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Knowledge Transfer of Educational Programs in Public Management:Transfer: In conclusion, the data demonstrated that an optimal levelof transfer was not reached, because of the presence of transfer-inhibitingconditions within the individual, the transfer climate, and the training program.However, the general conclusion was not completely negative. There still seemedto be some kind of transfer, but it is important to consider which transfer was thecase here. Tying back to this article’s central question on the nature of transfer ofpublic management programs, the following conclusions can be made, accordingto the Weiss’ (1979) typology explained in the section on defining “applications.”• Knowledge-Based: The data seemed to support the idea thatreceived knowledge sometimes is used for small, incrementaldecisions. Respondents clearly stated that the programs helpedthem in daily work.• Problem-Solving: Given the lack of preparedness by theparticipants, it is highly doubtful that acquired knowledge wasused to solve a well-defined problem.• Enlightenment: The results of this study didn’t reveal anyresults about enlightenment. First, the study was based ona small sample of participants. Enlightenment may happenafter a while, if a larger group follows the same program. Thenumber of participants was too small to state whether there wastransfer to the federal administration as a whole. Second, thisstudy didn’t address group processes. If one wanted to measureenlightenment, transfer must be moved from the individual tothe group level. As such, we cannot state that enlightenment wasachieved, but it still could be achieved in the future.• Political or Strategic: It seemed to be observed that informationwas used to give a decision more weight.• Interactive: There was competition between those whoparticipated in the program, and those who didn’t. The specificposition of the participant seemed to be important in suchsituations. In the PUMP data, it was made clear that there was adifference between higher- and lower-ranked civil servants.• Intellectual Enterprise: This was not supported by the data,because the acquired knowledge from the PUMP or MPPgroups wasn’t considered as one of the possible ways to deal withcertain problems. In addition, the data didn’t support a problemsolvinguse of knowledge, which made it even harder to assumethat intellectual enterprise would be observed.From this perspective, the data support the fact that transfer is limited to aknowledge-based, interactive, or political use of new information. It is clear that248 Journal of Public Affairs Education
Knowledge Transfer of Educational Programs in Public Management:a higher level of transfer would have been a problem-solving use of knowledge,or enlightenment.ConclusionAlthough the type of knowledge transfer found in the data was ratheramorphous, it doesn’t mean that no transfer occurred. Because the concept wasbroadened in the theoretical part of this article, it was made clear that a wholerange of transfer possibilities could have occurred, even if they were difficultto observe in everyday life. We can assume that those programs had an addedvalue of performance. From this perspective, it is extremely important to furtherinvestigate the nature of transfer, since this also could stimulate the developmentof transfer-enhancing strategies. This article demonstrated that (a) programsand employers need to encourage the awareness of specific goals for degrees, (b)it is important for programs to tailor degrees more explicitly to their audiences,and that (c) it is possible for “executive” master’s degrees to be more successfulbecause they specifically address their goals to a certain audience. This is usefulfor other institutions, because their roles are extremely important to the successof a program and its use afterwards. Therefore, it would be interesting to studyother programs in other countries, in order to see whether the same conclusionswould be made, and to help ameliorate a program’s weak points.Academics and practitioners are focusing more and more on publicmanagement programs. Therefore, it is necessary to broaden the transfer debatefrom the private sector to the whole labor market. The public sector in itselfneeds specific strategies to enhance the ROI of educational programs. The reasonfor this is the specific nature of the public sector. The following three examplesdetail this nature and its potential to create transfer-inhibiting or transferenhancingbehaviors.1. Because it seeks public rather than private profit — andbecause the goal of public profit is vastly different from theprivate sector’s goal — it becomes extremely difficult to hold anemployee accountable for a certain percentage of gained or lostprofit. In other words, if the ROI of an educational programitself is difficult to measure (Kirkpatrick, 1994), it becomes evenmore difficult to measure the ROI of public sector programs.2. In Belgium, civil servants mostly are appointed for life, whichmeans that their personal investment after the program is difficult tocompel. Their engagement is merely a personal choice. This makesit important to emphasize the opportunities that individuals receivefrom following a program for their careers or for their job duties.Although this factor wasn’t addressed by the model, it would beinteresting to take into account for further research.Journal of Public Affairs Education 249
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