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Purpose: The present study seeks to examine the efficacy of different training modalities on increasing workplace learning, representatives' intent to transfer what they learned into their work, and importantly how training impacts actual work performance. These relationships are tested in the context of a Chinese division of a multinational pharmaceutical company, where pharmaceutical representatives are tasked with relaying relevant efficacy and safety information on pharmaceutical products to health care professionals who prescribe them to patients. Methods: The present study employed a three-group between-subjects experimental design. Representatives received varying forms of training (instruction only, instruction plus reflection, and instruction, reflection, plus direct feedback; Gibbs, 1981; Gibbs & Simpson, 2005) based on experimental conditions. After three training sessions over the course of six weeks, representatives were assessed on how much they learned in the training and their actual work performance through observer assessment of meetings with health care professionals, facilitated by the representatives. Findings: In this study, it was found that the process of actively reflecting on what was learned in training led to increased learning, as well as increased performance, compared to simply studying the material. However, receiving direct feedback on training performance, combined with active reflection training, did not provide any further benefits in terms of learning or work performance. Notably, there were no differences in intent to transfer learned material to work, as all conditions reported high levels of transfer intention. Conclusion: The finding provides insightful evidence to support the benefits of fostering trainees' active reflections for work-based learning in the Chinese industry training scenario. In contrast, receiving direct comments on how students performed from a manager or trainer, as well as advise on how do better in the future, had no effect on increasing learning or performance. Although the effect of direct feedback is not statistically significant in this context, further research should be done in understanding individuals' thoughts and behaviors when received direct feedbacks received in workplace training. Relatively little workplace research has assessed both workplace learning and performance in the same study, specifically in the Chinese context. While training efficacy likely varies across cultures to begin with, compensation structures in China do not provide the same monetary incentives for workplace learning (i.e. chance to increase income) as Western culture. This means that any way to increase workplace learning should be of extra value, as employees otherwise may not engage in it at all.

Purpose: This study aims to examine how incorporating gamification elements into an offline training program influences learner engagement and learning outcomes in a non-academic, organizational setting. Design/methodology/approach: A randomized pretest-posttest control group experiment was designed to investigate participants' levels of affective, behavioral and cognitive engagement (learner engagement), as well as their scores on a knowledge and skills assessment (learning outcomes) under two training conditions -- traditional instructional strategy (TI) and gamification instructional strategy (GL). Training content, which was the same in both groups, included disease-related information, diagnostic expertise and product operational assistance. Participants (N = 98) were medical sales representatives from a multinational company. Findings: Participants in the treatment group had higher levels of learner engagement in comparison to those in the control group. Additionally, participants in the GL group had outperformed their counterparts in the control group on the knowledge and skills assessment. Originality/value: This is one of the first studies demonstrating how incorporating gamification elements into corporate training can improve medical sales representatives' learner engagement and learning outcomes.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to propose and examine an integrated learning model for improving training effectiveness in workplace learning. Specifically, this study investigated the effect of achievement goal-setting intervention across three groups of new employees from a multinational medical company. During a three-day remote training program, the role of each achievement goal orientation (AGO) in goal setting intervention and their relations with trainees' applied learning strategies were examined. This study proposed and validated an integrated training model for improving remote workplace learning effectiveness. Design/methodology/approach: This study was based on two data sources, the pre- and posttests scores; time on task (deep learning: completing reflective practice) and time on content learning (surface learning: watching tutorials) retrieved from an adaptive learning platform. A total number of 133 participants were recruited in this study, and they were randomly assigned to three interventional groups. The intervention was grounded from the AGO theory and goal setting theory. A series of statistical analysis were conducted to examine the effect of each type of achievement goal setting as a prompt for new employees' learning behavior and performance. Findings: Results indicated that setting mastery goal at the beginning of the training program leads to productive learning outcomes. Compared with the groups being required to set performance goal (final rank) or not to set any goal for the training purpose, trainees' who were assigned to set a mastery goal (final performance score) performed statistically significantly higher than the other groups. Additionally, learners who set mastery goal spent higher proportion of time on deep learning than learners from the other groups. The results proved mastery goal setting as an effective prompt for boosting workplace learning effectiveness. Practical implications: Organizations and institutions can take setting mastery approach goals as a prompt at the beginning of the training to increase learning effectiveness. In this way, trainees are promoted to apply more deep learning strategies and achieve better learning outcomes while setting mastery goal for their training purpose. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study was the first to combine the intervention of goal setting and types of AGOs into workplace learning. This study adds to previous research on goal setting theory and AGO theory for the practical application and proposes an effective model for learners' adaptive remote learning. Findings of this study can be used to provide educational psychological insights for training and learning in both industrial and academic settings.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore more agile and effective learning processes that help identify potentially high-performing staff during workplace training. Design/methodology/approach: To test the efficacy of the learning-oriented assessment (LOA) process in workplace training, a pharmaceutical sales organization implemented an online training over three months that was modeled with the LOA process. During work hours, employees within the organization took two tests (one before and after training) as well as participated in training with essential work-related content, where they were given problem sets and scenarios to complete that would vary based on their responses. Their assessment scores, formative learning behaviors and quarterly revenue were recorded to determine the effects of the training. Findings: The outcome of this study supported the theory that the LOA model would facilitate the acquisition and application of knowledge differentially between employees of the organization, and this knowledge would serve to improve the performance of the employees to the extent that it increased revenue. Research limitations/implications: This study was a field experiment that did not allow for the control of possible confounds. However, the real-world real people outcomes provide novel insights on best practices in workplace training. Practical implications: The findings of this study showed the short-term effectiveness of the LOA process in professional knowledge acquisition and application in relevant skills that increase organizational revenue. Originality/value: This study provides an applied understanding on the applicability of the LOA process in workplace learning and training which has not been previously investigated.

Purpose: The study examined the impact of feedback types through a learning management system (LMS) on employees' training performance. The purpose of this study is to establish effective feedback on advanced technologies for promoting corporate training. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 148 trainees were recruited from a multinational medical company. Employees were randomly assigned to receive feedback from shallow to more constructive details on their learning performance with LMS. Data sources included are employees' goal setting (GS) performance evaluated by the experts and their posttest scores obtained from the LMS. A series of statistical analyses were performed to investigate the impact of feedback intervention on employees' GS and their impacts on corporate training results. Findings: GS has a significant impact on learning outcomes. Employees who set greater specific goals attained higher scores. Furthermore, feedback with more formative evaluation and constructive developmental advice resulted in the most significant positive influence on the relationship between participants' GS and learning outcomes. Practical implications: Organizations can benefit from delivering appropriate feedback using LMS to enhance employees' GS and learning efficacy in corporate training. Originality/value: This study is one of the first to examine the moderating effect of feedback provided by LMS on GS and online learning performance in corporate training. This study contributes to GS theory for practical application and proposes a viable method for remote learning. The current study's findings can be used to provide educational psychological insights for training and learning in industrial contexts.

Infiltration in soils is a key process that partitions precipitation at the land surface into surface runoff and water that enters the soil profile. We reviewed the basic principles of water infiltration in soils and we analyzed approaches commonly used in land surface models (LSMs) to quantify infiltration as well as its numerical implementation and sensitivity to model parameters. We reviewed methods to upscale infiltration from the point to the field, hillslope, and grid cell scales of LSMs. Despite the progress that has been made, upscaling of local-scale infiltration processes to the grid scale used in LSMs is still far from being treated rigorously. We still lack a consistent theoretical framework to predict effective fluxes and parameters that control infiltration in LSMs. Our analysis shows that there is a large variety of approaches used to estimate soil hydraulic properties. Novel, highly resolved soil information at higher resolutions than the grid scale of LSMs may help in better quantifying subgrid variability of key infiltration parameters. Currently, only a few LSMs consider the impact of soil structure on soil hydraulic properties. Finally, we identified several processes not yet considered in LSMs that are known to strongly influence infiltration. Especially, the impact of soil structure on infiltration requires further research. To tackle these challenges and integrate current knowledge on soil processes affecting infiltration processes into LSMs, we advocate a stronger exchange and scientific interaction between the soil and the land surface modeling communities.

Currently, in the photovoltaic industry, the market share of n-type monocrystalline silicon is rapidly increasing. However, during mass production, striation defects characterized by concentric circles significantly impact the efficiency of solar cells. In this paper, we investigate the properties and origins of striations in n-type Czochralski silicon solar cells. These striations, occurring in wafers with an oxygen concentration below 7 × 1017 cm−3, are shown to potentially cause an efficiency degradation up to 0.86% absolute. Through an array of techniques, including photoluminescence, optical microscopy (OM), electron beam induced current (EBIC), and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, this work demonstrates that such defects primarily form after the thermal treatment processes in the manufacturing of solar cells and indirectly proves that these defects are related to the precipitation behavior of oxygen. Notably, traditional methods of post-polishing and etching followed by OM and EBIC technique failed to detect these defects. Therefore, the indirect characterization methods designed in this study hold significant referential value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]