Past studies using Expectancy Theory have often treated intrinsic motivation to transfer as stable and measured at a single point in time, overlooking its evolution during the transfer process. This study investigated how trainees experienced motivation to transfer soft skills training in Malaysia. Guided by an interpretive qualitative paradigm, we recruited 23 participants from the manufacturing and services sectors, using convenience and snowball techniques. Trustworthiness was established through member checking, iterative analysis, reflexivity, and audit trails. We found that participants perceived their work environments to have both inducements and impediments, creating tensions that undermined transfer efforts. Although they reported positive expectancies, specific environmental impediments arose at each stage of the training transfer timeline, leading to adverse transfer outcomes. Based on these findings, we developed a process model of transfer demotivation, mapping it along the training transfer timeline. With this model, we have extended Expectancy Theory by uncovering how social and structural tensions hinder the alignment of expectancy, instrumentality, and valence across the transfer timeline. These insights underscore the importance for human resource development practitioners to address workplace conditions that hinder the transfer of soft skills at various stages of transfer, not just individual motivation.

Technology and its applications have had a significant impact on human resource development (HRD), and they will continue to do so at an ever-increasing speed. We used our a priori opinions and experiences to identify application areas. We then searched, within each of our identified areas to find published sources, including journals, blogs, and websites, to describe the application areas that have impacted, and will impact, HRD. Areas identified and described include authoring, performance management and coaching, personalisation and continuous learning, analytic metrics, robotic continuous improvement, employee engagement and autonomy, employee wellbeing and life balance, attrition reduction, simulations, digital dialogues, communities of practice, credentialing, soft skills development, and ethics. Given the extensive impact on HRD, practitioners must be ahead of the wave of change. Further, academic programs must assess their curricula and make modifications so graduates of their programs will be well prepared to meet the demands of the marketplace. While a critique of these applications of digitalisation and AI is important, that is not the purpose of our article; we limited ourselves to describing the applications only.

Purpose Qualitative paradigmatic perspectives are increasingly recognized as providing in-depth, rich and nuanced interpretations and critiques of complex phenomena. Nonetheless, positivist and post-positivist epistemologies still dominate social science disciplines. The authors were unable to identify published information on the state of qualitative research in human resource development (HRD) despite the numerous theoretical foundations, epistemological stances and global approaches that shape HRD. To fill this gap, this study determined the prevalence of qualitative designs, data collection methods and data analysis techniques that have been used in Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD)-sponsored journals. This study identified gaps in the use of qualitative research to be explored by HRD scholars to advance research and practice. Design/methodology/approach A descriptive case study approach was used to determine the state of qualitative research in three AHRD-sponsored journals. Findings Qualitative articles have increased in number but still account for a lower percentage of articles when compared with other peer-reviewed articles, including quantitative methodologies and conceptual papers. Most articles lacked grounding in stated ontology and epistemology needed to guide researchers’ investigations, potentially leading to weakened methodological choices, interpretations and authenticity of conclusions. Research limitations/implications To provide in-depth understanding of HRD-related phenomena, all important elements of qualitative articles should be addressed to strengthen the credibility and authenticity of the research process. Qualitative theorists and researchers can build on and embrace the soundness of qualitative research and theories in HRD. Expanding on the credibility and authenticity of rigorously conducted qualitative research will help to broaden the perspectives of researchers who may be hesitant to explore this methodology of inquiry. This will strengthen methodological sophistication and expand the knowledge base of qualitative research. Practical implications HRD professors/instructors will find this study to be a useful guide for graduate students who are exploring and using qualitative inquiry for their research and for understanding others’ research. Practitioners will also find it useful to understand HRD research to determine possible interventions in their workplaces. Originality/value This study identifies trends and patterns of epistemologies and methods used in HRD qualitative articles and provides a foundation on which to build future studies and establish unexplored, unconventional qualitative methodologies and methods.

The European Commission will reinforce the value of adult training through an evaluation of the impact of actions. Among the existing options in evaluating the impact of actions, training transfer is crucial in determining the degree to which the learning acquired during training is used at work. We validated a predicting transfer model in the Spanish Public Administration (SPA) by analyzing, through structural equation modeling (SEM), results of the application of the Factors for Predicting Transfer (FPT) questionnaire applied after the training, and the Scale of Efficacy (CdE) applied four months after the training (n = 726). Although satisfaction and motivation to transfer were not related to transfer, content relevance and accountability were. This study widens the traditional contexts of the study of training transfer and provides valid and reliable empirical data on transfer embedded in a new context, the Spanish Public Administration. This can help further develop the field of international human resource management (IHRM) by exploring transfer in different cultural contexts.

Purpose India is one of the fastest developing economies, but it faces numerous socioeconomic problems, such as hunger, poverty, under- and unemployment, gender inequity and illiteracy. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) funding at the corporate level could tackle these socioeconomic problems, providing support to the nation’s overall development. Mandated CSR expenditures, in alignment with the achievement of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, would support the nation’s contributions to building a sustainable future. Several questions, however, remain. Thus, this study aims to explore relationships between a company’s gross and net profits and its expenditures for CSR; and mapped the specific CSR activities used to address each of the 17 UN SDGs and then draw implications for human resource development (HRD). Design/methodology/approach The data were gathered from published annual reports (2019–23) of 60 Fortune 500 Indian companies. A zero-order correlation was used to find the relationship between CSR expenditure and gross, as well as net, profits. Furthermore, the CSR activities of the sample were mapped with the UN SDGs. Findings There was a positive, moderate to strong correlation between CSR expenditures and gross profit ( r = 0.82, p < 0.01), but for net profit, the correlation was strong ( r = 0.85, p < 0.01). All CSR activities mapped to at least one of the SDGs. Originality/value The alignment of CSR activities and SDGs based on Fortune 500 Indian companies has not yet been explored. Also, no study to date discusses the gaps in the CSR expenditures for specific UN SDGs.

The COVID‐19 pandemic and the consequent lockdowns were flashpoints that exposed the vulnerabilities of low‐skilled interstate migrants that have persisted for years across the globe and demanded a critical examination of their work experiences and conditions. Unlike migrants who cross national borders for employment and economic reasons, internal migrants migrate within the country in search of better livelihood options. However, while the problems of low‐skilled immigrants who cross national borders attract research attention, the experiences of internal migrants have not been adequately researched. Using critical realism as a framework, we investigated the precarious working conditions of one of India's most vulnerable groups of workers—interstate migrant workers. Our findings showed that, despite short‐term positive outcomes, interstate migration does not guarantee freedom from poverty, precarity, or powerlessness. The conspicuous absence of formal opportunities to develop their potential reiterates their status as a marginalized, forgotten, and exploited group of workers, also neglected by human resource development (HRD) researchers. HRD has a critical role to play in the short term by providing skill training and in the long term by advocating for policy changes to ensure the well‐being and empowerment of migrant workers.

Leisure and work are often thought of as independent parts of life. While leisure has the potential of contributing to HRD and vice versa, it has received limited attention in HRD. Therefore, in this study, we used an integrative literature review to explore how leisure can contribute to HRD and become an HRD intervention. To search the literature, we used keywords relating to leisure, work, and HRD. One among several leisure types found was serious leisure. Serious leisure requires engagement in the activity with a sense of self-development. The results from serious leisure could include knowledge and skill development, which might not be related directly to short-term work performance improvement. Despite this, it allows for intrinsically sustainable self-development. Such self-development can yield positive results in every element of life, including work. To facilitate serious leisure as an HRD intervention, practitioners and policymakers need to eliminate leisure constraints.

Conceptualization of national human resource development (NHRD) emphasizes that it is an ongoing development process of the individual that is shaped by context. However, the extant literature has focused primarily on describing and evaluating NHRD policies and interventions in different countries with limited consideration of NHRD across the lifespan and the interaction of life stage with context. Using ecological systems theory (EST) and a lifespan development perspective (LDP), we present a systematic review of the NHRD literature based on 310 sources. We identify key themes and gaps in research across the lifespan and at distinct levels of the ecological system. We build on this review to suggest future research informed by both EST and an LDP. We propose a future research agenda focused on several key areas, including: the developing individual as the primary focus of NHRD; the dynamic relationship between NHRD microsystems and how this evolves over time; the exosystem and macrosystem, which provide the context of the NHRD development experience for the individual over their lifespan; and the imperatives of directing research attention to top-down and bottom-up influences within the ecological system. We also propose three methodological innovations to address many of the questions raised by our review, drawing on national archive databases, the use of historical methods and a focus on longitudinal data analysis. Finally, we highlight the practical implications of our analysis for ecosystem and microsystem NHRD actors.

Purpose This paper aims to conceptualize and discuss empathic organizational culture and leadership along with organizational implications. Design/methodology/approach The authors reviewed literature to conceptualize empathic organizational culture and leadership. They referred to Hofstede’s organizational culture concept and studies on empathy to explore how leader–follower relationships are influenced by a leader’s empathic disposition. Findings Organizational leadership is instrumental in shaping employee performance. While work design, culture, peer support and resource accessibility are discernible, leadership style, control and others are covert. Leaders’ empathic attitudes and dispositions can positively influence organizational functions for improved performance. This review suggests that organizational culture should support growth, proper functioning and effective coordination between employees for improved organizational effectiveness. Research limitations/implications The authors conducted searches in leadership and management journals to help conceptualize leaders’ empathic disposition. Future researchers may explore other bodies of literature and the cultural demographic differences in exhibiting empathic leadership and its effectiveness. Researchers can explore how empathic culture relates to job motivation, satisfaction and commitment. The authors suggest that future research may explore how employees’ and supervisors’ behaviors and interactions can create an empathic organizational culture. Practical implications The authors identify the characteristics in an empathic leader to articulate the role of empathy in leadership. Alignment between person, group norms and organizational values is more important than the existence of culture. Originality/value Empathy is studied by researchers from various disciplines. Similarly, employee well-being has received attention from organizational researchers from many fields. However, researchers have given inadequate attention to conceptualizing an empathic organizational culture and its interrelationship with leadership. The authors offer a more positive perspective to the leader-member exchange (LMX) research by describing how leaders can sustain positive relationships with employees rather than the purely transactional exchanges that characterize LMX.

We evaluated the effects of an action research intervention thirteen years after its initial implementation in the Lumpaya Community in Thailand. Through a longitudinal process, we determined if the positive results found five years after the initial research team conducted its intervention continued eight years after the first evaluation. Two group interviews were conducted with seven committee members of the Lumpaya floating market who were major players in the project thirteen years previously. Observation was also used with a tour of the community. The process used in the initial project was continuing and had been strengthened, including continuing collaboration of community members, the use of action research, the extension of partnerships with other communities, and the use of advanced technologies. The initial implementation had produced positive long-term changes and had led to sustainable development. Human resource development (HRD) had tremendous value for the community when using action research to promote community HRD (CHRD) and social HRD (SHRD) growth.

In this study, we analyzed transfer, as measured by different instruments, and its relation to some of the factors that have been related to transfer in a Canadian transportation organization. Transfer was measured cross-sectionally through the application of three scales to short-distance truck drivers. Transfer was perceived as higher when a general rather than a specific transfer instrument was applied, implying that the choice of instrument could influence the results. This highlights the relevance of instrument selection in the design of studies. Additionally, while correlations between satisfaction with the training, content relevance and motivation to transfer and transfer differed with different instruments, the correlation between accountability and transfer did not. Contrary to the trend of using a single measure of transfer, this study provides empirical evidence of the transfer construct as measured through different instruments. This evidence can be useful in research methods on training transfer to understand better the construct and its operationalization. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Empowerment has been extensively studied in the nursing field, and, in recent years, management has shown increasing attention. However, critics have raised an important issue about whether the effectiveness of empowerment practices in organizations depends on employees’ perceptions and their organizational contexts. In this article, we address this critique by: 1) assessing the discrepancies between perceived experiences and expectations of contextual empowerment, 2) examining the effect of the discrepancies between perceived experiences and expectations of contextual empowerment on psychological empowerment, in four-star hotels in Thailand. The contextual empowerment instrument, along with the psychological empowerment measurement, were tested for their psychometric properties and confirmed using factor analysis. Structural equation modelling was then performed to test the hypothesized model. The findings contribute to human resource development as we believe that this study responds to the recent call for addressing discrepancies between perceived experiences and expectations of contextual empowerment with an enlarging understanding of how these discrepancies affect psychological empowerment.