The determinants of training in Australian manufacturing SMEs

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to examine the factors influencing the provision of increased training in Australian manufacturing small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) that have embarked upon different growth development pathways.

Design/methodology/approach

The longitudinal panel data employed in this research are drawn from the business longitudinal survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics over the four financial years 1994‐1995 to 1997‐1998.

Findings

The results indicate that organisational change, in the form of major change in production technology and/or new or substantially improved product or process technology, and the introduction of business improvement programmes, are influential, and relatively consistent drivers of increased training in SMEs following each of the growth development pathways, and, over time. The findings also suggest that innovation distinguishes high growth SMEs from their lower growth counterparts.

Research limitations/implications

This investigation used a single item measure of training. Future research could utilise multi‐dimensional measures of training.

Practical implications

The findings suggest that the reasons SMEs provide training depend closely on the particular business needs of relevance to the enterprise, and as such, may be of interest to policy‐makers. To date, there has been a paucity of research examining the demand side of SME training.

Originality/value

The study focuses exclusively on SMEs that have embarked upon different growth development pathways, and adopts a longitudinal research design, enabling the study of the determinants of training over time, in SMEs exhibiting different levels of business growth.

Citation

Jones, J.T. (2005), "The determinants of training in Australian manufacturing SMEs", Education + Training, Vol. 47 No. 8/9, pp. 605-615. https://doi.org/10.1108/00400910510633143