An evaluation of the impact of training and development: a case study of selected commercial banks in Nigeria

Abstract

The Nigerian banking sector's dynamic nature demands continuous investment in training and development to remain competitive and enhance performance. However, many organisations in developing countries such as Nigeria still hold reservations about its return on investment. Existing literature that has explored training and development in the Nigerian banking sector has failed to do so from managers’ and employees' points of view. Therefore, this study provides an in-depth understanding of employees’ and managers’ perceptions of training and development in relation to the effectiveness and overall performance of selected commercial banks in Nigeria. To achieve the overall aim, four objectives were developed. To achieve the first objective, a systematic review was conducted. The systematic review was conducted to determine the impact of training and development on employees and organisational performance. The systematic review method was employed to identify, select, appraise, and extract evidence to meet the study's aim. A total of 18 primary studies were identified. Findings from the systematic review revealed that training and development has a significant positive impact on the effectiveness of employees and overall performance. However, in addition to investing in T&D, employers need to commit to providing motivational incentives to facilitate positive changes in the behaviour of their employees. To achieve the second, third, and fourth objectives, a qualitative study was conducted using face-to-face semi-structured interviews with purposively selected employees (n=15) and managers (n=10) from selected commercial banks in Nigeria. All the audio data were transcribed into written words and analysed using Microsoft and by hand by highlighting codes and subsequent themes, which have been reported thematically. Findings from this analysis revealed shared similarities and differing perceptions between managers and employees. Overall, employees and managers were of the shared perceptions that T&D increased their effectiveness and organisational performance. However, they revealed that regulatory changes in the bank hampered T&D effectiveness due to emotional instability, increased level of uncertainty, slow implementation of new ideas, increased work pressure, and overall reduced performance among employees, which has affected the transfer of skills and knowledge to their job functions. In conclusion, to increase employees' performance and that of the banks in line with the AMO theory, the management must endeavour to improve employees’ skills and abilities by aligning training with their job functions. Besides, the employees should be provided with an enabling environment, where they are given the opportunity to apply the skills they acquired while on training and placed on mentoring programmes where they can be given the opportunity to work alongside a senior colleague or manager. However, although management needs to integrate motivational incentives such as employee reward and recognition, the onus is on the employees to be self-motivated and pursue opportunities with the organisation to ensure effective training transfer.