The impact of emerging market context and global mindset on training programmes in multinational companies

Abstract

This study was designed to establish whether emerging market context and global mindset have impact on the effectiveness of such management training programmes in MNCs. The effectiveness of the training programme was measured by how the programme was perceived and valued by participants. The research employed a non-experimental survey design focused on identifying the relationships between the various identified variables (i.e. global mindset, emerging market context and value placed on the training programme) The study was conducted through an anonymous web-based survey in the selected MNC. Data were gathered from 179 managers of the organisation from 51 different countries in both emerging and developed markets. A particular training programme was chosen as the reference point for the survey participants’ evaluations. To enable respondents to easily recall their experiences and impressions of this particular training programme, only managers who had participated in this training between 2007 and 2009 were included in the survey. The study showed that emerging market context and global mindset impact the effectiveness of training programmes in MNCs. Emerging market context however, had no significant impact on the global mindset of training participants. These findings were interpreted and discussed in the context of existing literature and a number of implications and recommendations were drawn.