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This paper aims to investigate the impacts of audit engagement team’s ethical leadership, trainee auditors’ reporting intent and other selected factors on their likelihood of reporting client’s irregularities.

The present investigation is based on 150 effective questionnaire responses provided by a group of trainee auditors working for certified public accounting (CPA) firms. The questionnaire items relating to trainee auditors’ likelihood of reporting client’s irregularities are based on Crawford and Weirich’s (2011) classification of common forms of fraudulent financial reporting. The authors’ measurement of the audit engagement team leaders’ ethicality is based on the ethical leadership scale developed in Newstrom and Ruch (1975) and Kantor and Weisberg (2002). Regression models are used to testify the authors’ hypotheses on the correlations of the trainee auditors’ likelihood of reporting client’s irregularities with audit engagement team’s ethical leadership, trainee auditor’ reporting intents and other selected factors.

The major conclusion of this study is that there is a significantly positive correlation between trainee auditors’ likelihood of reporting client’s irregularities and their perception of audit engagement team leader’s ethicality. This paper also points out that trainee auditors’ higher evaluation of stable firm–client relationship reduces their likelihood of reporting client’s irregularities, whereas their concerns with future career development increase the likelihood of reporting. In addition, this paper documents the fact that male trainee auditors more easily perceive the ethicality of their team leader than females, and that trainee auditors with less academic achievements (lower GPA) tend to perceive more easily the ethicality of their team leader than those with better academic achievements (higher GPA).

Two business ethics variables constructed and used in this study, i.e. trainee auditors’ likelihood of reporting client’s irregularities and engagement team leader’s ethicality, can be applied in future research on whistleblowing in the audit profession.

Practical implications can also be drawn from the findings to enhance the ethical management at both engagement and firm levels.

This paper contributes to the audit research literature by providing evidence on the significant positive impacts of team leader’s ethicality on the entry-level audit professional’s likelihood of reporting client’s irregularities.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of situational factors in improving learning for trainees with low conscientiousness.

A sample of 117 employees completed a survey questionnaire in the context of a training intervention. Perceptions of conscientiousness, legitimacy, and accountability were used to predict employee learning in a training context. Moderated multiple regression was used to test the hypotheses.

Results support interactions of conscientiousness and perceived accountability to predict learning such that learners who are low in conscientiousness showed higher levels of learning when perceived accountability was considered strong than when perceived accountability was considered weak. There was no support for the proposed interaction of conscientiousness and perceived legitimacy to predict learning.

Results support the view that organizations should implement formal controls to increase perceived accountability and improve learning. Trainees with low conscientiousness had higher levels of learning in situations with strong accountability perceptions.

The study is one of the few to evaluate perceived accountability in a field study, whereas most previous research has evaluated this concept in lab experiments. Therefore, the findings support the wide range of perceived accountability that exists in most organizations. The results imply the need for more accountability controls within an organization to increase learning in a training context.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the interplay between perceptions of instructor competence and trainees’ motivational orientations (autonomy orientation) as predictor of trainee satisfaction.

Simulating a realistic training initiative, the paper examines survey responses from a sample (n=132) of students enrolled in an introductory business course at a large US university.

Perceptions of instructor competence predict course satisfaction over and above trainees’ motivational orientations. Further, trainee satisfaction is an interactive function of both instructor competence and trainee orientations, with instructor competence being more important for trainees with high autonomy.

The results of the present study should be considered in the light of the limitations, including limited generalizability, an exclusive focus on trainee satisfaction as outcome, and a test of only one moderator.

This study confirms the need for instructors to be knowledgeable, organized and prepared, and to establish rapport with their trainees in order to promote high levels of satisfaction with the instruction – even for trainees who are often assumed to naturally thrive in training (i.e. those high in autonomy).

If extended to other contexts and settings, the results point out toward the need to consider multiple venues, including both trainer and trainee-based factors to increase trainees’ course or program satisfaction. In a broader sense, aptitude-treatment (Cronbach, 1957) remains a valid perspective and needs to receive renewed attention.

The current literature suggests that positive course reactions (e.g. high trainee satisfaction) can enhance learning, learning transfer, and ultimately application of acquired knowledge and skill. This study provides support for the notion that trainee satisfaction is a function of both instructor competence and trainees’ motivational orientations. Training professionals can enhance training outcomes by emphasizing trainer and trainee factors when designing initiatives. Related, trainee motivational orientations should not be viewed as a substitute for highly competent trainers.

The aim of this chapter is to analyze the sources of earnings dispersion between trainees and nontrainees. We stress three mechanisms by which investment in general training may affect wage inequality: directly via participation to a general training program and indirectly via the selection process of trainees or the existence of heterogeneous returns on training. This chapter adopts an approach originally proposed by Fields (2003) but extends it to the breakdown of inequality by population subgroups – those who received training and those who did not. The empirical illustration is based on four French surveys, the 2006 Adult Educational Survey and the 2004, 2005, and 2006 Labor Force Surveys that complement it.

In this study, we examined whether employees’ perceived importance of the training program would be one variable that mediates the relationship between training assignment and training motivation. Data were collected from 184 employees belonging to 18 banks who attended government‐sponsored training programs in Northern Taiwan. Participants were asked to complete two questionnaires: one at the beginning of the training program and the other at the middle. Results supported our hypothesis and showed that, compared to those who were volunteers, the employees who attended the training on a mandatory basis had a higher motivation for training. Moreover, organizations that force their employees to attend a given training program send out a clear message to employees that such training is important. As employees perceive the training to be central to the achievement of organizational objectives, their training motivation increases.

This study aims to investigate the formative evaluations of the training programmes of a Portuguese national railway public company for an entire calendar year. The aim is to uncover alternative configurations for the design of training programmes to create better levels of evaluation. This study is based on the following research question: What are the configurations that lead to the success and or failure of trainers and trainees? Among those, are there any common designs that generate the success and or failure of both trainers and trainees?

This study used matched data from an entire calendar year to examine the trainers and trainees’ evaluations of 429 training events. This study also used a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to provide configurations that generate the success or failure of trainers and trainees. This methodology offers alternative pathways to the same outcomes and thus gives managers different options to reach similar results.

The results show that there are more configurations that lead to trainers’ success (five) than to its absence (four). However, the configurations that lead to trainees’ success (three) are less than those that lead to its absence (six). The findings indicate that a single common configuration exists that leads to high evaluations.

This study does not address summative evaluations. Regarding data, the study acknowledges the use of self-evaluations for trainees, although they serve as a proxy for a learning evaluation. The generalisation of the results outside the Portuguese railway company’s context is not possible.

The proposed analysis is applicable to other settings without restrictions. Managers may replicate this study’s approach in their organisations to uncover the alternative configurations that lead to the success or failure of trainers and trainees. They may adopt the ones that lead to successful outcomes and avoid the ones that lead to undesired ones.

This study is innovative because it addresses concurrently the success or failure of trainers and trainees that is only possible by using the fsQCA method. This study opted to use this method to provide alternative pathways to extreme outcomes: the most successful or the most unsuccessful. These multiple pathways are better results compared to traditional quantitative statistical methods that only provide a single estimated solution to the presence of the dependent variable; for example, a regression analysis or structural equation modelling.

Grounding on the goal-setting theory and flow theory, this study explored the mechanism underlying the association between transfer design (TD); identical elements and training transfer (TT). Specifically, the authors explored a moderated mediation process of trainer performance and motivation to improve work through learning (MTIWL) that has received less consideration in the TT literature.

Data were collected using the retro-perspective survey method. The first survey was administered offline (t1: the day when leadership intervention was completed. Subsequently, trainees were requested to participate in an online survey (t2: 12–14 weeks later). In all, 355 executives participated.

The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses suggested that trainees’ MTIWL mediational impact between leadership intervention triggers (transfer design and identical elements), and TT was supported. In addition, the indirect impact of these variables on TT was found to be significant when the trainer had high performance than when it was low. This confirmed the trainer’s performance as a potential moderator in the TT process.

This study is limited to the exploration of leadership intervention variables on TT. The findings have implications for leadership professionals and scholars who use leadership intervention and motivation metrics to predict TT.

This study offers a moderated mediation mechanism for enhancing TT through leadership intervention triggers. The proposed conceptual model included MTIWL as mediator and trainer performance during leadership intervention as moderator.

The purpose of this paper is to decipher the possibility of ensuring the effectiveness of sales training by focusing on selected organization-related variables and thereafter aims at making recommendations for enhancing the overall sales training effectiveness. Variables that are under organizations’ control, like training transfer climate, training evaluation and degree of choice (mandatory or by choice) were selected for this study. The study also attempted to understand how these variables influence at pre-training stage and post-training stage.

This cross-sectional research involved both exploratory and conclusive phases. To test the postulated hypotheses, data were collected in two phases from sales executives of a large oil and gas petrochemical company having the presence across India. A total of 370 sales executives, who were the part of a sales training program, were approached twice, one before the training and once after the eight weeks of training. Data from the respondents who completed both pre- and post-training survey (255) were used for analyses.

The results indicate that all the three predictor variables – training awareness, perceived transfer climate and the presence of an appropriate training evaluation mechanism, influence trainees’ motivation to learn. The results depict that motivation to learn mediates the association between the predictor variables and the resultant variable. Also, degree of choice was found to moderate the association between motivation to learn and sales training effectiveness. The research reinforces the significance of pre-training factors in designing sales training programs to ensure its better effectiveness.

The present study captures organizational-level variables as they are under the control of the organization and can be managed. The study included both motivation to learn and training effectiveness in the hypothesized model to understand the motivational issues in a holistic perspective. The outcomes of this research strengthen the role of trainees’ motivation to learn as a connecting variable between organizational-level variables and sales training effectiveness. Thus, the outcome of this study contributes to the literature on training motivation as well as training effectiveness.

The findings of this study are significant for sales organizations or the organizations offering sales training aiming to enhance overall training effectiveness. Training managers must focus on these factors and ensure that all the pre-training organizational-level variables are very well-taken care of. This implies that the trainees need to be well informed about the training calendar, training policies, training content, expectations from them and how the program will be evaluated after training, along with appropriate positive transfer climate. Organizations should also include proper training evaluation mechanism to measure training at different levels.

This study is an attempt to decipher the possibility of ensuring the effectiveness of sales training by focusing on select organization-related variables, and thereafter aims at making recommendations for enhancing the overall sales training effectiveness. The study’s uniqueness lies in simultaneous examination of influence of various variables, and that too at two different points of time (before and after the training). These two perspectives are apparently missing in the existing sales training literature.

People with intellectual disability (ID) experience significant health and social inequality compared to their non-disabled peers. Individuals with ID who access mental health services can have complex comorbidities and presentations. In the UK, a significant proportion of individuals with ID are supported within general adult mental health services not by specialist ID teams. The purpose of this study is to explore whether psychiatry trainees in the Maudsley Training Programme (MTP) feel adequately skilled to support individuals with ID.

An online survey of trainee psychiatrists in the MTP was completed to evaluate self-perceived skills and knowledge in the care of individuals with ID in mental health services. Statistical analysis of the results was completed.

Experience of working in specialist ID teams is positively associated with greater confidence and skills among trainees in the care of people with ID; this is beyond what would be expected based on seniority alone.

The response rate was 16.7 per cent; a larger sample size would add strength to the study. Like all online surveys, there exists the risk of selection bias.

UK Policy states that people with ID should be supported to access mainstream services where possible, including psychiatric care. Practical experience for all psychiatry trainees involving specialist ID services and people with ID could improve the care given to that particularly disadvantaged group.

This is the only paper known to the authors that has focused specifically on the skills and knowledge of psychiatry trainees in the UK with regards to ID.

The main objective of the study is to assess the self‐esteem of the human resources including future workforce, trainees, managers, and entrepreneurs.

Primary data based on 1,835 respondents were analyzed to compare the self‐esteem of males and females of various categories. Statistical tools such as factor analysis, correlations, analysis of variance, means, grand means, and standard deviations were used for the analysis of the data gathered.

Among all the derived five factors, respondents scored highest on strong belief which indicated the high self‐esteem cognition. Significant differences were found between the various categories of students, managers, entrepreneurs, and trainees. Males and females also differed on certain aspects of self‐esteem. The overall self‐esteem of the sample was found to be marginally positive.

The limitation of the study was that the data were collected from North India only, though they could have been collected from the wider area. Rather it can be extended cross‐culturally so that it may give more generalized conclusions.

Self‐esteem of human resources has managerial and policy implications. Self‐esteem affects the organisational decisions regarding planning and hiring, motivating, retaining, and laying‐off of human resources. High and positive self‐esteem has a positive relationship with job performance, job satisfaction, organisational commitment, need for achievement, self‐perceived competence, self‐image, and success expectancy. Organizations should not only concentrate on hiring and retaining high and positive self‐esteem employees, but also try to maintain the self‐esteem level of the employees. Organisations can enhance employees' self‐esteem by allowing them ample room for self‐determination.

This paper helps in understanding the level of self‐esteem of males and females across categories and resultant behaviour. Inclusion of aspirants along with managers and entrepreneurs will definitely add to the existing knowledge, management theory and practice.