Innovative Approaches to Improving the Transfer and Sustainability of Learning
The importance of learning transfer in ensuring that learning contributes to an organization's competitive advantage has been undermined in organizational practice. There are two major reasons for this: 1) few studies directly explore the relationship between transfer and performance improvement, and 2) most existing transfer models are too complex for practitioners to implement. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the link between learning transfer activities and performance outcomes, and to create a framework for implementing an effective learning transfer solution. A targeted literature review meta-analysis was used to explore the performance impact of training vs. training plus transfer activities. The authors compute “difference scores” representing the percentage of improvement from the transfer activities over training alone. Activities are categorized into a framework of eleven critical learning transfer actions. They then implement the elements of the Learning Transfer Framework in three demonstration projects. By incorporating findings from the literature review, meta-analysis, and the demonstration projects, the authors propose a new transfer framework that is effective and easy to implement. Implications and directions for future researchers are advanced.