DEVELOPMENTAL STUDY IN HIGHER EDUCATION I INSTITUTIONS

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CHAPTER 3: LITERATURE REVIEW

INTRODUCTION

Step 1, establishment of the parameters of the constructs, has been recommended by DeVellis (1991) and Hinkin (1995) as a requirement for good scale development. The construct of talent retention was defined and relationships with related variables such as talent management, employee retention, employee turnover, the costs of turnover, consequences of turnover and measurement of turnover were established as part of the recommended process (Tharenou et al., 2007:165). For the purposes of this research study the literature review was designated as Step 1a and proposed to identify the theoretical parameters of the turnover and retention theory to be included in the measurement scale.

STEP 1A OF SCALE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS: LITERATURE REVIEW

The aim of the literature review is the application of a theoretical basis to develop the items to be included in the proposed talent retention scale. The process involves establishing the parameters of the construct of interest or latent variable which is talent retention. The interrelated concepts of talent and talent management will be discussed. The review will consider talent retention as a closely related construct to employee retention and employee turnover, however, acknowledging that employee retention has unique measurement criteria and potentially distinct causal factors (Waldman & Arora, 2004:6). There has been extensive research on employee turnover but limited research that focuses exclusively on talent retention (Kontoghiorghes & Frangou, 2009:29).
Turnover is regarded as a measure of organisational effectiveness (Boshoff & Mels, 2000:255) with the implicit assumption being that a stable workforce is required in order to meet organisational objectives (Kontoghiorghes & Frangou, 2009:29). Morrell et al. (2001:220–222) provide a valuable framework of the type of information required in order to manage employee turnover effectively. The current research project will utilise the distinctions of constructs such as voluntary or involuntary turnover; top-performing or poor-performing employees; avoidable or unavoidable conditions; prevention models or control models of interventions as described by Morrell et al. (2001:220–222).
This literature review will provide a framework for understanding talent, talent management, turnover and retention, provide an overview of selected theory and research into turnover and retention; consider the costs and consequences of voluntary turnover, the value of increased employee retention, the causes of employee turnover and the measurement of turnover, retention and performance and the contextual influences on turnover and retention.

Talent and talent management

The academic literature shows a sharp increase in the popularity and frequency of reference to “talent management” between 1985 and 2008 in searches of the Emerald and Business Source Premier databases (Iles, Preece & Chuai, 2010:129-130) and the steepness of the increase in popularity suggest that “TM is a management fashion whose popularity has yet to peak, let alone fall” (Iles et al.,2010:129). Despite the increased attention and focus on talent management in both the academic and practical management literature there does not appear to be consensus on even the most basic definitions of either “talent” or “’talent management” (Gallardo-Gallardo, Dries, González-Cruz, 2013; Joyce & Slocum, 2012; Lewis & Heckman, 2006; Tansley, 2011).
Prior to the concept of talent being introduced into HRM or OB literature, talent was commonly associated with people with exceptional abilities and skills in the arena of sport, art, music or science (Gallardo-Gallardo et al., 2013; Thunnissen, 2015). In the HRM and OB academic literature “talent” has been conceptualised in a variety of different ways:

• Talent may refer to the people (subject) which are the individual employees in an organisation or alternatively talent may refer to the characteristics of the people (object) which could include the abilities, knowledge and competencies of the employees (Gallardo-Gallardo et al., 2013:327).
• Talent refers to the strategic contributions of employees (outputs) or conversely talent refers to employee roles or positions in the organisation such as executives or scarce skill professionals (Collings & Mellahi, 2009; Joyce & Slocum, 2012). For Collings & Mellahi (2009:305) the “… starting point here is identification of key positions rather than talented individuals per se”
• Talent is defined as innate which implies that only some people have it due to genetic ability or talent is malleable which implies that talent can be acquired or developed through training and practice (Gallardo-Gallardo, et al., 2013:294). Talent could also be considered as a combination of innate abilities or aptitudes which can be developed into outstanding performance (Gagné, 2004; Ready & Conger, 2007; Tansley 2011).
• An exclusive definition of talent refers to a select group of high value, top performers or high potential performers in contrast with an inclusive definition of talent which refers to all the employees in organisation making up the human capital (Iles et al., 2010:127).
• Talent is “competence x commitment x contribution” (Ulrich & Smallwood, 2012:60). Employees need to be competent and able to do the work by having the required knowledge, skills and values, however they also need to be committed and willing to do the work and believe that they are making a real contribution because they find meaning and purpose in what they do (Ulrich & Smallwood, 2012).
• Talent that refers to exceptional performance: “Talent designates the outstanding mastery of systematically developed abilities (or skills) and knowledge in at least one field of human activity to a degree that places an individual at least among the top 10 per cent of age peers who are or have been active in that field or fields” (Gagné, 2004:120).

Talented employees for the purpose of this thesis have initially been defined in section 1.9 as those employees considered essential to the ongoing success of the organisation and who help meet organisation objectives (Birt et al., 2004). Due to the qualitative nature of the initial scale development process there is an understanding that the definition of talent will develop in the present study following the findings of the semi-structured interviews in the South African context in Chapter 4.
Following the diverse definitions of talent it follows that the management of talent will be based on how talent is defined. Tansley (2011:273) accentuates that the “the terminological ambiguity around working definitions of talent” make the definitions, research and practices of talent management more challenging. Thus if talent is regarded as inclusive and malleable, then it follows that all employees in the organisation will be considered to receive training and development to enhance the human capital of the organisation. Talent management then does not refer to anything different than strategic human resource management and is applicable to all employees (Gallardo-Gallardo et al., 2013).
If talent is viewed as exclusive and malleable then only a select few high performers or high potential performers will be chosen for training and development programmes such as leadership academies and talent management can be described as human resource development for a select group of employees (Iles et al., 2010:127; Stahl, Björkman, Farndale, Morris, Paauwe, Stiles, Trevor & Wright, 2012).
If talent is viewed as innate and not malleable then it is possible that talent management strategies may be more related to recruitment, selection, retention, reward and incentives and less focussed on development. Organisations with this view will tend to “buy” the talent as opposed to “making” the talent (Cappelli, 2008:3) although this process may prove to be short-sighted and not in the best interest of the long term sustainability of the company (Cappelli, 2008).
The numerous talent management definitions available in the literature can range from simplistic to highly complex:

• “… talent management is simply a matter of anticipating the need for human capital and then setting out a plan to meet it” (Cappelli, 2008:[1]).
• Talent management can be defined as “a systematic and dynamic process of discovering, developing and sustaining talent” (Davies & Davies, 2010:419).
• “… we define strategic talent management as activities and processes that involve the systematic identification of key positions which differentially contribute to the organisation’s sustainable competitive advantage, the development of a talent pool of high potential and high performing incumbents to fill these roles, and the development of a differentiated human resource architecture to facilitate filling these positions with competent incumbents and to ensure their continued commitment to the organisation.” (Collings & Mellahi, 2009:304).

The definition of talent management that has been put forward in Chapter 1 of this thesis is that talent management is a broad concept that involves the implementation of integrated human resource strategies to attract, develop, retain and productively utilise employees “with the required skills and abilities to meet current and future business needs” (Kontoghiorghes & Frangou, 2009:29).

Contextual considerations

The contextual influences on talent and talent management require further consideration. Talent has to be defined in context and refers to the fit between the individual and context, the type of work, culture or industry in which they work (Collings & Mellahi, 2009). The context of talent can be expanded to consider the community context and thus the political, social, religious, ethical and moral context within which the employee is required to work (Thunnissen, Boselie & Fruytier, 2013:330).
Gagné (2004:121) studied the “environmental catalysts”, “intrapersonal catalysts” and “chance” factors that influence the development of innate abilities into exceptional talent in the Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent (DMGT). These factors expedite or impede the development of talent in an individual person. Chance factors refer to genetics or “accidents of birth”; environmental factors may include geography, socio-economic, significant persons, resources and events. Intrapersonal factors include physical requirements (strength, height, weight); mental characteristics such as temperament and personality and self-management factors such as awareness, motivation/volition (Gagné, 2004:128). Considering the myriad of factors in this model that can support or hinder the development of talent, contributes to the contextual understanding of talent and why talent management has the potential to be a complex process.
Tansley (2011) in her review of the definitions of talent concluded that talent is contextual and has to be defined considering a combination of individual characteristics that are required by different organisations:

• “behavioural aspects including attitude;
• knowledge;
• skills;
• competencies and cognitive capability” (Tansley, 2011:271).

One of the reasons that it may be so difficult to define talent is that the talent  required for one role may not be the same as the talent required for a different role. Thus the most talented teacher may not be the ideal person to be promoted as the principal of a school (Davies & Davies, 2010). Being a talented teacher requires a unique combination of personality characteristics, knowledge and skills and these may not be the same attributes required in a principal position which involves considerably less teaching and more administration and people management skills.
Further contextual influences on turnover and retention research including the South African labour legislation are discussed in section 3.2.8.

Considering the goals of talent management

The goals of talent management should be aligned with the definitions of talent and talent management that an organisation subscribes to. The goals of talent management are most likely to emerge as organisation specific and influenced by the perspective of talent, needs of the organisation and the type of work required in the organisation (Tansley, 2011:270). Talent needs at a cooking school may differ significantly from those in the online information-technology environment (Tansley, 2011).
Although the main objective of talent management has generally been viewed as achieving organisation related goals such as profitability and competitive advantage (Cappelli, 2008, Birt et al., 2004; Kontoghiorghes & Frangou, 2009; Joyce & Slocum, 2012) there has been a call for talent management to consider the alignment between organisational needs and interests and individual preferences (Boxall,  2013; Thunnissen, 2015).

DECLARATION 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
ABSTRACT 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
LIST OF TABLES 
LIST OF FIGURES 
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 
CHAPTER 1: BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY 
1.1 INTRODUCTION
1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT
1.3 PURPOSE STATEMENT
1.4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
1.5 IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY
1.6 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
1.6.1 Research approach
1.6.2 Research design
1.6.3 Sampling
1.6.4 Data analysis
1.7 FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
1.8 LAYOUT OF THE THESIS
1.9 CLARIFICATION OF CONCEPTS
1.10 SUMMARY
CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS 
2.1 INTRODUCTION
2.2 DESCRIPTION OF ENQUIRY STRATEGY AND BROAD RESEARCH DESIGN
2.2.1 Scale development process
2.2.2 Empirical research study
2.2.3 Research time frame
2.2.4 Research study intended as basic research
2.2.5 Mixed method research study
2.2.6 Inductive and deductive modes of reasoning
2.3 PARTICIPANTS
2.3.1 Key participants (Step 1 of scale development process)
2.3.2 Developmental study participants (Steps 6–8 of scale development process)
2.4 DATA COLLECTION
2.4.1 Primary data collection
2.4.2 Secondary data collection
2.5 DATA ANALYSIS
2.5.1 Qualitative data analysis
2.5.2 Descriptive statistics
2.5.3 Validation analysis
2.6 ASSESSING AND DEMONSTRATING THE QUALITY AND RIGOUR OF THERE SEARCH DESIGN
2.6.1 Semi-structured interviews (scale development process Step 1b)
2.6.2 Scale development process (Steps 2–8)
2.7 RESEARCH ETHICS
CHAPTER 3: LITERATURE REVIEW
3.1 INTRODUCTION
3.2 STEP 1A OF SCALE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS: LITERATURE REVIEW
3.2.1 The link between turnover and retention research
3.2.2 Clarification of turnover constructs
3.2.3 Overview of theory and research into employee turnover and retention
3.2.4 Costs and consequences of voluntary turnover
3.2.5 Measurement of actual turnover or intention to quit
3.2.6 Ideal measures in turnover and retention research
3.2.7 Contextual influences on turnover and retention
CHAPTER 4: QUALITATIVE DATA COLLECTION, ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 
4.1 INTRODUCTION
4.2 STEP 1B OF the SCALE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
4.3 SAMPLING PROCESS
4.4 DATA COLLECTION PROCESS
4.5 BIOGRAPHICAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION FOR KEY PARTICIPANTS
4.6 DATA ANALYSIS OF INTERVIEWS WITH KEY PARTICIPANTS
4.7 SECONDARY DATA ANALYSIS – ORGANISATIONAL DATA
4.8 SCALE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS-STEP 2: ITEM GENERATION
4.9 SCALE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS – STEP 3: DETERMINE SCALE AND MEASUREMENT FORMAT
4.10 SCALE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS – STEP 4: CONDUCT ITEM ANALYSIS
4.11 SCALE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS – STEP 5: SELECT VALIDATION ITEMS
CHAPTER 5: DEVELOPMENTAL STUDY IN HIGHER EDUCATION I INSTITUTIONS 
5.1 INTRODUCTION
5.2 DATA COLLECTION APPROACH IN HEI STUDY
5.3 DEMOGRAPHIC RESULTS OF HEI STUDY
5.4 ITEM EVALUATIONS AND VALIDATION ANALYSIS
5.5 DISCUSSION OF RESULTS OF HEI STUDY
5.6 SUMMARY
CHAPTER 6: DEVELOPMENTAL STUDY IN GENERAL EDUCATION 
6.1 INTRODUCTION
6.2 DATA COLLECTION APPROACH IN GDE STUDY
6.3 DEMOGRAPHIC RESULTS OF GDE STUDY
6.4 ANALYSES FOR JOB SEARCH AND MOST LIKELY REASONS TO LEAVE
6.5 QUALITATIVE FINDINGS FROM OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS
6.6 SUMMARY
CHAPTER 7: TALENT RETENTION SCALE VALIDATION ANALYSIS – GDE SAMPLE 
7.1 INTRODUCTION
7.2 PSYCHOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF COMPENSATION AND RECOGNITION SCALE
7.3 PSYCHOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF MANAGEMENT SUPPORT SCALE
7.4 PSYCHOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF SATISFACTION WITH INSTITUTIONAL PRACTICES SCALE
7.5 PSYCHOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF INTENTION TO QUIT SCALE
7.6 SUMMARY
CHAPTER 8: A COMPREHENSIVE HIGHER-ORDER MODEL FOR TALENT RETENTION 
8.1 INTRODUCTION
8.2 A SECOND–ORDER CONFIRMATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS MODEL OF  TALENT RETENTION
8.3 NOMOLOGICAL VALIDITY OF THE 2CFA TALENT RETENTION MODEL
8.4 AN EXAMINATION OF THE MODERATING ROLE OF GENDER ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TALENT RETENTION MODEL AND ITQ
8.5 AN EXAMINATION OF THE MODERATING ROLE OF EMPLOYMENT EQUITY GROUPS ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TALENT RETENTION MODEL AND ITQ
8.6 SUMMARY OF OVERALL MEASUREMENT SCALE MODEL
CHAPTER 9: DISCUSSION OF RESULTS OF GDE STUDY 
9.1 DEMOGRAPHIC AND CONTEXTUAL VARIABLES
9.2 COMPENSATION AND RECOGNITION
9.3 RELATIONSHIP WITH MANAGER/SUPERVISOR/DIRECT LINE MANAGER
9.4 SATISFACTION WITH INSTITUTIONAL PRACTICES
9.5 INTENTION TO QUIT
9.6 JOB SEARCH AND MOST LIKELY REASONS TO LEAVE
9.7 COMPREHENSIVE HIGHER ORDER MODEL FOR TALENT RETENTION
9.8 SUMMARY
CHAPTER 10: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 
10.1 SCALE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS – STEPS 1 TO 5
10.2 SCALE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS – STEPS 6 TO 8
10.3 CONCLUSIONS REGARDING SECONDARY RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
10.4 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
10.5 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
10.6 CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE PRESENT STUDY
10.7 CONCLUSIONS
REFERENCES
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