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The aim of this study was to assess how training motivation in terms of the expectation of gaining valued outcomes (i.e. motivation through expectation) and motivation to learn explains participation in training and development. Direct, mediator, and moderated explanations were tested. Survey data were gathered at Time 1 and a year later at Time 2, providing a longitudinal sample of 1705 Australians. Multiple regression analyses showed that, the higher the training motivation (both types), the more employees participated in training and development in the next 12 months, as they also did from higher supervisor support. Training motivation did not mediate the effects of the work environment on participation but moderated the prediction by employer support. Employer support predicted participation in training and development in the next 12 months more for employees with higher than lower training motivation. Motivation to learn and motivation through expectation, chiefly instrumentality, similarly explained participation in training and development.
Training assists employees, as shown by reviews, by increasing their skills (Gritz, 1993), wages (Mangum, Mangum, & Hansen, 1990), and career advancement (Tharenou, 1997a). Recent studies have explained participation in training chiefly at organizational level from structural and job variables (e.g. establishment characteristics, work practices) and employee demographics (e.g. Clarke & Metalina, 2000; Frazis, Gittleman, & Joyce, 2000; Green, Machin, & Wilkinson, 1999; Whitfield, 2000). Yet reviewers suggest that how motivated individuals are towards training should also influence their participation (Ford & Noe, 1992; Noe, Wilk, Mullen, & Wanek, 1997). Scholars advocate that the expectation of gaining valued benefits from training is an important precursor to participation (Dubin, 1990; Farr & Middlebrooks, 1990; Ford & Noe, 1992; Noe et al., 1997; Salas, Cannon-Bowers, Rhodenizer, & Bowers, 1999), and more than the traditional measure of motivation to learn (Mathieu & Martineau, 1997). The aim of this study is to examine how training motivation, both as motivation through expectation and motivation to learn, explains participation in training and development.
Mathieu and Martineau (1997) classified pre-training motivation into three types: motivation to learn, self-efficacy, and valence-instrumentality-expectancy beliefs (i.e. motivation through expectation). Noe and Schmitt (1986) defined motivation to learn as a specific desire on the part of the trainee to learn the content of a training programme. They proposed that motivation to learn should...