Other internal factors that influence employee behavior include attitudes and knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs). Attitudes reveal another way that thoughts can influence behavior. Many HRD interventions, including training evaluation, management development, and organizational development, focus on modifying attitudes. One model states that the combination of attitudes with perceived social pressure to behave in a given way (called subjective norms) influences an individual’s intentions. These intentions, in turn, more directly influence behavior

Knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) have a significant impact on employee performance. If employees lack the KSAs to perform a task, they will likely fail. Almost all HRD programs focus on improving or renewing the KSAs of employees. One leading researcher of human abilities defines abilities as general capacities related to the performance of a set of tasks. Abilities develop over time through the interaction of heredity and experience and are long-lasting. Skills are often categorized as psychomotor activities (whereas abilities tend to be more cognitive), and skills are typically measured in terms of the ease and precision evident in the performance of some task.

Skills combine abilities with capabilities that are developed as a result of training and experience. Increasingly, skills are being studied and addressed using the broader term of competency. Finally, knowledge is defined as an understanding of factors or principles related to a particular subject. It is important to understand the factors that influence employee behavior.