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The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of the Psychology of Training, Development, and Performance Improvement provides up-to-date, contemporary information for researchers and professionals by reviewing the latest literature and research in the interconnected fields of training, development, and performance appraisal. It brings a psychological perspective to bear on a multi-disciplinary field that links to management, human resources, and education.

Our understanding of how to maximize the benefits of mentoring relationships for employee development has been limited by a vague understanding of what effective mentors are actually doing and how they are doing it. To begin to remedy this, we conducted one qualitative interview study of well-respected mentors to uncover the breadth and detail of their behaviors, and one quantitative study to see how a subset of these behaviors would be endorsed under two moderating conditions. Our qualitative study consisted of 28 interviews followed by detailed coding and analysis, and yielded a new framework of mentoring behaviors we named the cuboid of mentoring. This framework provides a rich set of behavioral statements that could be mined for research and practice purposes. Our quantitative investigation used a policy-capturing approach to investigate the extent to which experienced mentors endorsed mentoring objectives and behaviors under different conditions. This study showed that mentoring actions are purposeful, and the methodology demonstrates a paradigm for further study of boundary conditions of mentoring behaviors and supports conclusions from the qualitative study regarding how mentors think about the objectives and behaviors of mentoring.

Meta‐analytic techniques were used to examine the effectiveness of Web‐based instruction (WBI) relative to classroom instruction (CI) and to examine moderators of the comparative effectiveness of the 2 delivery media. The overall results indicated WBI was 6% more effective than CI for teaching declarative knowledge, the 2 delivery media were equally effective for teaching procedural knowledge, and trainees were equally satisfied with WBI and CI. However, WBI and CI were equally effective for teaching declarative knowledge when the same instructional methods were used to deliver both WBI and CI, suggesting media effects are spurious and supporting Clark's (1983, 1994) theory. Finally, WBI was 19% more effective than CI for teaching declarative knowledge when Web‐based trainees were provided with control, in long courses, and when trainees practiced the training material and received feedback during training. Study limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

PurposeTo examine how perceptions of complementary and supplementary fit and relationship quality contribute to successful mentorship co-creation.Design/methodology/approachData were collected via cross-sectional survey of 145 mentor–protégé dyads within institutions of higher education in the USA. Mentors evaluated their perceptions of supplementary and complementary fit and relationship quality with their protégés and vice versa. Additionally, mentors evaluated their protégés’ performance, whereas protégés reported on their own learning. Data were analyzed using the actor–partner interdependence model.FindingsResults suggest that one's own fit perceptions are most important in predicting one's evaluation of relationship quality. Additionally, for both mentor and protégé, complementary fit and supplementary fit predict evaluations of relationship quality to a similar degree. Finally, each person's perceptions of relationship quality mediated the relationships between their own perceptions of fit and mentor-rated protégé performance, but not the relationships between perceptions of fit and protégé-rated learning.Originality/valueResearch has often studied mentorships from the perspective of one party, which limits our understanding of mentorship co-creation. This study investigates how both parties simultaneously contribute to mentorship success, as indicated by protégé learning and performance. Additionally, the authors clarify the extent to which perceptions of different types of fit are instrumental in co-creating successful mentorships.

Organizations in the United States alone spend billions on training each year. These training and development activities allow organizations to adapt, compete, excel, innovate, produce, be safe, improve service, and reach goals. Training has successfully been used to reduce errors in such high-risk settings as emergency rooms, aviation, and the military. However, training is also important in more conventional organizations. These organizations understand that training helps them to remain competitive by continually educating their workforce. They understand that investing in their employees yields greater results. However, training is not as intuitive as it may seem. There is a science of training that shows that there is a right way and a wrong way to design, deliver, and implement a training program. The research on training clearly shows two things: (a) training works, and (b) the way training is designed, delivered, and implemented matters. This article aims to explain why training is important and how to use training appropriately. Using the training literature as a guide, we explain what training is, why it is important, and provide recommendations for implementing a training program in an organization. In particular, we argue that training is a systematic process, and we explain what matters before, during, and after training. Steps to take at each of these three time periods are listed and described and are summarized in a checklist for ease of use. We conclude with a discussion of implications for both leaders and policymakers and an exploration of issues that may come up when deciding to implement a training program. Furthermore, we include key questions that executives and policymakers should ask about the design, delivery, or implementation of a training program. Finally, we consider future research that is important in this area, including some still unanswered questions and room for development in this evolving field.

Using a national sample, this study investigated the effects of unemployed workers' coping resources and coping strategy use on reemployment after a three-month period. Based on previous research, it was expected that (1) three types of coping resources (self-esteem, social support, and financial resources) would be positively related to problem-focused coping with job loss, (2) coping resources would be negatively related to emotion-focused coping with job loss, (3) problem-focused coping would be positively related to reemployment, (4) problem-focused coping would be more strongly related to reemployment than emotion-focused coping, and (5) coping strategies would mediate the relationship between the availability of coping resources and obtaining reemployment. Results provided support for the direct effects of coping resources (self-esteem, social support, and, to some extent, financial resources) on coping strategies, and a direct effect of problem-focused coping on reemployment 3 months later. Self-esteem and social support were each indirectly related to subsequent employment status, mediated by problem-focused coping. In other words, individuals with higher levels of self-esteem and social support were not only more likely to engage in problem-focused coping, but having a higher level of self-esteem and social support was also associated with a higher likelihood of being reemployed three months later. Findings are pertinent for the design of more effective interventions that mitigate adverse effects of unemployment and facilitate a successful return to the workforce.

As online graduate programs in psychology continue to proliferate, it is important to understand the research addressing the effectiveness of online graduate education so as to advise stakeholders in these programs: applicants, students, faculty, and institutions. In this article, we examine the effectiveness of online education in psychology at two levels of analysis. First, we examine empirical evidence at the course level: Do online, hybrid, and face-to-face instruction lead to different effects at the level of course outcomes? Second, we examine empirical evidence at the program level: Do online and face-to-face graduate programs provide different academic experiences for their respective students, and how does program type influence the employability of graduates? We supplement these discussions with results from a survey of faculty who converted graduate courses to online delivery methods during the COVID-19 pandemic in spring of 2020. Finally, we provide practical considerations for administrators, educators, students, and applicant stakeholders of online programs. We also offer suggestions for optimizing learning and development in online environments. Our intent is to stimulate discussion on building effective learning environments and continuing to educate optimally effective industrial-organizational psychologists, regardless of delivery modality.

Two studies were conducted to examine the effect of prompting self‐regulation, an intervention designed to improve learning from technology‐delivered instruction. In Study 1, trainees who were prompted to self‐regulate gradually improved their declarative and procedural knowledge over time, relative to the other conditions, whereas test scores declined over time for trainees who were not prompted to self‐regulate. In Study 2, basic performance remained stable over time and strategic performance improved over time for trainees who were prompted to self‐regulate, relative to the other conditions, whereas performance declined over time for trainees who were not prompted to self‐regulate. Trainees’ cognitive ability moderated the effect of the prompts on basic performance and task‐specific self‐efficacy moderated the effect of the prompts on strategic performance. Prompting self‐regulation resulted in stronger performance gains over time for trainees with higher ability or higher self‐efficacy. These results demonstrate prompting self‐regulation improved performance over time, relative to the other conditions, in both online, work‐related training and laboratory settings. The results are consistent with theory suggesting self‐regulation is a dynamic process that has a gradual effect on performance and highlight the importance of using a within‐subjects design in self‐regulation research.

Using a sample of 131 adults aged 55 to 70 years, researchers employed a 2 x 2 between-subject design to investigate whether cognitive prompts would counteract the negative effect of stereotype threat on older adults' training outcomes. As hypothesized, stereotype threat negatively affected training outcomes. Contrary to expectations, cognitive prompts also negatively affected training outcomes, worsening the negative impact of stereotype threat. Results are discussed within the framework of cognitive load theory.