Crafting employee engagement through talent management practices in telecom sector

Orientation: Solving the dearth of skilled employees and maintaining the engagement policy are key concerns of the Malaysian telecom sector. Therefore, talent management practices have created a mainstream process for telecom employers to be proactively involved in talent engagement. Research purpose: This study aimed to elucidate the vital talent management practices towards employee engagement in telecom sector, incorporating psychological empowerment as a mediator. Motivation for the study: Studies linking talent management with career development, rewards and recognition, training and development, are still not established in terms of employee engagement in the context of Malaysian telecom sector. Research design, approach and method: An online survey was conducted through the purposive sampling technique to collect data from telecom firms in Malaysia. The survey resulted in 242 responses, which were analysed through Partial Least Squares – Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) and PLS-Predict. In PLS-SEM, data were evaluated for hypothesis testing. After hypothesis result was obtained, the PLS-SEM model was assessed for its predictive validity through PLS-Predict. Main findings: The results explored that talent management factors positively and significantly predicted employee engagement through psychological empowerment, except training and development. The PLS-Predict resulted a higher value of predictive power for our model. Practical/managerial implications: This study may lead to practical applications to support human resource management practitioners towards comprehending the impact of talent management practices, either directly or indirectly, in engaging the right talent. Contribution/value-add: This study will fill the untapped area of improving employee engagement by adding psychological empowerment as a mediator between employee engagement and talent management practices.