Measuring training transfer performance items among academic staff of higher education institution in Malaysia using rasch measurement

The dramatic discrepancy between what is learned and what is applied on the job represents a massive transfer problem. It appears that only a small percentage of training actually results in transfer to the job. In the local setting, however, despite the government´s spending on training and development to improve performance, grievances and complaints have been directed towards public sector employees for their effectiveness and inefficiency. For example, complaints on public sector employees in Malaysia in the year 2007 were 5,347 cases and an increase of 33.7% is reported in 2008. This paper investigates on the perspective of the low training transfer activities among the academic staff of public higher learning institution in Malaysia. The question that underlies the entirety of the successful training transfer is the determinants of training inputs that will motivate the training to be transferred. The training transfer questions are a self-report measure of the extent to which the participants transfer the skills and knowledge learned in training to their workplace. Instruments were developed: a 13-item to measure training transfer performance and a 8-item measuring the training design. Results of the analysis show that conceptual understanding of training transfer performance is more difficult to attain than the training design; its content validity and transfer designs. The results of this paper also confirm the robustness of the third evaluation level of Kirkpatrick´s model.