Resources for development: the relationship of HRM practices and continuous learning culture with training success

Abstract

We tested the importance of two hypothesised resources HRM practices and continuous learning culture – in determining training success in the service industries in Kuwait. Using a sample of 605 employees from different Kuwaiti service firms, our results demonstrate that HRM practices have a positive association with training success by boosting employees' ability to learn and apply the newly learned skills to their work. Moreover, we found that organisations with continuous learning culture were more likely to achieve higher level of training success when they cultivate a climate of encouragement where employees learn and develop their full potential to complete their tasks better and with less mistakes. Furthermore, we tested the role of continuous learning culture in the relationship between HRM practices and training success and found that this relationship is partially mediated by continuous learning culture which illustrates and confirms the existence of a missing link between the two variables.