The relationship between trainer locus of control and training style orientation

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:In the current South African context the Government places a great deal of emphasis onthe importance of adult training and development as a solution for addressing manysocial and economic problems. It is therefore important to investigate all aspectsregarding the training context in order to optimise learning. The trainer plays an integralpart within this system. Although literature regards the trainer as very important fortraining success, very little substantial research has been documented with regards tothe influential factors on the training style orientation that trainers use when trainingadults.In order to investigate this problem, a study of the relevant literature is done. Thefollowing topics are examined for this purpose: The training system and the componentsthereof, andragogy and pedagogy as training style orientations, several trait theories ofpersonality as the basis of the study, locus of control as a personality trait, and theinfluence of personality and more specifically locus of control within work-relatedsettings.Three questionnaires were administered on a sample of 100 respondents, i.e. aDemographic questionnaire, the Training Style Inventory and the Locus of ControlInventory in order to generate data to investigate the research problem and hypotheses.The Demographic Questionnaire collected data regarding gender, age, qualifications,training experience, ethnicity, subject area of the training content, and type oforganisation. The Training Style Inventory measured the training style orientation of thetrainer respondents, and the Locus of Control Inventory was used to measure the locusof control of respondents.The results indicate support for the hypothesis that there is a statistical significantcorrelation between locus of control and training style orientation. More specifically,there is a statistically significant correlation between internal locus of control and the andragogical training style orientation, and also between external locus of control and thepedagogical training style orientation.The main objectives of this study were successfully achieved and documented.Conclusions and recommendations for further research are made. It is recommendedthat future research replicate the study with a greater and random sample ofrespondents, within the South African context. Also, investigating the effectiveness ofthe trainers as a result of their locus of control and training style orientation is aninteresting possibility for future research.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University