• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.121-131
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• 2010

Technological innovation depends on the quality of workers, whose ability is the key component to raise business competitiveness. Our study evaluates how satisfactory is the training of workers at small and medium sized firms, and suggest how to improve upon it. We show the theoretical framework for the relation between customer satisfaction and their behavioral intent on the one side, and factors of training service quality. Our result show: (1) Factors affecting customer satisfaction are, in descending order of importance, expertise, policy, follow-up service, attitude and behavior, and convenience. (2) Contrary to established views on the service quality, satisfaction for training would not be the prerequisite variable for intent to act, in case of training service quality. (3) Satisfaction level for training depends on the type of organization in charge of training (government, university, or private sector.) It also varied among different types of business (L-type, A-type, and J-type.) Small and medium sized firms find it difficult to commit to training education due to lack of money and manpower. The recent expansion of free training service would address part of this problem. On the other hand, the outfit in charge of training could boost service quality by customizing their training program to the type of business they cater to.