Article Gold Open Access 2025

Factors of intention to learning transfer in apprenticeships: Results and implications of a chain mediation model

Journal of Psychology in Africa
Journal · Vol. 35 · Issue 3 · pp. 393-401
Abstract

This study utilized a sequential mediating model to examine the role of motivation to learn and transfer selfefficacy in the relationships between perceived content validity, mentoring function, continuous learning work culture and intention to transfer learning. The sample comprized 429 final-year apprentices in Guangdong province, China (females = 69.9%, Engineering & Medicine = 69%, mean age = 20.99, SD = 1.60). The apprentices completed standardized measures of motivation to learn, transfer self-efficacy perceived content validity, mentoring function, and continuous learning work culture. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. Results showed perceived content validity, mentoring function, continuous learning culture to predict intention to transfer learning. Of these factors, perceived content validity was the strongest predictor of intention to transfer learning. Of these factors, perceived content validity was the most influential predictor of intention to transfer learning. The motivation to learn and transfer self-efficacy sequentially mediated the relationship between mentoring function and intention to learning transfer to be stronger than by either alone. Although perceived content validity and continuous learning culture exhibited no significant direct effects on intention to transfer learning, they demonstrated positive indirect associations with intention to transfer via motivation to learn and transfer self-efficacy. These study findings extend the applications of the learning transfer framework to individuals undergoing apprenticeship training which also would apply to other a long-term work-based learning programs. © 2025 The Authors.

Keywords

Author Keywords

Apprenticeship motivation to learn intention to learning transfer mentoring function transfer self-efficacy

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations
School of Education Science, Hanshan Normal University, Chaozhou, Guangdong, China
Department of Education, Kyungpook National University (KNU), Daegu, South Korea
Teachers Development Center, Hanshan Normal University, Chaozhou, Guangdong, China
Funding & Acknowledgements
Hanshan Normal University, HNU
Grant: QD202244, QD2024207
Funding Statement: This research was funded by Hanshan Normal University School-Level Research Initiation Program (grant numbers QD202244; QD2024207); the Guangdong Higher Education Society\u2019s \u201CFourteenth Five-Year\u201D Plan 2024 Higher Education Research (grant number 24GYB43); the 2024 Guangdong Provincial Undergraduate Teaching Quality and Teaching Reform Engineering Project: Excellence Program for Cultivating Publicly-Funded Pre-service Teachers for Primary Education in the Context of Rural Revitalization; and the Hanshan Normal University Guangdong East Regional Education Collaborative Innovation Research Center. The APC was jointly funded by these sources.
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