CONTEXTUAL ANALYSES OF COMPANY JOB TRAINING: AN INVESTIGATION OF THE 1996 NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS SURVEY

Abstract

Because job training is so consequential for the success of individual workers, firms, and national economies, understanding the determinants of training differentials is crucial. This study investigates whether PT (professional/technical) workers receive more training than do manual workers and how the training gap varies under different organizational contexts. I contend that the occupational impact on job training is contingent upon organization bureaucratization and institutionalization. Using the 1996 National Organizational Survey, I find that PT core organizations are more likely to supply formal training to their PT core workers than are manual core organizations to manual core workers. The gap in obtaining formal training between PT core workers and manual core workers expanded when I compared highly bureaucratized PT core organizations with highly bureaucratized manual core organizations. PT core organizations also invested much more money in the training of PT core workers than manual core organizations did to manual core workers, provided that the comparison was among organizations with high levels of bureaucratization or low levels of institutionalization. I conclude that researchers need to investigate organizational contexts to fully explain training differentials among workers.

Citation

Yang, S. (2003), "CONTEXTUAL ANALYSES OF COMPANY JOB TRAINING: AN INVESTIGATION OF THE 1996 NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS SURVEY", Bills, D.B. (Ed.) The Sociology of Job Training (Research in the Sociology of Work, Vol. 12), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 259-286. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-2833(03)12010-9