The Effect of Gender on Thetransfer of Interpersonal Communication Skills Training to the Workplace: Three Theoretical Frames

Abstract

Scholarly interest continues to grow in the complexities of training transfer, resulting in new models and instrumentation. New models enable expanded research efforts into the variable of individual differences and its effects on motivation to transfer. One individual difference that may influence subsequent transfer for certain types of training, such as inter-personal communication skills, is sex-typed thinking. This article links sex-typed thinking to current transfer models and examines the origin of sex-typed thinking and its possible effect on transfer by integrating three theoretical frames: cultural orientation, gender schema theory, and social role theory. Implications for research and practice are also discussed.