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HUMAN RESOURCES

DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

Working Paper 2006-Clardy-01

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Transfer of Training:

Literature Review

Alan Clardy

Towson University

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September 16, 2006

Transfer of Training: Literature Review

Formal employee training typically involves learning new knowledge, skills, attitudes or other characteristics in one environment (the training situation) that can be applied or used in another environment (the performance situation) (Goldstein and Ford, 2002). Presumably, what was learned in training should be applied to performance on the job. However, a common experience is that learning from a formal training program is not carried back for application on the job. In their study of sales training at Xerox, Rackman and Ruff (1991) reported there was an 87% of loss of skills within one month of the completion of the training. Baldwin and Ford (1988) note some estimates that suggest only 10% of training outcomes are transferred back to the job. With reported annual training investments exceeding $50 billion in the United States (Industry Report, 2000), the amount of dollars wasted by non transfer can be staggering.

The issue of carry-over from training to the performance situation is referred to as the problem of the “transfer of training.” Baldwin and Ford (1988) define the positive transfer of training "as the degree to which trainees effectively apply the knowledge, skills and attitudes gained in a training context to the job" (p. 63). This basic definition has been elaborated in two related ways. First, there can be transfer to “near” situations (similar to the training conditions) and/or to “far,” dissimilar situations (Laker, 1990). A second...