Exploring training and development practices in Pakistani SMEs

Abstract

This study examines the adoption of training & development practices in Pakistani small & medium-size enterprises (SMEs). The study was conducted in the service and manufacturing sectors in a Pakistani context. The primary data was collected through a survey of recruitment & selection practices and as such the study is quantitative in nature. For the purpose of this study, a SME is defined as an organization employing between 20 and 250 employees with a small organization employing 20-100 employees and a medium sized organization employing 101-250 employees. The target population of the study consisted of SMEs operating in the city of Karachi, Pakistan. Stratified random sampling method was applied to collect data from 357 SMEs. Cross tabulation was used to examine the level (low, moderate or high) of adoption of training and development practices in small and medium size firms. Chi square statistics was used to see the significant differences between small and medium-size firms regarding the use of training and development practices. Our findings indicate that there is a low level of adoption of recruitment and selection practices in Pakistani SMEs. However, there were significant differences between small and medium-size firms regarding the use of majority of training and development practices.