The determinants of talent retention in the Thai public secto

Abstract

The study aims at analyzing the determinants of talent retention in the Thai public sector. The main objective of this study is to investigate the empirical evidence concerning practical talent management and its outcomes in the civil service system. It also aims at understanding the major factors affecting talent retention in the Thai public sector. In order to achieve such objectives, this study focuses on the following: 1) studying the level of talent retention among HiPPS members, and 2) examining the factors determining the talent retention in the Thai public sector, which are HR practices, talent engagement, and the related context; namely personal, organization, and job characteristics. This study focuses on the individual level by employing the mixed methods design. In the quantitative section of the paper, 218 government officials from 52 government agencies who participate in the HiPPS are the population of this study. Since the number of the population is not huge, all of them can participate the research without sampling chosen.In the qualitative section of the paper, key informants are those that were HiPPS members but that have currently resigned or have transferred from their previous public agencies. Limitations of available data and time constraints made the interviewing possible at 60 percent. After obtaining the two sets of findings, a parallel mixed data analysis was utilized as the strategy for analysis. Based on the findings of this study, the following conclusions can be drawn; 1. The findings indicate a low level of talent retention among HiPPS members. Even thought they agree with HR practices in the HiPPS and also engage in both the organization and their job, they do not intend to stay in the public sector until retirement. 2. HR practices do not significantly correlate with talent retention. 3. Both organizational and job engagement are significantly associated with talent retention ( .645, r.409; 0.01, respectively). This indicates that the higher level of engagement, the higher the level of retention. 4. There is no significant relationship between HR practices and talent engagement. 5. Talent engagement does not mediate the relationship between HR practices and talent retention. 6. Among personal factors, only education background shows a negative significant relation with talent retention (t=-2.684, 0.01). This indicates that the higher education, the lower the retention. 7. There is no relationship between organizational characteristics and talent retention. 8. There is no relationship between job characteristics and talent retention.