The moderating role of business competencies in the relationship between Talent Management and Business Performance.

Abstract

In today's VUCA -volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous- environment, organizations are facing rapid shortage in talent, and one of the biggest global challenges facing the industrial organizations are how to win the talent war and how to build its competencies in order to achieve high levels of performance on employees’ and organizations’ level. The relationship between Talent management and business performance has been studied during the last decades by many scholars, some of them agreed that there are probably mediating variables through the Talent management practices, and some of them also denied the relationship. Based on that, it remains a reality that, still there is no clear understanding of the mechanisms by which Talent management affect business performance and what is the role of business competences as a moderator in this relation. In order to understand this relation, the research designed four hypotheses first; there is a relationship between talent management and business performance. Second; there is a relationship between talent management and business competencies. Third; there is a relationship between business competencies and business performance. Fourth; business competencies moderate the relationship between talent management and business performance. The purpose of this study is to study the moderating role of business competencies on the relationship between talent management and business performance in selected industrial organizations operate in Sudan, Khartoum state. Based on the literature review, Black box and Optimis theories the study model was built. The study used descriptive methods; the primary data were obtained through emailed - online- questionnaire. Out of a total of 126 numbers of questionnaires 119 numbers were returned (responses rate was 91%). These collected responses were analyzed using SPSS (version 25). The study results showed that a positive relationship between talent management and business performance, and business competencies partial moderate the relationship between talent management and business performance. Despite the desired implications of this research, the researcher believes that the limitations of this research are; case study approach, partial selected business competences, and the data selection tool. This research greatly contributes to the HRM Practice and the existing human resources management, Talent management, business performance and business competencies literature with key findings such as; talent management have a positive impact on business performance and the business competencies partially moderate the relationship between Talent management and business performance. One of the main conclusions that can be drawn from this study is the essential need for creating well-structured talent management function in the business organization and focus more on the role of business competencies on the relation between talent management and business performance. Taking this into consideration, it is essential to fulfill all stakeholders’ - employers and employees- expectations about the values that are expected to be gained from the implementation of talent management. A further recommendation would be to create a clear measure of current and future set of competencies required by the Department, this would help in upgrading current competencies to the international level. This would have a considerable impact on the deliverables of Talent management in managing business performance. Furthermore, it will help Talent managers and all stakeholders to understand the role that must be played by Talent Management unit, which must cover the two different roles; strategic player and change agent with full of power. Making the business sustainable, big and agile requires to have aligned talent management unit with business context, culture, and structure, and this cannot happen without strong business competencies.

Key words; Talent management, business competencies and performance.