Effect of orientation training on employee and firm performance

Abstract

Considering the prevalence and importance of employee orientation training, this study investigates the long-term impact of employee orientation training on employee and firm performance of multinational corporations in Kazakhstan. The study further investigates employees’ expectations of such learning opportunities to improve the effectiveness of orientation training. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey on 285 employees working in multinational corporations in Kazakhstan. Furthermore, four focus group discussions involving 20 employees from four organizations were arranged to identify employees’ expectations of the content of orientation training. The findings revealed a significant effect of orientation training on long-term employee performance, such as job satisfaction, learning transfer, intrinsic motivation, and employee commitment, and firm performance, such as profitability, revenue growth, operational efficiency, product or service innovation, and customer satisfaction. The findings further identified gaps between new employees’ expectations and current orientation training content in the post-Soviet transition economy context. Based on empirical evidence, the study provides some recommendations to improve the effectiveness of orientation training in the future. The findings contribute to the literature on workplace learning integrating the theoretical tenets and empirical evidence in a transition economy context. The study provides new insights about employees’ expectations of orientation training to improve their workplace performance.