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SUMMARY
The first objective of the present research is to study the association between
human resources training and organizational performance. The concept of human
resources training, as considered in this study, includes two dimensions: intensity and
incidence of training, respectively measured by the proportion of wage bills spent on
training and the proportion of employees trained. The dimensions of organizational
performance considered are the productivity and the financial profit. The second
objective of this research is to study the moderating effect of the turnover in the
relationship between training and organizational performance.
The data in the present study were collected by Jalette (1998) during his
doctoral studies. This data contain information collected from the Federation of
Desjardins establishments from Montreal and West of Quebec. A total of 288
establishments were considered for this study. Regression analyses were conducted to
verify if each of our dimensions of training has an effect on each dimension of
organizational performance. We also tested, with four regression analyses, the
presence of a moderating effect of turnover in the relationship between human
resources training and organizational performance.
The results of the present study indicate that the examined relations are more
complex than they initially seemed to be. First of all, the effect of training on
organizational performance was not significant or was contrary to our expectations.
On the contrary, a significant moderating effect of turnover was identified in three
regressions. In fact, the negative relation between intensity of training and financial
profit is less pronounced in an environment where turnover is high compared to an
environment where turnover is low. Also, in an environment where turnover is high,
the relation between incidence of training and productivity is positive but it is
negative in an environment where turnover is low. These two moderating effects are
in the opposite direction than what we expected. However, our eighth hypothesis was
verified : in an environment where turnover is high, the relation between incidence of