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  • 1.  Research validation of the relationship between $ investment in professional development/training and employee retention/engagement?

    Posted 08-16-2018 17:02
    Hello MED Community,

    Could somebody please direct me to any academic research studies on the AOM website that validate the relationship between $ investment in professional development/training and employee retention/engagement? When I searched, it came back with "0 results".

    Thank you.
    Robert David
    robertdavid@berkeley.edu

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    Robert David
    University of California Berkeley
    Berkeley CA
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  • 2.  RE: Research validation of the relationship between $ investment in professional development/training and employee retention/engagement?

    Posted 08-17-2018 09:36
      |   view attached
    Dear Robert,

    My colleague Paul Donovan does research in this area. I am attaching his chapter on the subject.
    If you are interested in connecting to him, his email is Paul.Donovan@mu.ie

    Regards,
    Olga

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    Olga Ryazanova
    Maynooth University
    Maynooth
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    Attachment(s)



  • 3.  RE: Research validation of the relationship between $ investment in professional development/training and employee retention/engagement?

    Posted 08-24-2018 17:20
    Hi Robert, 

    The best source for information on training and development expenditures is the Association for Talent Development's (ATD) annual State of the Industry report. It is free to ATD members, but otherwise costs about $100. If you don't belong to the group (I have for many years), you might see if a friend can access a copy. Unfortunately, they do not correlate training with employee engagement. 

    A study I did with Robert Cooke in 2005 looked at the correlation between investment in organizational culture and business performance. That's parallel to what you are studying, but may still be useful. Here's a link to it: Sanders, E.J. & Cooke, R.A.. Financial Returns from Organizational Culture Improvement: Translating "Soft" Changes into "Hard" Dollars. Presented at the ASTD Expo in Orlando, FL, June 6, 2005.

    Mahesh Subramony of Northern Illinois University has done extensive research on investment in employees and firm performance. You might check with him on possible more direct sources. Here's a citation of one of is related articles: Subramony, M. (2009). A meta-analytic investigation of the relationship between HRM bundles and firm performance. Human Resource Management, 48(5), 745-768.

    Last, but not least, as you know, Gallup publishes lots of short studies on their website regarding employee engagement. Unfortunately, they don't have much on the direct link between it and investment in training and development. 

    This topic interest me too, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with. Good luck in your ongoing research! 



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    Eric J. Sanders, Ph.D.
    Loyola University Chicago (Adjunct)
    Marquette University (Adjunct)
    Organization Development Economist (Principal)
    +1 (630) 290-8097
    eric.sanders@ODeconomist.com

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  • 4.  RE: Research validation of the relationship between $ investment in professional development/training and employee retention/engagement?

    Posted 08-25-2018 16:05
      |   view attached
    You may increase your understanding of this challenge question by reviewing what Peter Capelli wrote in this paper:
    WHY DO EMPLOYERS PAY FOR COLLEGE?
    Peter Cappelli
    Working Paper 9225
    Why Do Employers Pay For College?
    NBER remove preview
    Why Do Employers Pay For College?
    Employers routinely provide financial support for their employees who pursue post-secondary education despite the fact that it represents perhaps the classic example of a general skill' that costs the employer money and raises the market wages of employees who possess it.
    View this on NBER >
     


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    Larry Starr
    Director, Doctoral Studies in Strategic Leadership
    Thomas Jefferson University
    Philadelphia PA
    Lawrence.Starr@Jefferson.edu
    (215) 951-5332
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    Attachment(s)