Influence of Talent Management Practices on Knowledge Retention in Government Ministries in Kenya

Abstract

Public sector organizations (PSOs) are the most knowledge centric organizations that create and utilize more knowledge than other organizations. Kenya Vision 2030 acknowledges the central role of knowledge in boosting wealth creation, social welfare and international competitiveness. Since knowledge is a critical resource mainly resident in the workforce it is a continually shifting asset which is at risk of being lost whenever there is employee separation thus there is a link between HRM and knowledge retention. Retaining critical knowledge is relevant for all organizations particularly knowledge-intensive ones like the public sector. With new generations entering and older ones exiting the job market, there is need for businesses to be more strategic and competitive in the way they manage their workforce. Talent management is therefore imperative in all organizations. At the heart of knowledge management there is need for organizations to use HRM systems to access the tacit knowledge held by individual workers and make critical decisions on knowledge retention. This study has examined the influence of talent management practices on knowledge retention in government ministries in Kenya. Specific objectives of the study were: to assess the influence of talent attraction, talent development, talent mobilization and talent retention on knowledge retention. The moderating effect of top management commitment on the influence of talent management practices on knowledge retention was also examined. The scope of the study was seven ministries that were systematically sampled out of twenty one government ministries in Kenya. The study was guided by Knowledge Economy, Resource Based View of the firm, Human capital, Social Exchange and Hertzberg’s Two Factor theories. A conceptual framework was developed illustrating relationships among the independent, dependent and moderating variables of the study. Descriptive research design was adopted for the study. The target population of the study was 65,152 employees in 21 government ministries from which a population sample size of 385 respondents was statistically selected. There was purposive sampling of employees in the ranks of senior management and middle level management as respondents. A structure questionnaire was used for primary data collection and review of secondary sources of data was done. Pilot testing was done in one government ministry which was not included in the main study. Out of the distributed 385 questionnaires, 276 were completed and returned which was 72% response rate. The data collected was analyzed using SPSS Version 22. Descriptive analysis was done on the qualitative data. Pearson’s correlation and regression analysis were done under the inferential analysis. Multiple regression model was used to test the relationship between the dependent and independent variables where all the study hypotheses were tested. Findings of the study indicated that all the talent management practices examined in the study had influence on knowledge retention. Top management commitment was also found to have a significant moderating effect on the influence of all the talent management practices on knowledge retention individually and collectively. On the basis of the results of the tests and study findings, the null hypotheses were rejected and the alternate ones accepted. It was concluded that talent management practices positively and significantly influence knowledge retention. Tables, pie charts, graphs and scatter plot were used to present the findings of the study from analyzed data results.