Human Resource Development Quarterly, Volume 14 , Number 4, Winter 2003

EDITORIAL. Fame as an Honorable HRD Scholar (Gene L. Roth).

FEATURED ARTICLE.

Informal Learning and the Transfer of Learning: How Managers Develop Proficiency (Michael D. Enos, Marijke Thamm Kehrhahn, Alexandra Bell)
This study examines the degree to which managers in a Fortune 100 insurance company used informal learning. Of twenty core skills, managers report that these were learned primarily through informal learning rather than formal training. Furthermore, those reporting low levels of co-worker, supervisor, and organizational support indicate greater use of informal learning and increased transfer of learning.

Invited Reaction: Informal Learning and the Transfer of Learning: How Managers Develop Proficiency (Victoria J. Marsick)
Marsick compliments the study for providing a measurement approach to examine informal learning, a difficult-to-measure but important process. Future research needs to go beyond self-report and survey methods in order to provide a deeper understanding. Future interventions need to incorporate action learning and collaborative peer work, for example, to promote this informal learning.

ARTICLES.

The Role of Employee Reactions in Predicting Training Effectiveness (James A. Tan, Rosalie J. Hall, Carol Boyce)
Reaction measures, pre- and posttests, and supervisory ratings are gathered from automotive technicians. Both cognitive and affective reactions were correlated with learning and supervisory ratings. Regression analyses show that negative reactions best predicted learning.

Learning Orientation and Goal Orientation Context: Relationships with Cognitive and Affective Learning Outcomes (Joseph J. Martocchio, Edward J. Hertenstein)
Materials within the training setting are used to induce a learning or a performance orientation. The study then tests a model of the effects of cognitive ability, declarative knowledge, learning orientation and goal orientation on pre-, mid-, and posttraining self-efficacy. It shows the interaction effects of the context-induced orientation with dispositional orientation on self-efficacy.

Supervisory Coaching Behavior, Employee Satisfaction, and Warehouse Employee Performance: A Dyadic Perspective in the Distribution Industry (Andrea D. Ellinger, Alexander E. Ellinger, Scott B. Keller)
This study surveys warehouse distribution employees and their supervisors on supervisory coaching behaviors. It shows that supervisors reported higher levels of providing such coaching than their subordinates reported. Nevertheless, higher levels of reported coaching are related to higher levels of employee job satisfaction and job performance.

An Examination of Learning Transfer System Characteristics Across Organizational Settings (Elwood F. Holton III, Hsin-Chih Chen, Sharon S. Naquin)
This study uses the Learning Transfer System Inventory to examine learning transfer in different types of organizations and with different types of training. Results show that the organizational learning transfer system is influenced by the type of organization and the type of training.

FORUMS.

Considering the Limitation of Etic Approaches in Cross-Cultural Study (Wei-Wen Chang).

Why Don't Organizations Pay Attention to (and Use) Findings from the Science of Training? (Eduardo Salas, Mary P. Kosarzycki).

REVIEW.

The ASTD E-Learning Handbook: Best Practices, Strategies, and Case Studies for an Emerging Field by Allison Rossett (2002).

REVIEWED BY PENINA MUNGANIA.

Volume 14 Index.