The Effect of Human Resource Management Practices on Motivation to Transfer: Evidence from the Malaysian Public Sector

Motivation to transfer is a requirement for transfer of training to occur in an organization. Motivation to transfer is defined as the employees’ desire to utilize the knowledge, skills and attitudes learned in training to their current task in organization. This paper argues that the motivation to transfer can be enhanced through human resource management (HRM) practices. In addition, this study proposes that motivation to learn mediates the relationship between HRM practices and motivation to transfer. The results of this study using a sample of 306 public sector employees in Malaysia provide support for the hypothesized relationships. Specifically, the results show that the motivation to learn partially mediates the effects of HRM practices on employee motivation to transfer. There are two important contributions of this study. First, this study provides empirical evidence about the role of human resource management (HRM) practices as a predictor to motivation to transfer in the context of public sector organization in Malaysia. Second, this study provides empirical evidence that motivation to learn mediates the relationship between HRM practices and motivation to transfer.