Securing the Future: How Talent Retention Strategies Drive the Sustainability of Deposit Money Banks in Southern Nigeria

This study examines the effect of talent retention strategies on the sustainability of deposit money banks in Delta and Edo States, Nigeria. Drawing on the Resource-Based View (RBV) theory, the study operationalises talent retention through three constructs: perceived job security, decision-making autonomy and involvement, and organizational justice, with sustainability of deposit money banks as the dependent variable. A descriptive survey design was employed, with data collected from 294 valid respondents (out of 317 sampled from a population of 1,753 bank employees) using a structured Likert-scale questionnaire validated for reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.87). Multiple regression analysis, conducted via EViews 12.0, revealed that perceived job security (β = 0.203, p < 0.001), decision-making autonomy and involvement (β = 0.190, p < 0.001), and organizational justice (β = 0.227, p < 0.001) each exerted significant positive effects on bank sustainability. The combined model explained approximately 29.2% of the variance in sustainability (R² = 0.292; F = 39.78, p < 0.001), with no evidence of multicollinearity (VIF < 1.02) or serial autocorrelation (Durbin-Watson = 2.038). The findings affirm that human capital management is a strategic pillar of banking sector sustainability in Nigeria. Banks are advised to institutionalize transparent employment policies, expand participatory management structures, and embed fairness across all organizational processes to enhance long-term stability and competitive resilience.