THE ROLE OF CONTINUING EDUCATION IN RETAIL MANAGEMENT (PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, RETAIL BUYERS)

The perceptions and opinions of retail buyers regarding continuing education were assessed. Fifty-seven buyers from discount chain stores within the United States responded to a prepared questionnaire. Age, experience, education and store volume were variables selected to test research hypotheses formulated for this study. All hypotheses were partially or fully accepted. Responents were predominantly male, between 31 and 45 years old, with at least one year of college. Most buyers were employed by retail organizations whose sales volume was between $1,000,000 and $500,000,000. Over 60% had been buying at least seven years. Very few persons were involved in formal continuing education. Persons with no post secondary experience were more likely to be involved in informal continuing education activities. Thirty-five percent of the sample indicated their employer offered training programs to them within the past year. Less than one half of the retail organizations provided opportunities to improve selected business skills. Leadership, decision making and negotiating skills were the three skills most often offered by retailers. Retail buyers chose decision making, negotiating and interpersonal skills as the three most important business skills. Statistical analysis revealed several positive relationships existed among the importance placed on the skills by the retail buyers. A relationship was found between qualitative and quantitative analytical skills, and between analytical and communicative skills. Trade publications and economic trend reports were information sources most often supplied to buyers by the retail organizatons. However, the buyers rated customer profiles as the single most important reference in addition to economic trend reports. Television and radio news media were used most often by the buyers to obtain information about current events. Forty percent of the respondents anticipated an occupational change within the next three to five years. The majority of this group are college educated, under 40 years of age, and with seven to fifteen years\u27 buying experience. This finding supports earlier studies and articles which identified high turnover among mid-management retail personnel