The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of the Psychology of Training, Development, and Performance Improvement

Foreword

The editors of this book – Kurt Kraiger, Jonathan Passmore, Nuno Rebelo dos Santos, and Sigmar Malvezzi – are each internationally respected scholars in their own right. Together, they have assembled an outstanding cadre of academic and intellectual thought leaders to provide us with a stimulating, scholarly perspective on what may be the top organizational challenge of the day – building a talented workforce.

To remain competitive, organizations must crack the code on how to train, develop, and appraise talent. As a result, many books have been written purporting to offer practitioners advice on this topic. However, this book is different. It is grounded in empirical research and sound theoretical foundations rather than anecdotal examples. As such, it is an ideal starting point for the researcher, student, or intellectually curious practitioner who is interested in current research findings and future research needs.

It focuses on the psychology of training, development, and performance improvement. This is both important and distinctive, for it is only by truly understanding the psychological factors the underlie these topics that we can hope to make sound organizational decisions about employee development across various complex, diverse settings. Simple lists of best practices may appear helpful, but unfortunately experiences in one setting often don’t transfer well to the next. Deeper understanding of psychological phenomena requires solid research and strong theory. ...