Training Effectiveness: The Influence of Personal Achievement Goals on Post-Training Self-Efficacy.

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to better understand how individual achievement goal orientations affect changes in post-training self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is positively related to the transfer of learning to the workplace and is therefore an indicator of training effectiveness. A Two-Group Pretest-Posttest Design Using an Untreated Control Group was used to study a sample of employees of homeless service organizations. Sixty one individuals were in the control group and one hundred and seventeen individuals attended a HUD-funded training in financial management and were in the treatment group. Three categories of individual goal orientation - mastery, performance-approach, and performance-avoid - served as independent variables, while changes in post-training self-efficacy served as the dependent variable. Covariates assessed included transfer system variables (the opportunity to use learning, motivation to transfer, and supervisory support) and demographic variables (age, years employed, organization type, job type, and education level). The present study revealed that individual goal orientations were not significantly related and did not significantly predict any variation in changes in post-training self-efficacy. Only two covariates – group membership and pre-training self-efficacy – were significant and contributed to the prediction of change in post-training self-efficacy. The recommendations presented include: 1) postpone the decision to further research the interaction of goal orientations and structures within similar populations until future studies either support or refute the findings of the present study; 2) further research the impact of age and life experiences on goal orientations; 3) further research goal profiles using similar study samples to better establish the existence of such clusters and to investigate their relationship to post-training self-efficacy and other important training outcomes; and 4) assess pre-training self-efficacy prior to every HUD-funded training so training can better suit the needs of the expected trainees.