Factors that influence transfer of management training in small and medium enterprises in Kenya

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which trainees perceived management training had transferred to their jobs and identify and identify factors that influenced transfer of training using Bald and Ford's model (1988) of transfer in the Kenyan context.; A questionnaire was developed from course objectives and administered to 60 trainee participants to examine the perceived importance of management skills to the business, as well as perceived degree of training transfer. After the questionnaire data was analyzed, 12 participants were selected for in-depth interviews. An interview guide was used to collect data on factors that facilitated or inhibited training transfer. A quantitative approach was used to analyze data the questionnaire data while a qualitative approach was used to analyze data from the interviews.; The results of the study indicated that trainees perceived that transfer of training had occurred at varying degrees. The most influential factors that were found to have influenced transfer of training were relevance and importance of the skill to the job, opportunity to use training on the job and external work environment. External work environment factors cited by participants were poor infrastructure, financial expectations after the training, unpredictable business trends, tendency to employ relatives, corruption, expectations of follow-up, distribution of risk by owning several business and bureaucracy. In addition, follow-up activities were found to influence transfer of training. Concerning the extent to which Baldwin and Ford's model of transfer was applicable to Kenyan context, the study found out that only two elements (relevance of the skill to the business and opportunity to use) of the model were found to be applicable.