Effects of leadership training on employees of a supermarket chain

Evidence from a field experiment

Abstract

Inspired by Bloom et al. (2013), this research aimed to measure the effect of training based on a specific PDL, coaching, on the performance of 100 managers and 300 operators in 10 of the 23 stores of a retailer group with revenues of around BRL3 billion. In addition, the perceptions of 750 consumers were investigated in two moments. The guiding hypothesis of the work was that the stores that received training would present superior performance when compared to the stores that did not receive it. The research results did not confirm the presented hypothesis, since, despite the observation of a significant improvement in the evaluated parameters, this effect was registered both in the stores that participated in the training and in the others. The parameters that stood out as benefiting from the intervention were those of “Planning and Organization” and “Time Management”.