Purpose: This paper provides evidence of the outcomes proposed by the reviewed programmes and their level of effectiveness. Design/methodology/approach: Articles were screened by title and abstract to ensure correspondence with exclusion/inclusion criteria. Themes were analysed through collective coding and scoring. Size effects were calculated.…

Purpose: To gather insight into how graduating business students are preparing for the workplace and their future careers and how this has been impacted by COVID-19. Design/methodology/approach: In total, 144 business students at an Australian university who had recently completed an internship and were nearing graduation took part in the study.…

Purpose: This study explores employer perspectives regarding barriers to and responsibility for the workforce integration of skilled immigrants. Specifically, this study assesses employer perceptions of how influential various barriers are to the integration of self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) in the workplace, uncovers employer perceptions of…

Purpose: This study explores how career training with mentoring (CTM) programs work in Nigerian higher education (HE) institutions to foster students' career development and employability of graduates. It also explores how Nigerian HE curriculum can be adequately used to facilitate CTM as well as possible constraints to effective implementation of…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the HRD practices of multinational enterprises (MNEs) operating in Australia to understand the value that MNEs place on investment in their human capital, particularly managerial talent. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on a representative sample of 211 MNEs operating in Australia, this paper…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of experiential simulation-based learning of employee self-efficacy. Design/Methodology/Approach: The research approach is an exploratory case study of a group of trainees from the same organisation. Using a quasi-experiment, one group, pre-test-post-test design (Tharenou et al., 2007), a…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyse what retail and hospitality industry employers want from training and trainers. Design/methodology/approach: The research project was undertaken for Service Skills Australia, the Australian Industry Skills Council that oversees formal training for a range of service industries in…

Purpose: UK government strategies for higher education (HE) continue to emphasise the promotion and enhancement of students' employability skills and subsequent graduate opportunities. The purpose of this paper is to explore what this means for those HE learners already in work. Design/methodology/approach: The paper presents the findings of a…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the amount of training received by employees; the extent to which individuals are dissatisfied with the training they receive; and employee perceptions of the extent to which the skill levels they possess are higher than/lower than those required to do their jobs. Design/methodology/approach: A…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide description and analysis of how a traditional industry is currently using e-learning, and to identify how the potential of e-learning can be realised whilst acknowledging the technological divide between younger and older workers. Design/methodology/approach: An exploratory qualitative methodology…

Purpose: This paper seeks to discuss the Investors in People (IIP) initiative in relation to SMEs and to consider the value of IIP in helping to inculcate a learning culture within this sector. Design/methodology/approach: A case study investigating the work of a Business Link (BL) in relation to IIP and SMEs highlights the conflicts advisers face…

Purpose: This paper seeks to investigate the provision of Vocational Education and Training (VET) in Small Ethnic Minority Businesses (SEMBs) operating in the West Midlands region of the UK. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative approach is employed, involving in-depth, face-to-face interviews with 66 owner/managers of small ethnic minority…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the statistical evidence for the extent of employer training in Australia and analyse this information in the light of three major qualitative projects that have been undertaken into employer training since the mid-1990s. Design/methodology/approach: The paper reports an analysis of the major…

This paper is on the growing importance of strategic human resource management (SHRM) for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Many small firms encounter serious human resource problems, while at the same time these human resources play a vital role in developing and sustaining their competitive advantages. In (S)HRM literature specific…

This paper draws on a telephone survey of 116 independent SMEs to explore the impact of a variety of training interventions on human resource (HR) practices and business performance in Great Britain. The paper investigates the extent to which targeting such interventions on the managers of SMEs affects the impact and the likelihood of changes in…