Variables influencing the return on investment in management training programs: a utility analysis of 10 Swiss cases

In this article, we present the utility analysis approach as an alternative and promising approach to measure the return on investment in managerial training programs. This approach, linking economic value with competencies developed by trainees, enables researchers and decision‐makers to compare the return on investment from different programs in different organizations. Despite the potential contribution of utility analysis, few studies have adopted this approach to evaluate return on investment. This article demonstrates the value of utility analysis through a brief review of former studies and a report of our own evaluation results based on data collected in 10 cases from 158 managers. The article focuses on three main variables influencing return on investment as identified in former studies: the duration and thematic focus of training programs, the job class of the trainees and the research design.