Evaluating Management Training and Development in a Cross-cultural Context: A Stakeholder Approach

Purpose – This paper is to address the challenge in evaluating China’s overseas management training and development (MTD) in cross-cultural settings. It critically examines the evaluation practice of China’s overseas MTD interventions and to explore the cultural impact on training evaluation.
Design/methodology/approach - This research presents an empirical study covering 526 participants who are the major stakeholders involved in China’s overseas MTD. A mix method approach is used to explore the perspectives of different stakeholders.
Findings – The respondents from different stakeholder groups perceive purposes of evaluation and problems conducting evaluation differently. There are also different foci on the evaluation criteria and approaches by individual groups. The current evaluation system is based on segmented information collection and little joint effort has been found in training and evaluation. The judgement on the value and worth of China overseas MTD is culturally sensitive due to the diverse of stakeholders from different cultural background.
Research limitations/implications – This study is limited to two countries between China and UK for China’s MTD cross-culture initiatives. The evaluation framework is based on China’s government initiated overseas MTD programs. It may not be applicable to situations where only two parties involved in training, e.g., trainees and training providers.
Practical implications – This research proposes an evaluation framework which adopts stakeholders approach and takes into consideration the cross-cultural impact on managers’ learning and development.
Originality/value – This paper contributes to the literature by investigating China’s overseas MTD activities and exploring the approaches of evaluation in the cross-cultural context.