Factors that influence the transfer generalization and maintenance of managerial-leadership skills: a retrospective study

Abstract

Leadership and management skills are important for organizational performance. Organizations spend millions of dollars to train their staff in these skills, yet training is reported as being mostly ineffective and providing minimal return on investment. This exploratory study employed a retrospective design to examine the factors affecting transfer generalization and maintenance of managerial‐leadership skills from a 12‐month training program. Results showed that individual (e.g., motivation) and organizational factors (e.g., opportunity‐to‐use and perceived‐support) accounted for approximately 52% of the variance in relation to transfer generalization. Further, individual (e.g., self‐efficacy and motivation‐to‐transfer) and organizational factors (e.g., perceived support and barriers to transfer) accounted for approximately 41% of the variance regarding transfer maintenance. This research may assist organizational‐development units to optimize their training outcomes by attending to individual and organizational factors that may enhance both transfer generalization and maintenance of new managerial‐leadership skills.