“It’s just a matter of culture”: an explorative study on the relationship between training transfer and work performance

Purpose The purpose of the study was to explore the moderating role of organizational learning culture in the relationship between training transfer and work performance. Design/methodology/approach A convenience group of 164 workers filled in an online questionnaire based on retrospective data about the last training experience they attended. Participants were 87 workers who attended an online course within the last six months. A moderated path analysis was tested to highlight the moderating role of learning culture in the relationships between training transfer and three dimensions of work performance (i.e. proficiency, adaptivity and proactivity), controlling for gender, age, training contents and length. Findings Training transfer and learning culture were positively related to each dimension of work performance. Learning culture showed a significant moderation effect in the relationship between training transfer and each dimension of work performance, namely proficiency, adaptivity and proactivity. Originality/value The study highlighted the role of organizational learning culture in influencing the process of training transfer: culture was proved to be associated not only with proficiency, adaptivity and proactivity but also to contribute creating the positive conditions that may allow training transfer.