出版社：Richards College of Business, University of West Georgia
摘要：Businesses are being constantly faced with the necessity of upgrading their employees' computer skills in order to stay competitive. This need applies across industries and across most occupations within an industry. In this context, designing an optimal computer training method becomes key to a successful transformation of the workplace. This study uses survey data for the years 1993- 94 and 2004 from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79), to analyze the training methods commonly used to upgrade employee computer skills, with a focus on informal training. Formal classroom training has been better researched because it is more easily measured. However, there is increasing evidence that much of employee skill upgrading actually occurs through informal, on-the-job training. This study provides a comparison of how computer training has changed between 1993-94 and 2004, as well as an analysis of current trends in the nature of both formal and informal training, and post-training job outcomes. Employees who undergo computer training are found to have on average better paid, more stable jobs than those who do not. Moreover, a large segment of the survey respondents used informal training methods such as peer group training and structured self-study to upgrade computer skills. Employees using informal training methods are found to havehigher levels of job satisfaction, promotions, wage increases and job stability post-training. Among informal training methods, self-study methods yielded the greatest post-training benefits in 2004.
