Author(s): Yi-Gean Chen, Jao-Nan Cheng
Talent is the key to institutional development, and finding the right talented faculty is the foundation of institutional success. When planning for key positions in educational institutions, should resources be focused on developing specific talents (exclusive approach) or should each employee be utilized appropriately (inclusive approach)? This is a question about the effectiveness of the resource investment - that is, should a firm consider whether talented faculty developed by resource investment will stay with the institution for a long time or whether faculty are engaged in work? This study aims to explore what kind of talent management approach is more effective in retaining talent in educational institutions, as well as what kind of talent management approach is more effective in keeping talented faculty engaged in their work. A national sample of 986 kindergarten teachers and caregivers from 138 kindergartens in 20 cities was used to analyze the data through OLS (regression analysis) and SEM (structural equation model). The results showed that the inclusive approach to talent management has a strong positive effect on talent retention and talent engagement in education institutions. The effect of this inclusive approach on talent retention is also mediated by organizational justice; i.e., the inclusive approach performs better at retaining talent and employees’ perceptions of organizational justice are also better when each employee is managed well. The exclusive approach, which focuses on managing specific talents, also has an indirect effect on talent engagement, but the effect is weaker. This study shows that educational institutions that want to retain talents and promote talent engagement should adopt an inclusive approach, utilize each employee appropriately, and develop employees’ potential to make the most of the resources invested and to facilitate their perceptions of organizational justice