Exploring the critical role of motivation to transfer in the training transfer process

Abstract

The present study aims at exploring the critical role of motivation to transfer within the training transfer process. In a sample of N = 252 employees of one industrial company, one peer rating and several self‐ratings of transfer were used to investigate the mediating role of motivation to transfer in the relationship between training characteristics and training transfer. We furthermore used an online survey with N = 391 employees from different branches to corroborate the first analysis in a more diverse sample and to explore differential effects of motivation to transfer. The participants' motivation to transfer was successfully identified as a mediational link between training characteristics and transfer. Moreover, quantile regression revealed that the positive effects of motivation to transfer on training transfer differ across quantiles. Understanding the role of motivation to transfer within the transfer process in greater detail helps to identify crucial parameters for successful transfer. Because motivation to transfer was found to be a linking mechanism between training characteristics and transfer, training professionals should enhance it by means of different instructional methods. Quantile regression results point out that motivation to transfer should especially be emphasized and monitored depending on characteristics of the training participants. The present study answers the call for research on the mediating role of motivation to transfer in the transfer process. This is one of the first studies that successfully applied quantile regression to training transfer research, suggesting new directions for future research.