The Influence of Work Environment Factors to the Effectiveness of Training among Civil Service Employees in Malaysia

Abstract

The effectiveness of a training program must be assessed as it isa critical aspect in ensuring investment is made to improve the knowledge, skills, and positive attitude of employees towards their work in order to bring positive results to the organization, particularly government organizations that provide service to the community and country. The primary objective of this research is to analyze the environmental factors (opportunity to perform, manager support, and organizational learning culture) that affect the effectiveness of training in thecontext of public service in Malaysia. Therefore, this study was conducted on 205 of Malaysian civil service officers from the middle management category who attended several courses on management and leadership at one of the public training centers in Malaysia. The results from SEM-PLS analysis indicated that three work environment elements which are manager support, opportunity to perform, and organizational learning culture significantly and positively contributed to the effectiveness of training. Specifically, this review affirms the influence of the attributes of a work environment on the training results and its ramifications in improving the effectiveness of training. Findings from this study are helpful for government divisions, departments or agencies to create a supportive work environment, flexible workspace, and continuous learning culture to enable knowledge and skills acquired from training to be effectively transferred to the workplace and other employees.