Understanding the Transfer-to-Work of Soft Skills Training: Examining Transfer Stages, the Role of Work Factors and Self-Efficacy

With soft skills of employees becoming increasingly important for their successful performance, organisations spend a large amount of money on employee soft skills training. However, it often remains unclear to what extend such training is effective. This dissertation shows that transfer-to-work after a soft skills training unfold in a stepwise, staged process, that start with being motivated to transfer, followed by using the new skills. This use of skills may consequently turn into improved performance. In each transfer step, barriers to transfer may exist. Additionally, the current research found that being specific about the type, context and timeframe of performance is pivotal in gaining insight into successful transfer, because the open character of soft skills may lead to many different types of outcomes in many different contexts (even unwanted transfer outcomes).