1. Introduction

Scholars and practitioners both acknowledge the important role that learning and development (L&D) plays in organisations. The development of human capital is an essential component of individual employability, career advancement and competitive advantage. Therefore, the development of the knowledge, skills and attitudes of employees constitutes a very important organisational HR practice and it is viewed as one of the most important HR challenges that organisations face. Accordingly, the evidence indicates that organisations continue to invest in L&D programmes as part of their HR strategy. There has been an enormous expansion of research on L&D in organisations; however, a certain degree of ambiguity exists concerning the effectiveness of these activities and there is limited understanding about the best way to implement them. This finding was, for us, an important reason to write this monograph. We seek to offer an integrated and contextualised framework for L&D effectiveness which addresses both the nature of L&D and its antecedents and outcomes in organisations. We created our L&D effectiveness model based on key findings from reviews, empirical research and meta-analyses as well as from previous established theoretical frameworks within the field. We set out in this monograph to bridge theory and practice so that our framework guides L&D researchers in their future research efforts and helps practitioners in their L&D activities.