Talent Management Strategies and Their Perceived Effectiveness: A Comparative Study on Paramedical Employee Retention in Public and Private Hospitals in Oman's Healthcare Sector

Abstract

The success of the paramedical sector relies on the recruitment, retention, and growth of professionals like healthcare practitioners, nurses, laboratory technicians, and radiographers. In this context, it is obvious that the hospital's performance is dependent on managing these talents (paramedical employees), which requires further investigation. The main objective of the study is to perform a comparative analysis of talent management strategies implemented in Oman's healthcare sector, with an emphasis on paramedical employees from public and private hospitals, and assess their impact on employee retention. The study employs a primary research design, gathering data from 200 paramedical staff in 10 public and 21 private hospitals in Muscat through quota sampling. The study found that significant differences were observed in areas like career growth and skill development, promoting diversity and inclusion, employee engagement, and meeting the needs of paramedical employees between public and private hospitals. Public hospitals also face challenges in fair evaluation and talent demonstration, whereas private hospitals face skills shortages, financial pressures, and communication issues. Also, the correlation analysis indicates that recognition of work (0.78) is highly significant for employee retention, followed by work-life balance (0.69), employee engagement (0.61), and leadership development (0.60) compared to other talent management strategies. The study reveals that talent management practices highly influence employee retention, and the level of perceived effectiveness and their opinion on talent management is different among public and private hospitals, which also partially mediates the association between talent management strategies and employee retention.