Social Capital and Talent Management: A Comparative Analysis of Foreign and Domestic Owned Hotel Companies in South Asia

Abstract

Talent management as a concept is not new; however, few studies have investigated the association between talent management and social capital despite the fact that the importance of organisational culture has been acknowledged as a significant influence on workforce practices and experiences. The study contained three aims: (i) to investigate the current TM policies and practices implemented in hospitality firms in South Asia and whether there are differences based on a company’s culture; (ii) to assess the character and level of SC prevalent in the hospitality work environment in South Asia; and, (iii) to examine the association between talent management and social capital. The study is set in the context of South Asia and focuses on one domestic and one foreign-owned company, located in Colombo and Delhi. The study conducts a regional and country-level comparison of talent management and social capital based on the company ownership (foreign versus domestic). The study used the quantitative method for the regional level comparison, and a mixed-methods approach was used for the country-level comparison. Finally, to test the talent management-social capital association, the survey data combining foreign-owned and domestic owned companies in the South Asian context were used. From the surveys, a final sample size of 237 responses was used for the analysis. A total of 14 semi-structured interviews were conducted in the qualitative research. The research findings revealed the workforce perspectives and experiences of each talent management practice and social capital indicator resulting in the categorisation of the role of managers, parent companies, and the individual hotel management board, which influences the organisational culture. By examining the association between talent management and social capital, the research has developed a conceptual framework, which depicts variance in the degree of correlation between the variables based on company ownership. The research provides a new lens on the issues, challenges and solutions on talent management and social capital. The study posits that efficient TM practices can act as a tool in building social capital in a hospitality workplace. The tests of association between talent management and social capital has provided an in-depth understanding of how talent management can be theoretically explained through the lens of social capital theory. By doing this, the research has provided an original contribution to management and sociology literature, and specifically to the talent management and organisational social capital literature. The study reveals the positive and adverse impacts of organisational practices on the workforce, contributing to industry practitioners in South Asia and globally.