Developing skilled labour: An analysis of the major factors which enable and hinder employee training in construction companies in Vietnam

This thesis makes a contribution to the literature on training practices and attitudes, within the context of the Vietnamese construction industry. Drawing on the international scholarship in the area of training practices and attitudes, the thesis tests a series of hypotheses about the nature of training in Vietnam. The conceptual framework for the thesis utilised the established methods and insights from a range of studies on the relationship between training provision, company size, company ownership, and attitudes of managers. Within this scholarship, the nature of those relationships is still unclear and under-theorised in particular contexts. Specifically, the international research suggest particular patterns of training provision, namely that larger companies will be more likely to provide training than smaller companies and that larger companies will be more likely to provide off-the-job training. It was unclear, however, whether these findings, and the key theoretical premises that underpin them, had application to the Vietnamese construction industry. This thesis, therefore, makes a valuable contribution to this area of research in attempting to deal with these issues. In the context of the discussions and debates within the literature, the specific contribution of the thesis spans a number of dimensions. First, it has generated, presented, and analysed a new data set about the general characteristics of training practices in the Vietnamese construction industry. Based on a survey of 510 construction companies in Ho Chi Minh City, this is the largest database to analyse training within Vietnam, and the largest database to document the construction industry. Second, it has applied statistical analysis and methods consistent with examinations of training practices evident in the international scholarship, and thereby extended the study of the construction industry in Vietnam beyond anecdotal information and simple descriptive statistics. In this sense, the use of such a large database to focus on one industry is particularly valuable. Third, it has interpreted these results and findings both in the context of the international literature, but also noted the relevant features of the local context in which these results are observed, i.e., an economy that is in transition from high level of central control to one that is developing a market orientation. The specific findings of the thesis are interesting and extend across the range of issues emphasised in the international literature on training. The thesis affirms the role of training in developing skilled labour in the Vietnamese construction industry and indicates that training fulfills this function of developing human capital for different sized companies and companies with different ownership structures. The thesis demonstrates that company size has some correlation with training provision in the industry, although there is some divergence with the international literature in this regard. In the context of a transitioning economy and increased levels of foreign investment, the thesis makes a key contribution in understanding the pattern of training provision by company ownership type and examining in particular the impact of foreign capital in shaping training provision in Vietnam. Indeed, the results demonstrate that ownership type exercises a distinctive effect on training provision with a higher evidence of training in foreign invested companies than in other company types. In considering the attitudes of managers within the construction industry, the results show that managers of construction companies have positive attitudes towards training and the utility of training for a series of strategic purposes. These attitudes were evident despite the absence of a sophisticated training infrastructure. Company size was not a significant differentiating factor in the attitudes of managers. Company ownership was a greater predictor of the strength of positive attitudes by managers with the managers of foreign-invested companies demonstrating more positive attitudes towards training than managers in other company types.