Expertise: myth or reality of a cross‐national definition?

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to offer a comparison of how human expertise is perceived by human resource development (HRD) scholars across several Western European countries and in the USA.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative, exploratory approach using electronic mail was used for this study. In total, 36 leading HRD scholars from 11 different countries were interviewed.

Findings

There is a propensity of several countries to converge towards common themes. Based on this fact, a European‐US definition of expertise is offered: expertise is the combination of knowledge, experience, and skills held by a person in a specific domain.

Research limitations/implications

One major limitation is the selection of “experts” to describe “expertise”. Second, although all but one European interviewee spoke fluent English, the questions were asked in English. Third, virtual ethnography coupled with traditional interviewing is known to be best. Fourth, the research is deeply embedded in one field. Finally, the rather small sample size underrepresented some countries.

Practical implications

The findings provide HRD practitioners with a better understanding of training and development practices and give additional ground for employee development. They shed light on cultural differences and on cross‐national communication. As organizations increasingly expand worldwide and outsource, understanding expertise across nations can provide insights into selection and hiring procedures and help with cross‐cultural training for expatriates. Expertise can also be used as a performance measure to develop employees for optimal performance.

Originality/value

The paper explores a training and development construct internationally

Citation

Germain, M. and Enrique Ruiz, C. (2009), "Expertise: myth or reality of a cross‐national definition?", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 33 No. 7, pp. 614-634. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090590910985381