Looking Back and Looking Forward: Trends in Training and Development Research

• Date: 01 December 2014
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/hrdq.21203
• Published date: 01 December 2014

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY, vol. 25, no. 4, Winter 2014 © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) • DOI: 10.1002/hrdq.21203 401

INVITED EDITORIAL

Looking Back and Looking

Forward: Trends in Training

andDevelopment Research

Kurt Kraiger

In connection with the 25th anniversary of Human Resource

Development Quarterly, I have been asked to comment briefl y on current

and emerging trends in research on training and development, a core

function of Human Resource Development (HRD). I will do this in three

sections: a summary of past research, an examination of state-of-the-art

research, and a brief glimpse forward to the future.

Key Words: training, training and development, human resource develop-

ment, training effectiveness, self-directed learning

History of Training Research

About 10 years ago, I had the pleasure of collaborating with Kevin Ford on a

chapter tracing the history of training research (Kraiger & Ford, 2007). We

divided the past decade into four time periods, paying particular attention

to what infl uenced research and practice, and what were the predominant

advancements within periods. While a thorough review is beyond the scope

of this editorial, there were several observations and lessons from that chapter

that bear repeating.

The four time periods were named for prevalent management theories

of the era: Scientifi c Management (1900–1930), Humanistic (1930–1960),

Participatory (1960–1990), and Strategic (1990–present). We made the case

that within each period, training research and practice were infl uenced both

by the prevailing management or leadership theory and by the dominant or

emerging learning theory. Thus, in the fi rst era, Taylorism and the assembly

line sought to improve workplace effi ciency, reducing the need for human

cognition, and carefully prescribing human work behaviors. Experimental