"Training Engagement Theory: A Multilevel, Temporal Perspective on the Effectiveness of Training"

Abstract

Training engagement theory depicts the temporal sequence of events at multiple levels of analysis that contribute to training effectiveness. The temporal nature of the theory advocates for examining the processes that occur from before training is conceptualized until after the completion of training programs. As such, training engagement theory proposes a sequence model of the independent and joint effects of establishing training goals, prioritizing those goals, and persisting during goal striving on training effectiveness. Moreover, the theory is multilevel such that each phase of the goal striving process is conceptualized from the organizational, between-person, and within-person levels of analysis. Together the temporal and multilevel nature of training engagement theory provides a broad account of how factors at various levels in the organizational hierarchy influence one another and contribute to the success or failure of organizational training programs. We also propose two critical extensions of current conceptualizations of training effectiveness by adding attrition as an additional indicator of training effectiveness and by clarifying how indicators of training effectiveness—including course satisfaction, attrition, learning performance, and training transfer —may be operationalized differently at various levels in the organization. Finally, we offer testable multilevel propositions derived from training engagement theory to spur future research.