Training and organizational performance: a meta-analysis of temporal, institutional and organizational context moderators

Drawing on systems theory, we conducted a moderated meta-analysis of the training and organizational performance relationship using 119 primary studies. We examined the moderating effects of quality versus quantity of training, time, institutional, and organizational context factors in the relationship between training and organizational performance. Our findings reveal that training is positively and directly related to organizational performance with no statistically significant difference between measures of training quality and quantity. We found that the relationship was stronger over time and that country performance orientation and country labor cost moderate the training and organizational performance relationship. We found no evidence for the moderating effects of the three organizational context moderators we examined (i.e., industry sector, organizational size and technology intensity). Finally, our results reveal that training type (i.e., general or firm-specific) does not moderate the training and organizational performance relationship.