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Optimizing Training Effectiveness: the Role of Regulatory Fit OPTIMIZING TRAINING EFFECTIVENESS: THE ROLE OF REGULATORY FIT A Dissertation Presented to The Graduate Faculty of The University of Akron In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Zhivka Petkova December, 2011 OPTIMIZING TRAINING EFFECTIVENESS: THE ROLE OF REGULATORY FIT Zhivka Petkova Dissertation Approved: Accepted: _____________________________ _____________________________ Advisor Department Chair Dr. Rosalie Hall Dr. Paul E. Levy _____________________________ _____________________________ Committee Member Dean of the College Dr. Robert Lord Dr. Chand Midha _____________________________ _____________________________ Committee Member Dean of the Graduate School Dr. Joelle Elicker Dr. George R. Newkome _____________________________ _____________________________ Committee Member Date Dr. Philip Allen _____________________________ Committee Member Dr. Susan Olson ii ABSTRACT Designing effective training programs has been a key challenge for HR and education professionals for years. Today, a deep understanding of learning processes is even more crucial as rapid technological advancements necessitate continuous learning and development of the workforce. The current study aimed to address this need by integrating research on regulatory fit theory (Higgins, 2000) and training and testing a theoretical model of training effectiveness recently developed by Gully and Chen (2010). To that end, a total of 172 university students completed a three-stage project. First, participants underwent an online individual assessment. Next, they watched and responded to one of two versions of a Money Management training program framed and presented in either a promotion focused or a prevention focused manner. Finally, their reactions to and application of the trained material were assessed again several weeks after the completion of the training. Results demonstrated that when the framing and presentation style of the training video matched the learner’s dominant chronic regulatory focus, affective, cognitive, and behavioral indicators of training effectiveness were enhanced. These positive effects were observed both immediately after the training program and a few weeks later. Thus, the current project attested that customizing a training program to match or fit learners’ basic motivational orientation (i.e., regulatory focus) can result in a series of favorable training outcomes. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as directions for further research are discussed. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would not have been able to complete this project (and most probably survive this many years of schooling) without having such wonderful, supporting, and loving friends and family around me. The list of people I am thankful to is endless so I am mentioning here those, who have been by my side while writing this dissertation. First of all, I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Rosalie Hall, whose invaluable thoughts, suggestions, and guidance helped me to complete this work successfully. Thank you for believing in me the whole way through and for always supporting my ideas and decisions. Thank you, to my wonderful committee members—Dr. Robert Lord, Dr. Joelle Elicker, Dr. Philip Allen, and Dr. Susan Olson, for your thoughtful comments and willingness to work with my rather tight schedule. I appreciate your flexibility and understanding tremendously! I would also like to thank my three amazing research assistants—Whitney Cale, Noelle Frantz, and Ali Benedetti, who conducted and overlooked most of the experimental portion of this research. Thank you for all the hard work and for treating my project as your own. A special thanks goes to Mike Plybon and Karen Todaro as well, who helped me run this process smoothly, even though I was across an ocean. On a more personal note, thank you to my mentor and friend Ali O’Malley for being there for me from the first day I visited Akron. You showed me what a wonderful and friendly place Akron was and made me convinced I wanted to spend the next five iv years of my life there. Thank you for always being a shoulder I could lean on. Thank you Megan Chandler, Grace Leung, and Katey Foster, for the great times we’ve had together—the great conversations over building puzzles in the corner office, the fun trips we’ve taken together, and the long discussions about nail polish. I am so grateful I got to know and be friends with each one of you and I hope you get to come visit me in Bulgaria some day. And of course, thank you Karen Aiken Marando! Thank you for being the star in my dissertation video; thank you for introducing me to the wonders of American food; thank you for living with me and still willing to let me sleep in your guest bedroom for months; thank you for drinking champagne with me whenever I needed it; thank you for giving me a home and being my family, far away from my own. I miss you every day! Finally, I want to thank a few non-gradschool individuals, who have reminded me that there is life outside of school. Thank you to my friend Vladimira for going on so many unforgettable trips with me and for bringing fun and excitement into my life. Thank you to my loving parents who have always supported my decisions and believed in what I have been doing, even though to this day they are still unsure what “regulatory fit” is. And finally, thank you to my fiancé Krasio for patiently listening to me complain about statistical software, for putting up with my nervous breakdowns when deadlines approached, and for loving me even though I have spent the last year staring at the computer screen instead of at him. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. ix LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER I. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM ............................................................................... 1 Regulatory Fit Theory .................................................................................................. 3 Regulatory Fit and Training: Proposed Model ............................................................ 6 Summary and Contributions ........................................................................................ 9 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................. 12 Training ...................................................................................................................... 12 Historical Background .............................................................................. 12 Theoretical Framework for Trainees’ and Treatments’ Effects on Training Outcomes .................................................................................................. 14 Attribute-Treatment Interactions .............................................................. 17 A Special Case of ATI: Regulatory Fit...................................................................... 19 Regulatory Focus Theory .......................................................................... 19 Assessing Chronic Regulatory Focus ....................................................... 25 Regulatory Fit Theory ............................................................................... 30 Regulatory Fit in Training: Development of Hypotheses .......................................... 43 III. METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................... 55 Overview and Sample ................................................................................................ 55 Procedure ................................................................................................................... 56 Personality Assessment ............................................................................. 56 In-lab Experimental Session ..................................................................... 57 Follow-up Survey...................................................................................... 59 vi Experimental Budget Management Training Program .............................................. 59 Measures .................................................................................................................... 62 Trait Regulatory Focus ............................................................................. 62 Manipulation Checks ................................................................................ 65 Intervening Mechanisms ........................................................................... 66 Outcome Variables.................................................................................... 69 Control and Exploratory Variables ........................................................... 71 Statistical Analysis Strategy ...................................................................................... 76 IV. RESULTS ................................................................................................................... 78 Initial Data Screening ................................................................................................ 78 Participant Descriptive Statistics ............................................................................... 79 Preliminary Assessment of Factor Structure and Development of Scale Scores ...... 81 Intervening Mechanisms ..........................................................................
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