Search results

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships of technical training and the peer effects of technical training with farmers' pesticide use behaviors.

This study uses survey data from 300 peanut growers in Zoucheng County, Shandong, China, in 2016 and employs spatial econometric models to examine the relationships of technical training and the peer effects of technical training with farmers' pesticide use behaviors.

This paper reveals that important peer effects can be channeled through technical training and that these peer effects are sufficiently significant to encourage neighboring farmers to reduce the amount of pesticide use, to transform the structure of pesticide use, and to increase the usage amount of low-toxicity, low-residue pesticide use per hectare. The estimated parameters for the peer effects from technical training are significantly larger than those from technical training alone, which suggests that the technical training of neighboring farmers plays a greater role than technical training for farmers individually.

The research finds that technical training within smaller, localized, groups can induce previously unobservable spillover effects, and this provides a scientific, theoretical and empirical justification for agricultural technology extension that can lead to a rapid, effective transformation of applying new agricultural technologies in an environmentally sensitive and economically sustainable manner.

Previous research on the use of behaviour modelling techniques for training in industry have shown it to be generally effective. Further, more specific work has suggested that effectiveness might be improved by the use of techniques (symbolic coding and rehearsal) designed to improve trainees’ retention processes. This study examined the use of symbolic coding (learning points) and rehearsal techniques in behaviour modelling training. The data were derived from a field experiment conducted in a UK financial services organisation. Although, as expected, the behaviour modelling approach did produce effective learning the results showed that, contrary to hypotheses, variations in symbolic coding (different learning points conditions) and rehearsal did not influence training outcomes.

The world of work is changing rapidly as a result of technology, with more workers being impacted by automation, the gig economy and temporary work contracts. This study focusses on how employees perceive their disruption knowledge and how this perception impacts their career planning, career satisfaction and training behaviors.

The authors use data from 1,516 employees across a broad range of industries and professions from the United States (n = 505), New Zealand (n = 505) and Australia (n = 506).

The authors find that an employee's knowledge and research into automation positively influence how employees plan their careers, their career satisfaction and their training behaviors. While career planning is positively related to career satisfaction and training behavior, career satisfaction is negatively related to training behaviors. The authors test mediation effects and find consistently significant indirect effects, and these findings are all largely replicated across the three countries.

This study highlights the importance of understanding the processes that employees go through when thinking about disruption knowledge, their careers and the impact on their training behaviors.

In this study of 815 military personnel, the purpose of this paper is to examine how perceived leader behaviors are related to trainee perceptions of leader training priorities and to trainee priority for training, and whether trainee motivation to transfer of training moderated the relationship between trainee perceptions and trainee priority for training.

Participants who were experienced job incumbents responded to a survey related to foreign language usage, training, and policy.

When leaders showed support for training through their actions, trainees were more likely to perceive their leaders as placing a higher priority on training. Leader behaviors predicted trainee priority to train, because trainees believed their leaders set a higher priority for training. The leader behaviors that were important for trainees’ priority to train were discretionary behaviors, not those leader behaviors mandated by the organization. Trainee perceptions of leader priority were more positively predictive of trainees’ priority to train for trainees with less motivation to transfer of training.

Supervisor support is an important predictor of training outcomes. The authors expand this literature by focussing on the signals that leaders send to their subordinates regarding training priority. Leaders who exhibited discretionary behaviors in support of training appeared to create an environment in which trainees placed greater importance on training. Organizations need to be aware that mandating training activities might not be as important as encouraging leaders to place value on discretionary activities.

Prior research suggests both formal and informal norms influence employee behavior. While increased training is a typical recommendation to strengthen formal norms by increasing adherence to organizational codes of conduct, and therefore improve ethical behavior, there is little empirical evidence that code training actually strengthens formal norms or improves ethics-related behavior. Conversely, prior observations of unethical behavior serve as strong indicators of informal norms. These observations may be unknown to management and therefore difficult to moderate using other means, including with training on a code.

We test the impact of prior observations of unethical behavior and training for a code of conduct on intentions to report unethical behavior in the future, as well as possible mediators of these relationships. We find some support that training on the code increases intention to report and strong support for the notion that prior observations of unethical behavior decrease intentions to report. Responsibility to report and norms against whistle-blowing both mediate the prior observation-to-reporting intentions relationship, but not the training-to-reporting intentions relationship. An interesting by-product of training seems to be that, by increasing awareness of unethical behavior, and therefore the salience of prior observation, training may have indirectly influenced intentions in the opposite direction intended.

Neuropsychologically informed rehabilitation (NIR) is one approach to supporting people with intellectual disabilities, cognitive impairment and challenging behaviour. This study aims to evaluate a five-day training course in NIR for staff working with adult male offenders with intellectual disabilities in a high secure hospital. The impacts on both the staff who undertook the training and the patients with challenging behaviour were explored.

Participants were psychology, nursing and day services staff and male patients. The staff completed a post-training questionnaire and three measures at pre-NIR training, post-NIR training and one-year follow-up. Patients completed four questionnaire measures within the same periods.

NIR training was positively evaluated by staff. Staff members’ perceived efficacy in working with challenging behaviour significantly increased post-training which was maintained at follow-up. Thematic analysis showed that the training staff members built their confidence, knowledge and skills. Because of these being high to start with, the study could not evidence statistically significant changes in these. Thematic analysis yielded two main themes, namely, benefits and quality of training, each with their own subthemes. The impacts of the training on patients were difficult to assess related to various factors.

The knowledge and confidence measures used were limited in scope with an experienced staff group and required development.

NIR training could assist staff in other secure and community settings in working with people with intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviours.

This study positively contributes to an area that requires more research.

The purpose of this paper is to explicate and test an intention-based model to explain transfer of training behavior. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) is utilized to examine the role of transfer intention in the transfer of training process.

A sample of 132 construction practitioners in Hong Kong was adopted. All measurement and structural models were assessed with structural equation modeling.

Results showed that the three antecedents positively affected transfer intention, while perceived behavioral control and transfer intention affected transfer behavior positively. Moreover, a post hoc analysis supported the mediating role of transfer intention in the relationship between the antecedents and transfer behavior.

Confirmation of the mediating role of intention has ascertained that it should be the core of a transfer of training model. To strengthen the transfer behavior, one has to find ways to increase the intention to transfer.

This paper examined an intention-based model of transfer of training based on the TPB. The latter has rarely been applied to the prediction of transfer behavior.

This study aims to identify effective behaviors in labor-management negotiation (LMN) and, on that basis, derive overarching psychological principles of successful negotiation in this important context. These empirical findings are used to develop and test a comprehensive negotiation training program.

Twenty-seven practitioners from one of the world’s largest labor unions were interviewed to identify the requirements of effective LMN, resulting in 796 descriptions of single behaviors from 41 negotiation cases.

The analyses revealed 13 categories of behaviors critical to negotiation success. The findings highlight the pivotal role of the union negotiator by illustrating how they lead the negotiations with the other party while also ensuring that their own team and the workforce stand united. To provide guidance for effective LMN, six psychological principles were derived from these behavioral categories. The paper describes a six-day training program developed for LMN based on the empirical findings of this study and the related six principles.

This paper has three unique features: first, it examines the requirements for effective LMN based on a systematic needs assessment. Second, by teaching not only knowledge and skills but also general psychological principles of successful negotiation, the training intervention is aimed at promoting long-term behavioral change. Third, the research presents a comprehensive and empirically-based training program for LMN.

This paper aims to investigate whether leaders whose transformational leadership behavior improves after training exhibit different psychological reactions compared to leaders whose leadership behavior does not improve.

The authors followed 56 leaders taking part in a transformational leadership training program. Questionnaire measures of leaders’ self-efficacy, positive affect, perspective taking, and transformational leadership behavior were obtained pre- and post-training.

Leaders whose self-efficacy, perspective taking and positive affect increased over the training period also reported improvements in their transformational leadership behavior. In addition, leaders whose positive affect increased were more likely to receive improved transformational leadership behavior ratings from their supervisors, team members and peers.

The study supports the proposition, derived from social cognitive theory that change in transformational leadership behavior is related to change in leaders’ psychological attributes. Further research is required to establish the direction of this relationship and whether leaders’ psychological reactions represent a means through which the effectiveness of leadership interventions can be improved.

Leaders’ psychological reactions should be monitored and supported during developmental interventions. Effective leadership training interventions are important not only to achieve change in behavior, but to avoid negative psychological outcomes for leaders.

The study is unusual because it explores the relationship between leader attributes and leadership behavior longitudinally, in a training context. The longitudinal analysis, focussing on change in leaders’ psychological attributes, allowed us to explain more variance in leaders’ reactions to training.