Training is regarded as a routine strategy or a flexible learning process. In the public sector, training, as an important component of human resource management strategy, can not only assist employees to understand the... [ view full abstract ]
Training is regarded as a routine strategy or a flexible learning process. In the public sector, training, as an important component of human resource management strategy, can not only assist employees to understand the organizational value, job requirements and their own obligations, but also help employees to deliver better service by enhancing the level of knowledge and skills. Therefore, training is important for employees to improve competencies and contribute to better organizational performance. Previous studies have claimed that training correlates with job satisfaction, organizational commitment, turnover intention and performance. Given that researches for training effect are still in an early stage, the joint effects of training and other job and organizational characteristics on job attitudes are valuable, but remained unanswered.
This study aims to investigate the moderating effects of training on job attitudes in the public sector. First, this study uses training availability and training quality to present different training hypotheses. Then, role conflict, role ambiguity and organizational red tape are connected with two training variables to test the moderating effects on job satisfaction and normative commitment. Drawing on social exchange theory, the study hypothesizes that both training availability and training quality moderate the effects of role ambiguity, role conflict and organizational red tape on job satisfaction and normative commitment, respectively. All the effects will be weaker for the employees who perceive a higher level of training availability and training quality.
To test these hypotheses, this study employs a self-administrated survey in China’s local governments with a sample of N=810. A group of controls (i.e., task significance, job variety, professional commitment, pay satisfaction, and demographics) and Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) are used for data analysis. The study finds that training quality moderates the effects of role ambiguity and red tape on job satisfaction and normative commitment, as expected. Similarly, training quality can slightly reduce the negative effects of role conflict on normative commitment. Yet, training availability only moderates the effects of role ambiguity on job satisfaction, which partially supports the hypothesis. This study expands our understanding of training by testing the moderating effects of it. It also adds value to job attitudes literature by clarifying the interaction associations among training, job and organizational characteristics, and job attitudes. By expanding the researches for job satisfaction and normative commitment, the study suggests a broader sense of the interactive role of training and implies that training can make a difference in the public sector. Thereby, this study can help public managers to develop strategic efforts to deal with training to achieve a higher level of job attitudes and better performance.
