Does rater job position matter in training needs assessment? A study of municipal employees in the USA

Organizational investments in employee training and development have steadily increased over the past decade. Yet, training needs assessment (TNA) remains an understudied topic in the training literature. This study used a large sample of municipal employees in the USA to examine the effects of rate...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational journal of training and development Vol. 24; no. 4; pp. 337 - 356
Main Authors Cigularov, Konstantin P., Dillulio, Phillip
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford Wiley 01.12.2020
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Subjects
Educational Needs
Government Employees
Municipal employees
Needs analysis
Needs Assessment
Self Evaluation (Individuals)
Supervisors
Training
United States > US
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Summary:Organizational investments in employee training and development have steadily increased over the past decade. Yet, training needs assessment (TNA) remains an understudied topic in the training literature. This study used a large sample of municipal employees in the USA to examine the effects of rater and their job/organizational position on TNA ratings. Results indicated that supervisors tended to rate their own training needs higher than how non‐supervisors rated their supervisors’ training needs. The opposite was found for non‐supervisor self‐ratings – they tended to be lower than the supervisors’ ratings of their subordinates. We also found initial validity evidence for inferences made from TNA self‐ratings of managerial competencies, which distinguished between employees in supervisory and non‐supervisory positions. Practical and theoretical implications, as well as study limitations and directions for future research, are discussed.
ISSN:1360-3736
1468-2419
DOI:10.1111/ijtd.12200