Attracting talent as a catalyst for sustaining learning organisations — a South African perspective

Orientation: Although talent is a strategic asset for achieving organisational success, most higher education institutions (HEIs) struggle to attract talented academics required to compete.Research purpose: The primary purpose of this study was to examine talent attraction practices that create a competitive advantage for South African HEIs.Motivation for the study: The study was necessary to enhance the competitiveness of HEIs through talent attraction practices such as recruitment and selection, job analysis and employer branding.Research approach/design and method: The concurrent mixed-methods approach was used to analyse the quantitative and qualitative data independently. A sample size of 347 was selected from three South African HEIs. However, the data were collected from only 277 respondents using questionnaires (265) and interviews (12). The quantitative data were analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (version 27.0) and Analysis of Moment Structures (version 29.0). The qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis.Main findings: The quantitative results showed a significant positive relationship between recruitment and selection, job analysis, employer branding and competitive advantage. The qualitative findings confirmed that talent attraction strategies created a competitive advantage for HEIs by hiring highly talented employees.Practical/managerial implications: The research findings could be a viable tool to create value for HEIs by adopting different talent attraction strategies to acquire highly talented employees.Contribution/value-add: This study sheds more light on the talent attraction practices that create value for HEIs.