| The human resource practice of training outsourcing is emerging as one of the fastest-growing segments of the broader business process outsourcing industry. In spite of its growing popularity in both academic literature and professional practice, training outsourcing is continuously subjected to critical reviews and on-going debates regarding the decision to 'outsource' or 'not to outsource'. There exists, however, a paucity of research on training outsourcing as a human resource development (HRD) practice on different organizational outcomes. This dissertation is an exploratory study that attempted to build on and extend previous research that examined the relationship between training and organizational commitment by focusing on outsourced training. This study also fills an important gap in the training outsourcing literature by taking into consideration employee perceptions and preferences towards outsourced training. The study is framed by social exchange theory to explore possible relationships between training outsourcing and organizational commitment.;The respondents from this study were employees from two software consulting organizations based in the U.S. and India. A total of 246 completed and usable surveys were collected for a response rate of 33.9%. Descriptive statistics, bivariate correlation, and moderated multiple regression were used for analyzing the data.;The results showed that perceptions of quality, usefulness and relevance, customization, and supervisory support towards outsourced training were positively related to organizational commitment. Supervisory support towards outsourced training was the strongest predictor explaining 20% of the unique variance in organizational commitment. It was also found that the type of training outsourced, general skills or firm-specific skills, did not moderate the relationship between different aspect of training outsourcing and organizational commitment. However, it was noteworthy that 61% of the employees stated that they had preference towards the source of receiving training.;Based on the finding a series of recommendations are made for the effective management of training outsourcing. Moreover, recommendations for HRD scholars and practitioners are also made. The overall positive association between training outsourcing and organizational commitment provides a strong business justification to HRD directors and managers for making additional investments in outsourced training. |
