Training investment indicators beyond cost: analyzing the impact of training on organizational outcomes

Organizations invest heavily in employee training, yet firms and firm-level research typically evaluate that investment by cost alone. Cost, however, reveals little about how training is delivered, how widely it reaches employees, or whether the firm has the resources to translate it into performance. Drawing on the resource-based view and human capital theory, this study used longitudinal data on Korean manufacturing firms, a two-year lagged design, and generalized estimating equations across three analytical rounds to identify indicators beyond traditional training cost. We compared three categories: basic indicators (training cost per employee, training time, and enrollment rate), composite indicators combining training cost with time and enrollment rate, and training–slack indicators combining training cost with financial and human resource (HR) slack. Models using the training cost-to-HR slack ratio provided the best fit for explaining two-year-lagged financial performance, suggesting that training effectiveness depends strongly on existing HR capacity. In contrast, the training cost-by-enrollment rate indicator best predicted the two-year-lagged turnover rate, highlighting the importance of broad employee participation in translating investment into employee retention. This study advances HR theory and practice by identifying training indicators that better explain organizational outcomes and clarify the firm-level training–performance relationship.