Explaining Employer-Provided Training

Abstract

Abstract The present study aims at investigating employer’s investments in the employability of employees. To do so, human capital theory and the employee-organization relationships approach (which rests on social exchange theory) is used to build three testable hypotheses, namely to argue that the kind of training employees need, the type of contract they have, and their behavior in the organization each matter for understanding employer behavior regarding training investments. These hypotheses are tested using a vignette study – which is a semi-experimental approach – to test decisions regarding training investments among 519 representatives of organizations in the Netherlands. Since each respondent scores three vignettes, the total number of responses is 1,557. The results show that, instead of exclusionary hypotheses, the hypotheses examined complement each other in such a way that a layered model consisting of the individual, the contractual, and the employment relationship can explain employer’s training decisions.