Web viewSample and procedures . ... The data were collected from the GLCs (i.e. Petronas, Shell Malaysia, Toyota Motor, PROTON, Honda Malaysia), MNCs

WORKPLACE ADAPTATION AND TALENT DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT AMONG MALAYSIAN PROFESSIONAL RETURNEES: INSTITUTIONAL

SUPPORT AS MEDIATOR

Mageswari Kunasegaran, [email protected] Ismail, [email protected] ,

Roziah Mohd Rasdi, [email protected] Ismi Arif bin Ismail, [email protected]

Department of Professional Development and Continuing Education,Faculty of Educational Studies,

Universiti Putra Malaysia,43400 UPM Serdang,Selangor, Malaysia

Stream: Leadership, Management and Talent Development

Submission type: Refereed Paper

Keywords: Workplace Adaptation, Talent Development Environment, Person-Environment Fit Theory, Institutional Support, Professional Returnees

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mailto:[email protected]




WORKPLACE ADAPTATION AND TALENT DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT AMONG MALAYSIAN PROFESSIONAL RETURNEES: INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT AS MEDIATOR

Abstract

Purpose –The study examined the relationship between the talent development environment and workplace adaptation (WA) among Malaysian professional returnees as mediated by institutional support.

Design/methodology/approach – A total of 83 respondents in Malaysia participated in this study and the hypotheses were tested using partial least square (PLS-SEM).

Findings – The results showed that institutional support (from other organisations) is positively related to WA and institutional support (from Talent Corporation) is negatively related to WA.

Research limitation/implication- The study was a cross-sectional in nature and involved a small number of samples from National Key Economy Areas (NKEA) sectors in Malaysia.

Practical implication – The study findings highlight the integration between talent development environment and workplace adaptation with institutional support. The evidence that institutional support mediated WA should be capitalized on by HRD practitioners in public and private sectors to develop returnees in their WA through talent development approach.

Originality/value – The study findings extend the knowledge of WA in the context of professional returnees in a developing country, Malaysia. The integration between talent development environment and WA with the mediating function of institutional support should shed more insights on the role of organization in WA of returnees.

Keywords – Workplace Adaptation, Talent Development Environment, Person-Environment Fit Theory, Institutional Support and Professional Returnees.

. Introduction

Exacerbating shortage of managerial talent and aggravating pressure of satisfying

professional returnees directly contribute to the nation's talent competitive edge in Human

Resource Development (HRD) (Kim, William, Rothwell and Penaloza, 2014; Siddiqui and

Tejada, 2014). Many developing countries are formulating talent returning strategies, such as

Returning Expert Program (REP) in Malaysia to attract returnees to homeland (Talent

Corporation Roadmap 2020, 2012). However, workplace adaptation (WA) remains an

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undiscovered agenda throughout the transmission period between returning and sustaining

process in the homeland (Chimboza, 2012; Chiang and Liao, 2008). WA began to capture the

attention of HRD practitioners when HRD scholars penetrate the organisational socialisation

as a research focus (Reio, 1997) and extended to work adjustment among newcomers (Reio

and Sutton, 2006). Further, scholars highlighted that WA has the most impact on organisation

performance compare to other adaptation cycles that returnees experienced (i.e.

psychological, cross-culture, socio-politics, family and lifestyle) (Chan, 2014; Wang, 2012;

Reio and Sutton, 2006; Chung-Yan, 2005). Moreover, WA has influenced professional

returnees’ to sustain in multinational organisations (MNCs) (Chan, 2014). This relates to the

returnees phenomenology, that each of the returnees has to experience adaptation process

regardless of the duration they may take (Maideen and Aminun, 2015), adjusted to current

work socialisation process (Reio and Sutton, 2006) and new communication pattern that

changes the returnees’ expectation and performance in MNC’s (Chan, 2014; Siddiqui and

Tejada, 2014). Disappointment of professional returnees' in developing countries clearly

proven by previous studies such as little attention on suitable talent development program in

Jamaica has resulted by re-migration of their talent (Hope, 2002), lacks government support

in India (Kenny, Brezbitz and Murphee, 2012) and ignorance of cultural adjustment among

Malaysian returnees has weakened the communication process in the working environment

(Talib, Sofian, Mohamad, Senin and Kadir, 2012). Hence, addressing WA issues among

professional returnees have become an important agenda for HRD practitioners today.

Professional returnees are valuable capital resources as equal as talent migration to developed

countries (Siddiqui and Tejada, 2014). Returnees literature recognized professional returnees

as individuals who had completed minimum academic qualification like degree and worked

abroad (Maideen and Aminun, 2015), have superior knowledge about know-how

technologies, innovators (Li and Yang, 2012), highly skilled (Siddiqui and Tejada, 2014), and

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opportunity creators (Kenny et al., 2012). In this study, professional returnees are individuals

who returned to Malaysia after worked at least a year abroad and have completed a minimum

qualification (degree, diploma or professional certificate).

The next section of this paper continues with the background of the study, the research

problem, followed by theories underlying WA of professional returnees, and a literature

review. The methodological procedures undertaken are explained next, followed by

presentation of findings. The paper ends with a conclusion and practical implication to global

HRD.

Background of the Study and the Research Problem

WA has contributed numerous positive outcomes such as work competency (Reio and Sutton,

2005), job performance (Reio, 1997), reduced employees turnover (Ghosh, Reio and Bang,

2013), improved employees ethics (Reio and Ghosh, 2009) and organisation effectiveness

(Kelly, 2012). In relation to professional returnees, WA enabled them to retain longer in the

home country (Chan, 2014), specifically improved peers relationship (Chiang and Liao,

2008) and knowledge sharing (Wang, 2012), and reduced psychological stress (Maideen and

Aminun, 2015). In global contexts, it was hypothesised that the shorter the WA, the quicker

the professional returnees adventured into entrepreneurship (Wang, 2012; Robert, 2012).

Another study shows a positive outcome between cross-cultural flexibility and WA among

returnees in China (Li, Zhang, Zhou and Zhang, 2012). However, empirical evidence on

sociocultural behaviour showed that WA among Portuguese teenager returnees became

difficult due to discrimination in assimilation they faced in their initial work stage (Felix,

2010).

Scholars have studied WA research from different perspective such as physiological

adaptation in nursing (Roy and Andrews, 1999), cross-cultural and social adaptation among

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returnees in New Zealand (Chaban, William, Holland, Boyce and Warner, 2011), physical-

physiological adaptation in sport science (MacNamara and Dollins, 2010) and problem-

solving adaptation in information system (Kelly, 2012). It has been extended to various types

of returnees’ adaptation such as knowledge brokers (Wang, 2012), young returnees (Chaban

et al., 2011), entrepreneurs (Wei et al., 2012), medical practitioners (Holdway, Levitt, Fang

and Rajaram, 2015), biotechnologist (Siddiqui and Tejada, 2014), high school children

(Chiang and Liao, 2008) and postgraduate (Gill, 2012). Arguably, scholars focused on

returnees’ experiences on psychological and social-culture (Chaban et al., 2011; Holdway et

al., 2015), family and lifestyle changes perspective (Chiang and Liao, 2008; Gill, 2012;

Westwood et al., 2010) rather than integration of returnees with suitable retention programme

in the working environment.

In the context of Malaysia, returnees studies are related to Malaysian push and pull factors

(Jauhar and Yusof, 2011), leveraging Malaysian diaspora (Talib et al., 2012), career

aspiration of returnees (Ismail, Kamaruddin, Umar Baki and Rasdi, 2014) and reverse brain

drain (Ismail, Kunasegaran and Rasdi, 2014). WA is found as an under-researched area in the

country (Talib et al., 2012), despite several transformation programmes have been focused on

them (i.e. REP in Talent Corporation Roadmap 2020, 2012). For instance, Talent Corporation

established in 2011 and worked directly with Prime Minister Department, has offered REP

packages such as 15% flat tax rate, tax exemption on CDK cars, permanent residence status

for foreign spouse and children (Talent Corporation Roadmap 2020, 2012), however, WA

initiatives among Malaysian returnees are still unknown in terms of what factors affecting

them.

Statistics indicates that Malaysian returnees is low compared to the drastic increase in

Malaysian migration abroad that is more than 1.17 million (Lim, Krishnan and Yap, 2014).

Moreover, Malaysian government via Talent Corporation actively developed various

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programmes to enhance professional returnees such as Malaysian Diaspora Network,

Overseas Outreach programme, Sectorial Outreach programme, MyWorkLife programme and

Global Malaysian Network (Talent Corporation Roadmap 2020, 2012). Lim et al. (2014)

further argued that some returnees failed to return due to unattractive returning packages and

lacks supporting system. However, other returnees have made a successful come back to the

countries. A pertinent question then arises “What predicts WA among Malaysian professional

returnees?”

The study examined the relationship between talent development environment factors and

WA among Malaysian professional returnees as mediated by institutional support. The study

contributed to the body of knowledge by focusing on returnees’ talent development factors

from a developing nation’s perspective. Secondly, knowledge on WA would narrow the gap

between the periods of ‘return and sustain’ in the country. Third, the framework would

enhance the needs and challenges of returnees in relation to National Key Economic Areas

(NKEA) sector and foster a positive talent development approach to support returnees’

adaptation in the country. Theoretically the present study further contributed to the

integration of the Person-Environment Fit Theory (French, Caplan and Harrison, 1982) and

Institutional Theory (DiMaggio and Powell, 1993) to WA.

Theorizing Workplace Adaptation

WA is coined from organisational socialization in HRD context, which means a process of

adapting in the forms of acculturation and knowledge sharing (Reio and Sutton, 2006),

capturing work competency technically and professionally (Reio, 1997) and continuous

training (Reio and Sutton, 2006). However, WA has been practiced in nursing industry longer

than HRD context. For example, Roy’s Adaptation Model was developed in 1970 and has

been exercised for more than four decades in various work adaptation perspectives (Roy,

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1970). WA is defined as the “process and outcome whereby thinking and feeling of people as

individuals or in groups, use conscious awareness and choice to create human and

environment integration” (Roy and Andrews, 1999, p.54). In organisation behaviour, WA

viewed as the ability of a person to match between individual job and working environment

needs (Chung-Yan, 2005). Naga and Al-Atiyyat (2014) classified WA in two categories,

positive adaptation response means stimulus or coping skills, meanwhile negative adaptation

response as maladaptation.

We integrated the P-E Fit Theory (French et al., 1982) and the Institutional Theory

(DiMaggio and Powell, 1993) to explain the relationship between WA and its predictors.

Both theories shared similar assumption of the processes involved such as i) they explain the

relationship between individual and the working environment, ii) psychological reaction, and

iii) stimulation of environmental changes towards adaptation.

Person-Environment Fit Theory

Person-Environment Fit (P-E Fit) theory was developed by French et al. (1982) to investigate

employees stress level in the working environment. Generally, the P-E Fit theory is used to

describe the relationship between of the individual changes in the workplace such as stress,

conflict, adjusting and adapting to new changes (Caplan and Harrison, 1993). The P-E Fit

theory is a well-established theory and highly tested in the context of psychological

behaviour, job satisfaction, motivation, work stress, turnover, organisation socialisation, work

adjustment and cross-culture behaviour (Caplan and Harrison, 1993; Kristof-Brown,

Zimmerman, and Johnson, 2005; Reio and Sutton, 2006; Abdul Wahat, 2008). A meta-

analysis of the P-E Fit Theory by Kristof-Brown et al. (2005) contributed two important

findings, i) it compares and matches between individual and work environment, ii) it

emphasizes integration between organizational behaviour and individual experiences.

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Scholars have studied the P-E Fit Theory in the context of work adaptation and adjustment.

For instance, Chung-Yan’s (2005) has studied adaptability level of functional job analysis

with work stress, Ramalu, Wei and Rose (2011) has analysed the cross-cultural with work

adjustment among Malaysian expatriates and Abdul Wahat (2008) has investigated the work

adjustment of new academics in Malaysian public universities. There are seven sub-

dimensions of P-E Fit Theory such as Person-Job fit (Kristof-Brown et al., 2005); Person-

Culture fit (Delle, 2013); Person-Organisation fit (Kristof-Brown et al., 2005); Person-Person

fit (Boon and Hartog, 2011); Person-Group fit (Boon and Hartog, 2011); Person-Supervisor

fit (Kristof-Brown et al., 2005) and Person-Vocation fit (Caplan and Harrison, 1993). This

research adopted the first two sub-dimensions of the above to support the relationship

between long-term job focus and communication (P-J Fit theory), support network and long-

term development (P-O Fit theory) and WA of professional returnees.

Institutional Theory

The Institutional Theory was used to identify the influence of institution support on WA. Past

studies have conceptualized WA using the Institutional Theory in returnees’ literature

(Siddiqui and Tejada, 2014; Bercovitz, Martens and Savage, 2013). Institution is a

combination of organisation culture, values and networks in term of organisation survival

(DiMaggio and Powell, 1993). Empirical evidence, demonstrate that lacks organisation’s

support in India, had created a gap that suppressed returnees’ knowledge sharing intention

(Siddiqui and Tejada, 2014). Similar finding was found by Bercovitz et al. (2013) that lack

institutional support in Mexico limited returnees’ entrepreneurs to succeed in homeland.

However, Roberts (2012) found a positive relationship between institutional support and

knowledge sharing of returnees’ entrepreneurs in South Korea. As a summary, institution

supports directly or indirectly influence returnees’ adaptation process in homeland.

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Therefore, this study incorporates Institutional Theory to strengthen the mediating role of

institutional support in the relationship between predictors and WA.

Predictors of workplace adaptation

The concept of talent development was derived from literature of talent management,

especially when “War for Talent” was highlighted by McKinsey on talent shortage

phenomenology (Scullian and Collings, 2010). Talent management is a process of talent

identification, selection, development and retention. It has been extended to succession

planning (Rothwell, 2013; Kim et al., 2014), coaching-mentoring and high-potential

performance of employees (Rothwell, 2013). Empirical evidence proven that there was a

positive relationship between competitive talent development construct and workplace

environment among newcomers (Annakis, Dass and Isa, 2014). In Malaysian perspective,

talent management and development became a compulsory agenda for all GLCs to fulfil their

key performance index (Tenth Malaysian Plan, 2010-2015). An empirical finding in GLC-

universities linkages supports a positive result between talent management and performance

competency (Annakis et al., 2014).

Previously, returnees talent has been associated with the attraction strategy by the home

country (Jauhar and Yusof, 2011), but the consequences have prompted researchers to further

investigate the adaptability of professional returnees in homeland (Ismail et al., 2014).

Moreover, it is recommended in past studies (Hope, 2002; Chimboza, 2012) to further

examine the relationship between talent development and WA. In addition, the growth of

talent development directly contributed to HRD areas such as personal development, career

development, professional development and organisational development (Garavan, Carbery

and Rock, 2012). Therefore, talent development of professional returnees is seen as a new

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attempt to close the duration between the periods of return, adaptation and sustenance in the

home country.

Against the above backdrop, we adopted talent development environment approach from

Martindale et al. (2010). Talent development environment model was initially used in sports

science management among young elite athletes in the United Kingdom. TDE model was

based on three important aspects such as individual needs (i.e. long term job focus,

communication and understanding of athletes’ profile), supporting elements (i.e. quality

preparation, support networks and long term development) and environmental changes (i.e.

challenges and supportive environment). The model has been chosen owing to its long-

established line of research in talent development, extended from Bloom’s Model of Talent

Development (Martindale et al, 2007). The model is recommended to explore to other talent

development literature such as professional returnees (Wang, Sproule, McNeil, Martindale

and Lee, 2011). In this study, we selected four predictors based on the highest reliability

values found in literature, namely long-term job focus (0.98), support network (0.90)

communication (0.87) and long-term development (0.88) (Martindale et al., 2010).

Long- term job focus and workplace adaptation

Long-term job focus refers to on-going opportunities, clear expectation, long term

progression attributes such as attitudes, responsibility, dedication, adaptive skills,

performance ability as perceived by the returnees (Martindale, Collins and Abraham, 2007;

Martindale et al., 2010). Work focus associates with returnees characteristics such as job

flexibility, job expectation (Gill, 2012), work dedication and commitment (Wang, 2012).

Scholars found that trust element played a role in Malaysian returnees’ view and has an

impact on working pattern, transparency, career development, performance evaluation and

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adaptive skills (Talib et al., 2012). Generally, trust and transparency are two sub-items reflect

long-term job focus of the returnees (Martindale et al. 2010; Talib et al., 2012).

Communication and workplace adaptation

One of the most challenges for professional returnees to adapt in the home country is the

effective communication in the workplace (Gill, 2012; Portalla and Chen, 2010). Intercultural

communication enhances a good communication network and creates bonding between

returnees and local employees (Portalla and Chen, 2010). Communication network between

the host and home countries has a high impact on returnees’ adjustment process (Gill, 2012).

For instance, the social and business communication network facilitates work adaptation from

Silicon Valley model to the Taiwan Hsinchu Park among returnees in Taiwan (Chiang and

Liao, 2008). It further supports financial infrastructure and technology advancement as far as

the WA of the concerned returnees (Yu-Chung, 2007). Communication network builds

knowledge sharing among Chinese returnees in China (Wang, 2012). Furthermore, Portalla

and Chen (2014) agreed that communication has enhanced language proficiency and diversity

multi-language capability. A review of talent literature shows that formal and informal

communication found to be pertinent to maximising the effectiveness of talent development

programme in workplace (Martindale et al., 2007).

Support network and workplace adaptation

Networking behaviour is to maintain the relationship, build the relationship, engage with

others, and who have the potential to create values in their professional development (Forret

and Dougherty, 2004). Repatriation and re-migration literatures frequently indicate that

support network is one of the key factors for returnees to adapt and sustain in the home

country (Wang, 2012; Roberts, 2012). The process of retuning does not only involve human

as capital but also their networks, known as migration network or infrastructure network

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(Xiang and Linquist, 2014). Support network refers to the collaborative connectivity between

returnees and the organisation, community (i.e. research community, social community, peers

community, family members) and professional associations (Wright, Liu and Filatotchev,

2008). Research community and research networks are more prominent with global

professional and entrepreneur returnees (Wang, 2012). Support network is divided into two,

internal support from home country and external support from host countries (Chimboza,

2012; Wright et al., 2008; Martindale et al., 2010). Empirical finding supported that the

higher the collaboration between the home and the host countries, the better chances for local

incubators grow (Wright et al., 2008). In recent studies, through qualitative and quantitative

approaches, support network is shown as a fundamental reason for returnees’ success in

Taiwan and China (Wang, 2012; Wright et al., 2008) due to their government commitment

towards hubs integration. Similar result gained from talent development in sport science

management, the internal network support such as good relationship between coach and

athlete has a strong impact on talent performance (Martindale et al., 2010; Wang et al., 2011).

Long-term development and workplace adaptation

Long-term development refers to one’s continual professional development such as on-going

development, training and motivation (Martindale et al., 2010). Training diversification,

development and leadership programme have increased the retention rate among professional

and entrepreneur returnees in China (Zhu et al., 2013). Succession planning is a long term

career and professional development that creates strong values for talent to adapt and retain in

an organisation (Kim et al., 2012). Rothwell (2013) view succession planning as a process of

identifying a critical position in the organisation, developing talent skills from lower

managerial level to top management and helps an individual realizes their potential.

Succession planning is an integrated talent development program that reflects the dynamic

business environment and ability to compete in-real time (Rothwell, 2013; Kim et al., 2012).

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Further, mentoring and coaching are another form of continues talent development

programme (Kim et al., 2012).

Institutional support as a mediating variable

In this paper, we established institutional support as a mediating variable between predictors

and the criterion variable. Institutional support acts as an agent, purposefully working

towards changing existing or creating novel institutions (IIes, Preece and Chuai, 2010; Kenny

et al., 2012). Basically, institutional support is divided into three categories namely public,

private and civil (Agrawal, 2008). Public institutions consist of local agencies (local agencies

at higher levels of government operating) and local governments (organisations accountable

to a local constituency); private institutions referred to as service organisations (non-

government organisations) and private businesses. Meanwhile, civil institutions contain

membership organisations (general interest) and cooperatives (partnership) (Argawal, 2008).

In this study, we selected Talent Corporation and other organisations then Talent Corporation

(i.e. GLCs and MNCs) as institutional support to integrate the relationship between talent

development and WA. For instance, China government provides integration hub facilities

between high institutions, industries and incubator projects or technology parks (i.e. Hundred

Top Talent Programme, 1998; Incubators projects, 2001) (Zweig et al., 2008; Wei et al.,

2012). It has stimulates more returnees to return and retain in China. Kustnetsov (2008) found

that Scotland government support returnees’ with GlobalScot programme that linked diaspora

networks with government institutions to develop research and development. In Malaysian

perspectives, Talent Corporation acts an agent between government agencies, industries, and

returnees. Meanwhile, GLCs and MNCs support professional returnees through returnees’

satisfaction, commitment, good relationship, motivation and objective oriented (Hutchison

and Sowa, 1986). Therefore, institutional support plays an important role between talent

development and WA of returnees in Malaysia. It is aligned with Kuznetsov’s (2008)

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recommendation that institutions in developing country like Malaysia should act as an

important agent to stimulate knowledge-intensive ventures for returnees and local

employees.

Based on the above evidences, we therefore developed the following hypotheses:

H1: Institutional support (Talent Corporation) positively mediates the relationship between

long-term job focus with WA of professional returnees.


communication with WA of professional returnees.


support network with WA of professional returnees.


long-term development with WA of professional returnees.

H5: Institutional support (other organisations) positively mediates the relationship between

long-term job focus with WA of professional returnees.


communication with WA of professional returnees.


support network with WA of professional returnees.


long-term development with WA of professional returnees.

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Figure 1: Conceptual Framework showing the Independent, Dependent and Mediating Variables.

Methodology

Research Instruments

Independent Variables

Long-term job focus: We measured long term job focus using the Talent Development

Environment Questionnaire (TDEQ) scale designed by Martindale et al. (2010) with α=0.98.

There are 6 sub-items used under this variable namely expectation, flexibility and constant

supports.

Communication: Communication construct is measured by TDEQ (Martindale et al., 2010)

and the reliability analysis is 0.88. It blended with Intercultural Effective Measure (Portalla

and Chen, 2010) and internal consistency was α=.87. There are 7 sub-items tested under this

construct.

Support Network: We adopted the networking measurement behaviour using 28 items

adapted from Forret and Dougherty’s (2001) Networking Behaviour Scale. The scale includes

maintaining contact, socializing, engaging professional activities and community. The

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Other organisations

Workplace Adaptation

Long-term development

Dependent VariableTalent

Corporation

Mediator

Support network

Communication

Long-term job focus

Independent Variables

reliability values are 0.79, 0.77, 73 and 0.75, respectively. There are 8 sub-items tested that

include 6 sub-items from Networking Behaviour Scale (Forret and Dougherty, 2001) and 2

sub-items from TDEQ (Martindale et al., 2010), namely coach support and network with

reliability value 0.90, respectively.

Long-term development: We measured long term development based on TDEQ (Martindale

et al., 2010), with α=.87 and talent management (Kim et al., 2014). There are 6 sub-items

tested for long term development construct.

Mediators: There are two mediators used under institutional support constructs which are

government (Talent Corporation) and other organisations. The former was measured using 9

sub-items in which 5 sub-items tested through POS (Hutchison and Sowa, 1986) and 4 sub-

items tested through Dai and Liu (2009) with reliability score 0.83, and 0.80, respectively.

Dependent Variable

Workplace Adaptation: We measured WA using two combined measurement scales of

Workplace Adaptation Questionnaire (WAQ) (Reio and Sutton, 2006) and Work Adaptation

Measurement scale (Chung-Yan, 2005). Three sub-scales items were adapted from WAQ

(job knowledge, acculturation and establishing relationship). The reliability values are 0.94,

0.88 and 0.91, respectively. Another component of sub-item measured Work Adaptation

Measurement (Chung-Yan, 2005) with α=0.75, to understand three dimensions such as easy

to adjust, positive feeling and acceptance. A total 6 questions were tested in formative

measurement approach and one question tested based on general perspective of WA.

Sample and procedures

Talent Corporation reported about 3,750 returnees available in Malaysia through REP

program (Talent Corporation Roadmap 2020, 2012). The sample size was estimated based on

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‘10 times rule’ that means a minimum sample should be 10 times the maximum number of

arrowheads pointing at the latent variable in PLS-SEM (Hair, Hult, Ringle and Sarstedt,

2014). In this this study there are seven variables (4 independent variables, 2 mediators and 1

dependent variable), which shows the minimum sample size is 70. The data were collected

from the GLCs (i.e. Petronas, Shell Malaysia, Toyota Motor, PROTON, Honda Malaysia),

MNCs (i.e. Samsung, IBM, HCL-Axon, HSBC bank, OCBC bank, Maybank, KPJ

Healthcare) and higher learning institutions (Taylor University, Sunway University, UPM,

UKM, USM). Specifically, the study covered 7 out of 12 sectors of NKEAs in Malaysia (i.e.

Oil, gas and energy; financial service; education; communication and infrastructure; electrical

and electronic; healthcare; business service), (Talent Corporation Roadmap 2020, 2012). The

returnees consist of professionals such as scientists, medical practitioners, academics,

managers, and information technologists. To have a better response rate we made contacts

with the HR specialists within each GLC and MNC, and a replacement questionnaire was

sent to respondents who had not responded to the initial survey.

Data Analysis and Findings

Demographic Profile

A total of 83 Malaysian professional returnees responded to the questionnaire. The SPSS

software was used to obtain the frequencies of the demographic profile. The average age of

respondents are 38 years old (SD = 7.1), with age range from 24 to 54 years. Most of them

have worked abroad with average of three years (SD = 5.3), with minimum one year and

maximum 35 years. Male respondents constituted 64%, meanwhile female respondents

represented by 36%, indicating that male professionals had a greater tendency than female

returned from abroad. This group of returnees consists of top management personnel, senior

managers/managing directors (22%), engineers (17%), IT consultants (16%), information

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technologist (13%) and academic (7%). A total of 70% of them perceived that they have no

difficulty in WA in Malaysia while 80% of them perceived that Talent Corporation did not

help much returnee’s in their WA.

0.22

0.05

-0.22 0.189

-0.05

0.05

0.19 R2=0.14

0.393

0.24

0.645

Figure 2: Hypotheses Testing Results

Assessment of the Measurement Model

Data analysis was conducted using PLS-SEM. PLS is a structural equation modelling (SEM)

technique that allows for the simultaneous analysis of both the measurement model

(relationships between latent constructs and their measurement items) and the structural

model (relationships between latent constructs). PLS-SEM was chosen due to few reasons.

First, this study was focused on predictive relationships of the independent variables on a

dependent variable. Second, the conceptual model in this study was derived from previous

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Other organisations

Talent Corporation


Support Network

Communication

Long-term job focus

studies that add new measures and structural paths. Third, this study uses a Type II reflective-

formative measurement model in measuring the dependent variable of WA, which is a

condition in using PLS-SEM. Fourth, professional returnees in this study are considered elite

human resources and our accessibility to this group is constrained by the limited information

about their referrals as they are dispersed in their employment.

Measurement model was used to test the construct reliability and validity. To assess

convergent validity, the factor loadings and the average variance extracted (AVE) were

examined. The individual measurement items loading factors cut-off value is 0.70 (Hair et al.,

2014). As shown in Table 1, all the loading factors are above 0.70 as well as AVE values are

above 0.5, followed by composite reliability (CR) above 0.7. Thus, the measurement used for

each variable in this study is valid. Based on these measurement model results the data meet

the requirement of the analysis.

Table 1: Measurement Model

Model Construct

Measurement Items

Loading factor

AVE CR R Square

Long-term job focus

Expectation 0.747 0.647 0.845

Management Support

0.782

Management understand

0.879

Communication Communication Network

0.722 0.688 0.815

Knowledge sharing

0.913

Support network Research participation

0.778 0.691 0.869

Research work continues

0.902

Research Connectivity

0.810


Training and Development continues

0.939 0.811 0.945

Training add values

0.898

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Succession planning

0.874

Other organisations

Organisation Caring

0.856 0.759 0.926 0.481

Employees Wellbeing

0.920

Organisation interest

0.873

Talent Corporation

Incentive 0.814 0.746 0.898 0.12

Government Events

0.895


Easy 0.871 0.777 0.912 0.14

Acceptance 0.866Adjusted 0.907

Assessment of the Structural Model

A structural model was used to assess the collinearity, path coefficient (β), coefficient of

determination (R2) and predictive relevance in this study. All the exogenous variables

(independent variables and mediators) were tested using tolerance and variance inflation

factor (VIF) to identify collinearity in selected constructs. The VIF values are communication

(1.642), support network (1.017), long-term job focus (1.88), long-term development (1.89),

Talent Corporation (1.10) and other organisations (1.74), which are not above the value of

5.00, the cut-off value (Hair et al., 2014). Therefore, there is no collinearity issue in this

study. Based on analysis in Table 2, it was found that communication has a negative

relationship with WA (β= -0.035, p<0.05), as well as with institutional support such as Talent

Corporation (β=-0.22, p<0.05) and other organisations (β=-0.05; p<0.05). However, the other

constructs have positive relationship with WA and with mediators. For instance, support

network has a positive relationship with WA (β=0.064; p<0.05) and had improved the

relationship value after mediation by Talent Corporation (β=0.05, p<0.05) but not with other

organizations (β=0.188, p<0.05). Meanwhile, long-term job focus has a positive relationship

with WA (β= 0.51, p<0.05), but has reduced the impact after mediation by Talent

Corporation (β= 0.211, p<0.05) and other organisations (β= 0.06, p<0.05). Finally, the long-

20

term development construct has a positive relationship with WA (β= 0.3, p<0.05) and slightly

drop after mediation by Talent Corporation (β= 0.26), but has a strong impact on institutional

support from other organisations (β=0.65, p<0.05) (refer to Table 2). Thus, only two

hypotheses, H6 and H8 are supported.

Table 2: Results of Hypotheses testing for Institutional Supports as a Mediator

HypothesesRelationship

DirectEffect

IndirectEffect

SE T-Statistics

P value Decision

H1: JF-TC 0.511 0.041 0.033 1.262 0.34Not supported

H2: Com-TC -0.035 -0.043 0.032 -1.318 -0.211Not supported

H3: SN-TC 0.064 0.009 0.027 0.346 0.488Not supported

H4: LTD-TC 0.300 0.047 0.033 1.422 0.30Not supported

H5: JF-OO 0.511 0.022 0.038 0.576 0.28 Not supported

H6: Com- OO -0.035 -0.020 0.042 -0.466 -0.25Not supported

H7: SN- OO 0.064 0.072 0.041 1.780** 0.04** Supported

H8: LTD- OO 0.300 0.253 0.112 2.265** 0.02** SupportedNote: **p<0.05, JF-TC=Long-term job focus-Talent Corporation, Com-TC=Communication-Talent Corporation; SN-TC=Support Network-Talent Corporation; LTD-TC=Long-term development-Talent Corporation; JF OO =long-term job focus-Other organisations; Com-OO=Communication-Other organisations; SN-OO=Support Network-Other organisations; LTD-OO =Long-term development-Other organisations.

The coefficients of determination (R2) are 0.481 for WA, 0.12 for Talent Corporation and

0.136 for other organisations. Therefore, talent development environment constructs, Talent

Corporation and other organisations explain 48.1% of variance in WA. It means that 51.9%

of the variance in WA is explained by the other factors which are not covered in this study.

Another component that we measured in structural model was predictive capability. The

predictive capability of the model is assessed by calculating the predictive relevance (Q2) of

the model. It was done through cross-validity redundancy to calculate Q2. According to Hair

21

et al. (2014), Q2 must show a value greater than (0) when exogenous variables predictive

relevance on the particular endogenous variable. If Q2 with zero value or below than zero, it

indicates a lack of predictive relevance. Q2 value is determined using blindfolding procedures

in SmartPLS 2.0 (Hair et al., 2014). Blindfolding is a sample reuse technique that omits every

dth data point in the construct’s indicators of the endogenous variable and uses the resulting

estimates to predict the omitted part (Hair et al., 2014).

In this study, institutional support from other organisations and WA has a medium effect with

Q2, 0.32. In contrast, the 0.038 is the Q2 effect size for the predictive relevance of institutional

support from Talent Corporation on WA. The 0.04 indicates that the latter has a small effect

in producing Q2 for WA (Table 3). According to Cohen (1998), the rule of thumb is that the

values of 0.02, 0.15, and 0.35 represent small, medium, and large effect size, respectively.

Additionally, Preacher and Kelley (2011), effect size serves as a practical guide to interpret

the practical importance of a specific relationship. Thus, it can be interpreted that institutional

support from other organisations than Talent Corporation has a medium effect on WA

amounting to 32% and it has a small effect on that from Talent Corporation amounting to

3.8% (Table 3). As summary, Q2 value is smaller than R2; and Q2 value is considerably greater

than zero, it means the model used in this study is predictive relevance.

Table 3: Effect size for Q2

Relationship R2 Effect Size (Q2) MagnitudeTalent Corporation-WA

0.117 0.038* Small

Other organisations-WA

0.481 0.32** Medium

Note: Effect size of Q2 (0.02-small*; 0.15-medium**; 0.35-large)

Discussion

22

This study has revealed that WA among Malaysian professional returnees is important to

establish long term commitment in organisation development. It also positively correlates

with institutional support, thus corroborating prior studies relating to WA (Siddiqui and

Tejada, 2014; Bercovitz el al., 2013). In addition, this study showed the impact of two

institutional supports has resulted two differences impact on WA. Institutional support from

Talent Corporation has less effect compared to other form of organisations. This is clearly

found in our findings (Table 2) none of the hypotheses testing are supporting to Talent

Corporation. The long-term development and support network constructs significantly

influenced WA, with institutional support (other organisations). This finding is consistent

with previous studies such as training diversification for returnees by Zhu et al. (2013) and

support network sustain returnees in homeland (Roberts, 2012). This study contributes to the

body of knowledge by adding the value to WA in term of adjustment. We also found that

long-term development and support network were significantly correlated with WA. These

results provide support to H6 and H8. Communication has negative relationship with

institutional support and WA. Our finding contradicted with previous study among

professional returnees in China, Taiwan, and Scotland (Portalla and Chen, 2010; Gill, 2012;

Chiang and Liao, 2008; Kuznetsov, 2008). However, long-term job focus has positive

relationship with institutional support (from Talent Corporation and other organisations) and

WA.

Implication to HRD Theory and Practice

This study has a number of theoretical and practical implications to HRD. From the

theoretical perspective, it highlights the role of institutional support in mediating the

relationship between talent development predictors and working environment which lends

support to P-E Fit Theory (Caplan and Harrison, 1993) and Institutional Theory (DiMaggio

and Powell, 1993). The integration of those two theories has results better value compared to

23

explain WA of returnees. The independent variables were themes by P-J Fit theory (long-

term job focus and communication) and P-O Fit theory (support network and

communication).

From practical perspectives, our study findings also reveal that the integration between

institutional support (Talent Corporation) and WA has a small effect size. It means

institutional support from Talent Corporation was not found to correlate well with WA of

returnees. Moreover, the findings proved that only 20% agreed that Talent Corporation has

helped in their WA. Hence, policy makers and HRD practitioners in government

organisations should be cautious in developing and implementing suitable strategies for

returned professional in Malaysia. Institutional support from other organisations (GLCs and

MNCs) should be further intensified.

Conclusion and Future Research

In conclusion, it has been empirically shown that talent development environment constructs

are positively related to WA with institutional support (from other organisations) and

negatively related to WA with institutional support (from Talent Corporation). Institutional

support from talent development environment model also has an indirect effect on WA via

the mediating role of institutional support using P-E Fit and Institutional theories. We used

PLS-SEM procedures to arrive at our research objectives.

We have reasons to conclude that institutional support (from Talent Corporation) did not

mediate the relationship between selected constructs such as long-term job focus,

communication, support network and long-term development. Findings highlighted that

Talent Corporation still has a long way to show its effective role in managing professional

returnees in Malaysia. We also conclude that institutional support (from other organisations)

has better influences on WA compared to Talent Corporation. Specially, long-term

24

development and institutional support (from other organisations) have shown strong impact

on WA, in terms of continuous training, succession planning, mentoring and coaching.

Our study has a number of limitations that should be noted. First, our study sample focused

on elite group that accessibility to them is quite limited. Thus, generalization of the results to

population of returnees is limited. Second, the respondents are generated from several

professions that they were not able to represent a bigger employment sector. Third, this study

was limited to four independent variables in the investigation.

Based on the limitations of the study we recommend several areas for future research. First,

future research should consider other independent variables such as organisation culture

factors. Second, future investigation should also cover organization networking as the

mediator owing to reason that returnees have connections with prior employers which this

aspect of social capital should be deployed in their professions. Third, should conduct in-

depth study on the role of Talent Corporation among professional returnees, to mix-match

between skills and their employment opportunities. Fourth, qualitative approach would

provide further insights of the returnees’ experiences the various employment sectors as each

of the GLCs or MNCs is unique in terms of organisation structure and talent development

planning. This would help to bridge the gap between HRD practitioners and to develop a

suitable talent development approach.

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Web viewSample and procedures . ... The data were collected from the GLCs (i.e. Petronas, Shell Malaysia, Toyota Motor, PROTON, Honda Malaysia), MNCs

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