Proposal of a guide for talent evaluation and management based on a qualitative and three-staged approach: A case of the higher education sector

Abstract

Purpose

The key objective of the study is to understand the best processes that are currently used in managing talent in Australian higher education (AHE) and design a quantitative measurement of talent management processes (TMPs) for the higher education (HE) sector.

Design/methodology/approach

The three qualitative multi-method studies that are commonly used in empirical studies, namely, brainstorming, focus group discussions and semi-structured individual interviews were considered. Twenty-three individuals from six Australian universities participated in this study.

Findings

The qualitative study explored three key themes and ten subthemes of TMPs that are used in AHE. These were: (1) talent attraction, (2) talent development and (3) talent retention.

Research limitations/implications

This study only targeted one country (Australia) and one sector (HE).

Practical implications

This study offers three major contributions as follows: theoretical, practical and policy aspects. Theoretically, the study provides a value-add to Talent Management (TM) theory through designing a guide (conceptual model) of TMPs for the HE sector. Practically, it collects original qualitative data regarding TM in the HE domain. From a policy point of view, this study adds more debate around adding new ideas to Australian education strategic plans for HE.

Originality/value

This study has a unique methodology because of strengthening the effect of an in-depth case study. For instance, two different techniques were used for data analysis for the same research objective as follows: (1) both manual methods and content analysis software (NVivo 11) and (2) the three-stage approach. Using these techniques for the same purpose in one study can provide greater flexibility to examine the relationship between theory and data.

Citation

Mohammed, A.A., Baig, A.H. and Gururajan, R. (2020), "Proposal of a guide for talent evaluation and management based on a qualitative and three-staged approach: A case of the higher education sector", Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, Vol. 12 No. 5, pp. 1045-1078. https://doi.org/10.1108/JARHE-10-2018-0220