Motivation to transfer: linking perceived organizational support to training to personal goals

The central issue we address concerns the conditions under which an employee participating in a training programme outside of the organization is likely to transfer his or her learning outcomes to the organization. More specifically, we will look at how some organizational factors (in particular perceived organizational support of training) may interact with certain individual factors (in particular employee’s personal goals) in impacting the employee’s motivation to transfer (Study 1), and how adults perceive their own motivation to transfer, and the possible impact of perceived organizational support on their motivation to transfer (Study 2). To this end, a first qualitative study (Study 1) was conducted with 20 adults at the University of Geneva and another qualitative study (Study 2) was conducted later on with another set of 18 adults, attending the same programme. Findings of Study 1 suggest that individual factors (personal goals) do interact with organizational factors (perceived organizational support of training). Thus, the effect of perceived organizational support of training is not mechanical, but seems to depend on the nature of the employee’s personal goals. Findings of Study 2 give insight into learners’ perceptions of motivation to transfer, and highlights some possible avenues for further investigation as interviewees indicate reasons (beyond personal goals) that keep them motivated to transfer. As a conclusion, Study 1 shows the relevance of studying the joint role of both individual and organizational factors in the motivation to transfer by raising awareness for this kind of interaction, and exploring possible ways those factors may interact, whereas Study 2 reports the interviewees’ perceptions about motivation to transfer, as well as their views on how organizational support of training would affect their motivation.