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The State of Transfer of Training Research: Moving Toward More Consumer‐Centric Inquiry
Author(s) -
Baldwin Timothy T.,
Kevin Ford J.,
Blume Brian D.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
human resource development quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.756
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1532-1096
pISSN - 1044-8004
DOI - 10.1002/hrdq.21278
Subject(s) - transfer of training , transfer of learning , set (abstract data type) , psychological intervention , training and development , psychology , training (meteorology) , knowledge management , knowledge transfer , medical education , public relations , sociology , computer science , political science , medicine , management , meteorology , developmental psychology , physics , psychiatry , economics , programming language
Over the past 30 years, there has been an explosion of research in the human resource development (HRD) literature devoted to transfer of training ‐ and much has been learned. Yet despite recent demands for evidence‐based practice, too little of the science of transfer is informing professionals in their design and execution of training initiatives. We offer three broad prescriptions for moving future transfer research toward more consumer‐centric outcomes: (1) systematically report more and richer information related to the trainees, trainers, and organizational contexts under study; (2) focus explicitly on the optimization of transfer ‐ not just learning; and (3) expand the measurement and reporting of transfer outcomes. We conclude with a general call for transfer scholars to adopt a more consumer‐centric mind‐set where studies are designed with an eye to informing training interventions of greatest frequency and importance to contemporary organizations and training practitioners.