Impact of Employee Training Practices on Employee Engagement in Information Technology sector – Moderating role of Organization Culture

Employee Training Practices; Employee Engagement; Organizational Culture; Moderation Effect; Information Technology Sector; Learning Transfer; Training Effectiveness; Human Resource Development

Purpose: This study aims to test how training practices in employees can influence employee engagement in the Information Technology (IT) industry and explore whether the organizational culture can be used to improve on the relationship. The research aims at knowing whether organizational culture contributes to the effectiveness of training programs in promoting employee engagement or not.

Methods: The research design that was used is a quantitative, cross-sectional design. The primary data were gathered through a structured questionnaire based on the parameters of training practices (training session, training content, training expertise, and learning transfer), employee engagement, and organizational culture (n=134 IT employees). Direct and moderating relationships were tested using descriptive statistics, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), and hierarchical regression analysis. To evaluate the moderation effect, an interaction term was used (Training × Organizational Culture).

Findings: The findings are that training practices are significantly positive in terms of employee engagement. Training sessions and expertise of the trainers portrayed the most significant effects among the training dimensions. Organizational culture was found to have a direct positive effect on employee engagement and also moderately affected the training engagement relationship. The positive interaction effect proves the fact that the effect of training on engagement is more evident in the organizations with supportive and development-oriented cultures.

Implications: The results indicate that training programs should be correlated with an effective organizational culture in organizations especially in IT sector to achieve the highest degree of engagement success. In order to increase HR development practices, the managers should strive not only to enhance the training quality but also to create a collaborative, supportive and learning-focused work environment.

Novelty: The given study makes a contribution to the current body of literature since the researcher empirically verifies the mediating effect of organizational culture on the training-engagement relationship in the IT sphere, which has never been addressed extensively in the literature. It builds up on precedent by proving that organizational culture enhances the positive impact of training on employee engagement.