Individual influences on knowledge acquisition in a call center training context in Germany

Abstract

From both a practical and a theoretical point of view, it is important to identify factors that foster knowledge acquisition in organizational training programs. Recent models of training effectiveness have proposed relationships between trainees’ characteristics and subsequent learning. The present study tested the impact of trainees’ pretraining expectations, post‐training reaction to training, expectation fulfillment and commitment on declarative knowledge acquisition, while controlling for education and motivation to learn. Participants were call center agents (N = 84), working in 10 call centers in Germany. Results showed that, in addition to education and motivation to learn, only expectation fulfillment significantly predicted learning. Implications for practice and future research were discussed.