Is it ""You"" or ""Your Workplace"" that Predicts Whether You Receive Training at Work?

Using data from a unique 2016 cross-national survey of four English-speaking countries (US, UK, Australia, and Canada) where employees as well as employers were surveyed, we looked at the determinants of training within firms, including the presence of voice systems, both formal and perceived, in the workplace. The paper contrasts two classic theoretical formulations: the neoclassical/market approach predicts individual characteristics will have a larger determining effect on the allocation of training and the development of voice than institutions (at the firm or industry level); the traditional institutional economic/industrial relations approach favors the structural characteristics present at the industry and firm level, plus the nature of the job itself, as the major predictors of training. As we predicted, firm characteristics explained more variations in training and voice than individual characteristics. Interestingly, however, voice turned out to be the main determinant of on-the-job training.