Information Technology Training for a Globalized Workforce - Challenges, Tools and Research Directions

IT training research is one of the dominant themes in IS research for the past two decades and has provided a rich knowledge base of tools and techniques to impart IT training to employees (Compeau et al. 1995; Sharma and Yetton 2007). IT training is a critical enabler of information system acceptance and use, because employees who undergo training have higher positive attitudes than those who do not (Cooper and Zmud 1990, Xia and Lee 2000). But conducting business in a global workspace has created additional challenges for IT training professionals and organizational consultants. Training service firms with names such as " Global Computer Education, " " International Training Services, " Training for a Global World, " are becoming quite commonplace. Business Information systems, instead of being simple one-user systems, have become complex, large, integrated systems used by many different employees and require more learning and coordination efforts on the part of employees methods such as virtual training, situational learning, and behavior modeling are being researched to support employee learning and expand upon the traditional face-to-face lecture based training (Alavi and have to play a critical role as trainers as they support employees' learning process long after training programs are completed (Haggerty and Compeau 2002, Pawlowski and Robey 2004). IT staff/trainers can learn from these research findings that could help them better manage training on new information technologies and cope with training employees in a global workspace. The purpose of this panel discussion is to cull key IT training research ideas and discuss their implications for IT staff and trainers. Questions that will be addressed are: What must be the motivation, background, and skills expected of trainees in this training environment? How should