Training Programme Participation and Its Impact on Employee Productivity and Skill Enhancement: Evidence from Corporate Employees in India

Abstract

This study examines whether corporate employees' participation in training programmes is associated with their productivity and with the enhancement of their workplace skills. Data were collected through a structured, cross-sectional questionnaire survey of 418 corporate employees drawn from five sectors - Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI; n = 181), Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG; n = 115), Information Technology (n = 45), Real Estate (n = 46) and Pharmaceuticals (n = 31) - selected through non-probability convenience sampling. Two structural equation models (Maximum Likelihood estimation, NLMINB optimisation) were estimated to test, respectively, the path from Training Programme Participation to Employee Productivity and the path from Training Programme Participation to Skill Enhancement. Both paths were positive, large in magnitude and statistically significant (Productivity: unstandardised estimate = 0.623, β = 0.916, z = 17.7, p < .001; Skill Enhancement: unstandardised estimate = 1.16, β = 1.04, z = 12.9, p < .001). The findings indicate that training-programme participation is consistently and strongly associated with both the day-to-day productivity and the skill development of corporate employees, although the cross-sectional, self-report, convenience-sampled design means the relationship should be interpreted as a robust association rather than as proof of causation. Implications for corporate leadership, human-resource practice and future research are discussed.