Determinants of the need for postgraduate training

Abstract

This paper establishes the determinants of professionals’ postgraduate training needs. A quantitative survey of a sample of 492 professionals from Valle del Cauca, Colombia was conducted. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling to verify the research hypotheses. The results show that the factors affecting the need for postgraduate training are individuals’ perceptions about their level of skill development and about the benefits of professional development. The findings suggest that career advancement is the most valued outcome of postgraduate training. Fieldwork was conducted with a sample of professionals located in the Valle del Cauca in Colombia, so it is important to continue validating the hypotheses in other regions to enable a comparison of results from different contexts. The study contributes to an understanding of the relationship between the variables and the explanation of the determinants of professionals’ perceptions of the need for postgraduate training. It also provides elements for decision-making in the strategic design of postgraduate training offerings. Considering the scarcity of research on the variables that determine the need for postgraduate training, this study provides one of the first theoretical and empirical validations of a perceptual measurement scale of professional training needs in Latin America.