construct-model validation had a good fit. The results provided strong support for the structure of 15 factors: 7 factors in the specific training domain and 8 factors in the general training domain. The structural model testing disclosed that a supportive environment had a high impact on the motivation to improve work through learning, followed by traits and transfer design, whereas employee commitment hardly had any impact on motivation to improve work through learning, as opposed to what has been hypothesized in Holton’s HRD evaluation and research model (2005). The results of this study yield a new and comprehensive learning transfer measurement scale based on the emerged model, which can contribute not only to the work of academics, but also to Thai HRD practitioners and the Thai banking sector in order to systemically diagnose, detect, and solve problems regarding training effectiveness. Despite the fact that this study had not achieved testing the entire model, the results yielded valuable insights into the factors affecting learning transfer. Future studies should aim at validating the model and instrument in this study, as well as test the entire model using structural equation modeling, which could be validated in steps: on a single level, for example validating learning and all of the intervening variables affecting learning, and then moving on to a multi-level analysis during the next phase.