The psychometric properties of a talent mindset index

Abstract

The talent mindset of an organisation is a critical success factor which can enhance its capability in driving its strategic objectives. For some, the talent of the organisation may not yet have been defined in relation to the long term objectives whilst other organisations have defined talent but experience uncertainty around the linkage of the various talent management practices. The successful organisations are those that not only understand what core talent means to them, but how to leverage the talent in a manner that allows it to act decisively to drive competitive advantage as well as secure the future success of the organisation. These organisations generally embody a talent mindset. The purpose of this study was to explore the psychometric properties of a talent mindset index which proposes to measure the talent mindset of an organisation through its nine dimensions. The research thus aimed to define the construct validity as well as the reliability of the instrument for usage in business. The ambit of this would be to validate an instrument that could be utilised to establish intervention areas to sustain a talent mindset. Furthermore, the review would allow researchers to further explore the concept of talent mindset, mental models, culture and other related constructs. The talent mindset instrument was administered to a population of 558 Managers and HR professionals, of which a total sample of 154 was obtained within an organisation in the aviation industry. Only 150 of the response data was considered valid for usage in statistical analysis. The researcher conducted an analysis of the data in terms of the descriptives, ran an exploratory factor analysis and reviewed the reliability coefficients of the index in order to identify the psychometric properties of the instrument. The findings were that the instrument displayed a low degree of construct validity with the current methodology, as only one factor could be derived as opposed to the nine proposed in the instrument. The instrument was however found to have a high internal consistency (reliability) with a Cronbach alpha of 0.93, after the 30 items representing the factor were tested. Copyright 2010, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Welby-Cooke, G 2010, The psychometric properties of a talent mindset index, MCom dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-02162012-113318/ > C12/4/200/gm