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Training programs’ return on investment in the Portuguese railway company: a fuzzy‐set Qualitative Comparative Analysis
Author(s) -
Curado Carla,
Bernardino Gonçalo
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
international journal of training and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.558
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1468-2419
pISSN - 1360-3736
DOI - 10.1111/ijtd.12136
Subject(s) - qualitative comparative analysis , causation , training (meteorology) , return on investment , portuguese , computer science , measure (data warehouse) , fuzzy logic , set (abstract data type) , region of interest , fuzzy set , actuarial science , business , artificial intelligence , data mining , machine learning , economics , political science , geography , linguistics , philosophy , production (economics) , meteorology , law , macroeconomics , programming language
The evaluation of training is important because of the resources committed to training and the need for an effective performance by employees, but in practice, it is difficult to measure the return on training investment (ROI). Here, we follow the Kirkpatrick and Phillips model to measure the ROI from 327 training programs at the Portuguese national railway company in the calendar year 2016.Additionally , we use a fuzzy‐set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) on company records to determine the causal configurations that lead to higher values of ROI . In doing so, we add to the measurement literature but our major contribution is the use of fsQCA to provide a deeper analysis than hitherto of the factors associated with higher or lower ROI. The findings show the importance of complex causation for ROI and offer five alternative configurations of conditions that lead to higher ROI values. There are only three configurations of conditions that lead to lower ROI values. Further, the results show the importance of organizing training programs in small groups. Although the results cannot be generalized due to the use of national data in the study, the proposed method of analysis is generally applicable.