Content area
Full Text
The problem and the solution. Holton proposed the HRD Evaluation and Research Model as a comprehensive framework for diagnosing and understanding the causal influences of HRD intervention outcomes. Unfortunately, a full test of Holton's model has not been possible because tools to measure the constructs in the model did not exist. This article reviews recent studies relevant to the constructs in Holton's model and updates it by delineating specific constructs that should be measured in each of the conceptual categories proposed.
Keywords: HRD evaluation; evaluation models; HRD outcomes; HRD theory; Learning Transfer System Inventory; LTSI
Holton (1996) sharply criticized Kirkpatrick's (1959) four-level evaluation model and proposed the HRD Evaluation and Research Model as a more comprehensive framework for diagnosing and understanding the causal influences of HRD intervention outcomes. The original model (see Figure 1) was theoretically derived and more conceptually comprehensive than Kirkpatrick's simple four-level taxonomy. Three outcome levels are hypothesized in the model: learning, individual performance, and organizational performance. Following Noe and Schmitt (1986), the macrostructure of that model hypothesizes that HRD outcomes are a function of factors in three construct domains: ability, motivation, and environmental influences. The model further specified conceptual constructs in each domain that are hypothesized to influence each of the three outcome levels. secondary influences are also included, particularly those that affect motivation to learn.
The model addressed one of the biggest risks of the four-level model, specifically, that any failure to achieve outcomes from an intervention would be attributed to the intervention itself when it could well be due to moderating variables. Perhaps the best example of this is the situation that arises when learning outcomes (level 2) from a training intervention are positive but no on-the-job behavior change occurs (level 3) because the transfer climate is poor. Unless the transfer climate is evaluated, the decision derived from the four-level model would be that the training intervention had failed and needed to be changed. The correct evaluation decision derived from the Holton model would be that the training intervention did not need to be changed but the organization did not have the transfer climate to support it, so an organization development intervention would be needed.
Unfortunately, a full test of my model has not been possible because...