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Does rater job position matter in training needs assessment? A study of municipal employees in the USA
Author(s) -
Cigularov Konstantin P.,
Dillulio Phillip
Publication year - 2020
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.12200
Subject(s) - psychology , supervisor , job performance , applied psychology , position (finance) , training and development , medical education , social psychology , job satisfaction , management , business , medicine , finance , economics
Organizational investments in employee training and development have steadily increased over the past decade. Yet, training needs assessment (TNA) remains an understudied topic in the training literature. This study used a large sample of municipal employees in the USA to examine the effects of rater and their job/organizational position on TNA ratings. Results indicated that supervisors tended to rate their own training needs higher than how non‐supervisors rated their supervisors’ training needs. The opposite was found for non‐supervisor self‐ratings – they tended to be lower than the supervisors’ ratings of their subordinates. We also found initial validity evidence for inferences made from TNA self‐ratings of managerial competencies, which distinguished between employees in supervisory and non‐supervisory positions. Practical and theoretical implications, as well as study limitations and directions for future research, are discussed.