The impact of learner characteristics on training transfer expectation: a survey of Thai teachers’ perception of cloud computing tools

Researchers and practitioners have spent much time on and given a great deal of attention to the practical characteristics of professional development and its delivery in an attempt to understand the training transfer problem at the workplace. However, when we consider the individual employee as the primary agent of the transfer process, we cannot and should not ignore their perceived self‐rated attributes, motivation and expectations of learning and transfer at the pre‐training stage. In this study, it is hypothesized that, trainees’ answers to the questions ‘can I do this task?’ and ‘do I want to do this task?’ are positively associated with the level of transfer effort performance expectancy. The Learning Transfer System Inventory questionnaire was completed by 213 teachers in high schools and vocational schools in Thailand during their training on cloud computing tools. The findings reveal that a teacher’s personal characteristics (learning readiness, personal transfer efficacy, motivation to transfer, personal capacity and perceived content validity) at the pre‐training stage are significant predictors of transfer effort performance expectancy at the post‐training stage. This study can help training practitioners and managers to enhance learner characteristics prior to training with a view to increasing training transfer.