Building a bridge of understanding How barriers to training participation become barriers to training transfer T.C. Brown Faculty of Business Administration, Memorial University, St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, and Martin McCracken Business and Management Research Institute, Department of Management, University of Ulster, Jordanstown UK Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to look at the issues concerning barriers that managers face in relation to participation in training and transfer of training, which have become increasingly important to HRD scholars and practitioners. To date, these areas have largely been examined independently. This paper aims to argue that there is an increasing need to understand and explore these two areas in unison. Design/methodology/approach – Although this paper is primarily conceptual in nature, in order to investigate a model derived from relevant literature, survey data from 137 Canadian employees, mostly from the broader public sector, was examined. These respondents completed a short transfer of training questionnaire three months after a one-day managerial training programme. In this study, open-ended questions investigating training barriers are analysed. Findings – The exploratory examination of information from participants of a managerial training programme suggests that the model which links literature on participation in training and transfer of training warrants additional examination. Most significantly, there was substantial overlap between the participation and transfer barriers with the most common barriers being linked to “lack of time” and “unsupportive culture”. Research limitations/implications – The main limitation of this paper is the relatively small sample size with regard to data concerning barriers to transfer. However, the authors feel that a key implication is that a “bridge of understanding” is created concerning the numerous factors that impact participation in training, transfer of training and the relationships between them. Hence, HRD practitioners and scholars can now use this model to begin to understand how they might improve the overall quality of training programmes and to further explore the relationship between transfer and participation. Originality/value – The conceptual model developed further integrates the respective literatures pertaining to management training participation and transfer of learning in the workplace. The proposed model shows how barriers to participation can become barriers to transfer and how barriers to transfer from one programme may become barriers to participation to subsequent learning activities. Keywords Workplace training, Knowledge transfer, Employee involvement, Training needs, Canada Paper type Conceptual paper The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0309-0590.htm A preliminary version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada. This paper was funded in part through a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) grant to the first author. Both authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Public Sector Leadership Development Programme Steering Committee (Roma Bridger, Cathy Mercer, and Karen Taylor) and Memorial University’s Gardiner Centre (Susan Arscott, Jackie Collins, and Bill Morrissey). JEIT 33,6 492 Received 4 December 2008 Revised 13 March 2009 Accepted 16 April 2009 Journal of European Industrial Training Vol. 33 No. 6, 2009 pp. 492-512 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0309-0590 DOI 10.1108/03090590910974392