6. THE ROLE OF NATIONAL CULTURE IN ENHANCING TRAINING EFFECTIVENESS: A FRAMEWORK

The focus of global training has primarily been on preparing employees to work effectively in other cultures, such as in expatriate training, acculturation training, and training for technology transfer. One issue that has been ignored is the implication of using training systems that are developed in a specific cultural context and then deployed globally. This chapter proposes a framework to show the influence of culture on one aspect of training effectiveness, the transfer of newly learned skills to the job. Specific relationships are proposed, using Baldwin and Ford’s (1988) transfer of training framework as a guide, and also by synthesizing findings from areas such as cross-cultural psychology, human resource management, education, and technology management.