Impacts of management training on workers: Evidence from Central America and the Caribbean region

There is an increasing interest in the impact assessment of management training programs. Among various types of training, this study focuses on those featuring Kaizen, a standard approach to production management and quality control whose name derives from the Japanese word meaning "improvement." Previous studies of Kaizen training programs evaluate training impacts on management practices, business performance, and the willingness to pay for training, and do not pay attention to impacts on workers. Using the firm-level data, this study attempts to assess the impacts of an onsite training program held at small and medium enterprises in eight Central American and Caribbean countries. Treated firms are compared with those firms that are selected by the sponsor organization according to the same criteria as the treated counterparts but not yet treated. Propensity score matching is employed to increase comparability between the two groups. This paper presents suggestive evidence that the training program improved work practices and the attitude of workers toward work. It also suggests that the treated firms weaken the linkage between sales revenues and wages, probably to induce workers to pay attention to activities that do not immediately increase sales, such as maintenance and coaching of other workers.