Research On The Determinants Of The Effectiveness Of Innovation Method Training Program

A series of research and promotion of innovation methods sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology have been carried out nationwide since 2007. One of the primary tasks is the introduction of innovation methods into the state-owned enterprises, which is aimed at improving the firm-level innovativeness and building the "innovative country".The value of innovation methods has been extensively validated in practice, and the introduction of innovation methods benefits from good policy environment and institutional environment. However, the results of introduction vary widely among companies. The barriers to the introduction of innovation methodsinclude insufficient emphasis to the innovation methods, inappropriate process of the introduction, and deficiencies in the supporting systems. Training, as an important part of the introduction, determines to what degree the employees understand the innovation methods. Therefore, research on the ideal target of training, the best form of training and the characteristics of supportive environment is critical.The present study is an empirical research. Based on the literature research and in-depth interviews, this study developed a model of innovation method training effectiveness, hypothesizing that organizational atmosphere, incentive system, organizational support, employee relationship and leader-member exchange affect training effectiveness directly and indirectly through their influence on employees’ attitude towards innovation and communication behavior. After that, a questionnaire was designed and administrated to the trained employees across 26 provinces. The data collected was use to assess the effectiveness of the innovation method training program from the individual level.The parameters of the proposed model was tested using structural equation analysis, and the impact of characteristics of employees(age, R&D tenure, education, etc.) and characteristics of training(time schedules, the way to obtain the training opportunity, special education forms, etc.) on the effectiveness of training program was analyzed using non-parametric tests. This study enriched the empirical research on government sponsored training program. The conclusions can providesupport to the design of the introduction process of innovation methods into companies and directing the further promotion of innovation methods. The study contributed both to the theoretical research and the practical implementation.In this study, 2657 questionnaires were collected from 203 companies. The result of data analysis supports the following conclusions:The innovation method training program helps to improve the innovative performance of employees, but the improvement is significant only among the employees who have received more than 50 hours of training. In national average, the impact of innovation method training on the employees’ innovative performance is relatively limited. The amount of training is positive related to employees’ subjective evaluation of training effectiveness. The revised model of innovation method training effectiveness fitswell to the data and reasonable explanations were given for the findings contrary to hypotheses. Several suggestions were given for the introduction of innovation methods: the company’s senior leader should be responsible for the introduction of innovation methods; the employees attending the training course should be those who are selected by the company or apply voluntarily for the opportunity; the ideal training target should be those who have a 7~20 years of R&D tenure; the equipment manufacturing industry companies benefit more from the training program than the companies from other industries.