A conceptual framework to measure talent management strategies and organisational performance in selected retail stores, KwaZulu-Natal.

Abstract

The concept of talent management has been confronted with scepticism since its emergence in the 90s and the scepticism has been linked to the lack of acceptable conceptual framework and the dearth of credible empirical research on talent management. Talent management strategies in developing economies such as South Africa have not been given the deserved attention in academic literature. The conversion of global talent management strategies in the South African economy is affected by provincial and cultural differences. Exploring the influence of Talent Management strategies on organisational performance could add to the existing knowledge on talent management strategies and organisational performance. Based on the foregoing, developing a conceptual framework to measure talent management strategies and organisational performance in the selected retail stores is of utmost importance to talent management practice. An explanatory sequential mixed methods research design was adopted to explore the mediating influence of collective intelligence on the relationship between talent management strategies and the selected retail stores’ performance. A simple random sampling technique was used to administer 453 structured questionnaires to the employees of three retail stores in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Two hundred and ninety-six (296) of the questionnaires were returned and coded for analysis. SPSS and SmartPLS were valuable in analysing the quantitative data. SPSS was used to conduct descriptive statistics (such as bar charts and frequency distribution) and inferential statistics (such as Pearson’s correlation coefficients). Qualitative data were collected using semi-structured interviews. Purposive sampling technique was adopted to select participants for the interview. NVivo software was used to analyse the qualitative data collected from the top management of the selected retail stores. The research findings revealed that the correlation coefficient between talent management strategies and the selected retail stores' performance indicates a significant positive association.