**1. Introduction**

Hospitality organisations recently witnessed an unprecedented change in their functional areas of management, which was caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and this has resulted in a high demand for potential talent that would assist the industry in bouncing back to its original state. However, in order to bounce back successfully from the abovementioned alterations, talent with discretionary work attitude need to be attracted into the hospitality industry. It is based on this premise that experts elucidated that the prosperity and sustainability of hospitality organisations depend on the discretionary work behaviour of talent that are saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that organisational goals are accomplished in line with predefined strategies (Abdou et al. 2022; Chi et al. 2021). When employees go beyond their job description, they are exhibiting discretionary work behaviour which is born out of the passion they have for the organisation, and in doing so, the organisation gains more in terms of quick service delivery, customer satisfaction, effectiveness and high profitability. Dialoke and Edeh (2016) contended that discretionary

**Citation:** Edeh, Friday Ogbu, Nurul Mohammad Zayed, Iryna Perevozova, Halyna Kryshtal, and Vitalii Nitsenko. 2022. Talent Management in the Hospitality Sector: Predicting Discretionary Work Behaviour. *Administrative Sciences* 12: 122. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/admsci12040122

Received: 18 August 2022 Accepted: 20 September 2022 Published: 22 September 2022

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work behaviour has engendered an increase in customer attraction and retention in the hospitality industry. In addition, employees that engage in discretionary work behaviour are much happier at workplace compared to their counterparts (Freire and Gonçalves 2021; Bilan et al. 2017). Studies have shown that discretionary work behaviour improves the well-being and job satisfaction of employees (Wang 2018). Research has also revealed that organisations that do not encourage workers to exhibit discretionary work behaviour would not be able to withstand their competitors in the same industry (Edeh et al. 2021; Edeh et al. 2020; Baharun et al. 2019). It therefore implies that discretionary work behaviour is an instrument for competitive advantage. Omoankhanlen and Issa (2022) are of the view that hospitality firms that make large profits are based on the discretionary work behaviour that its employees exhibit in the discharge of their duties in the workplace. Conversely, Zsigmond et al. (2021), in their study with regard to the hospitality business, conclude that the most significant indicator of sustainable performance in the sector is a stable customer base. However, Vuong (2022) opposed the above submission and argued that without the extra effort of employees in service sector, customers would not be retained.

In the light of the above, most hospitality businesses in sub-Saharan Africa especially in Nigeria have been faced with numerous challenges ranging from poor service delivery, low customer patronage, social loafing, inability to assist other coworkers without expecting a reward in return, lack of sportsmanship, inability to prevent problems before they occur, employee unwillingness to identify threats that could affect the smooth running of the organisation, and employee inability to go beyond their job description (Nelson 2021; Ampofo 2020; Gbadeyanka 2016). The above maladies can be resolved when hospitality organisations implement talent management practices which would motivate employees to engage in discretionary work behaviour. Studies have shown that talent management has significant relationship with workers effectiveness, workers commitment, employee performance, employee turnover, organisational engagement, employee retention, and job satisfaction (Tetik and Zaim 2021; Ingram and Nitsenko 2021; Al-Dalahmeh et al. 2020; Yousuf and Yan 2019; Edeh and Dialoke 2016).

Nevertheless, studies such as Kravariti et al. (2022), Bazaluk et al. (2022), Refan et al. (2021), Jepchumba (2021), Ramadan et al. (2021), Sopiah et al. (2020), Wangechi et al. (2020), Ollor and Harry (2020), Bagheri et al. (2020), Edeh and Mlanga (2019), Hafez et al. (2017), Thiriku and Were (2016), and Maxwell and MacLean (2008) investigated the effects, influence, relationship and role of talent management in relation to other criterion variables in the hospitality industry as well as other sectors, but none examined the effect of talent management on discretionary work behaviour in four-star hotels in Nigeria. This has created a huge gap which this study has filled. This is what motivated the researchers to investigate the effect of talent management on discretionary work behaviour in hospitality organisations, with a specific focus on four-star hotels in south eastern part of Nigeria as a study scope and geographical scope. In addition, this research is very significant because with the effective implementation of talent management practices in the hospitality industry, talent would be willing to engage in discretionary work behaviour, thereby restoring the structure that was ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic. The choice of hospitality organisations is based on their contributions to global economic development and sustainability. The industry contributed 10.4% of global GDP in 2019, with 334 million jobs created, and dropped in 2020 to a contribution of 5.5% of global GDP and 272 million jobs, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic (World Travel and Tourism Council 2021). In Africa, for instance, the accommodation (hotel) sector of the hospitality industry increased 7.4% in terms of revenue in Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Mauritius, and Tanzania, while the revenue increased by 20% in Nigeria, 14.6% in Kenya, and 11.7% in Mauritius economies, respectively (PWC 2021).

#### **2. Literature Review and Hypotheses Development**

#### *2.1. Talent Management (TM)*

Talent management (TM) is a contemporary nomenclature of human resource management (HRM). This is a result of the dynamism arising from skill gaps and demand for new competencies, which was orchestrated by digital apparatus in the world of work. It is based on these metamorphoses that human resource professionals, practitioners and scholars began to move in that direction to avoid being shortchanged in the field of human resource practices and aligned with the current trend known as talent management (TM). Just like the traditional human resource management (HRM), which is concerned with practices of recruitment, selection, placement, training, compensation, health and safety, and performance management, talent management follows the same order, except for the changes in nomenclature. These modifications have proven the postulation offered by Koontz (1961), one of the management disciples, who posited that management is a theory jungle, implying that management has many concepts with similar synonyms, and thus, for scholars and practitioners to grasp these concepts, they must be baptized in the jungle. In line with the above postulation, scholars had defined talent management as the process of attracting talent, developing talent, and retaining talent with the aim of achieving the goals of the organisation (Bagheri et al. 2020; Kaleem 2019; Mugambwa 2018; Dialoke and Edeh 2016). Other scholars assert that talent management is a human resource activity that is concerned with selecting the best talent from the pool of individuals that applied for an available job position in the organisation (Abdulmaleek 2020; Baridula et al. 2018; Isa and Ibrahim 2014; Nzonzo and Chipfuva 2013). The above definition is misleading because it implies that talent management is about the selection of individuals that applied for a job, thereby neglecting other human resource policies or practices such as development, retention and reward. However, Bibi (2018) is of the view that talent management is human resource function that has to do with talent attraction, talent development, talent retention, and talent compensation. Other scholars perceived talent management as a process that has to do with talent identification, talent development, and talent retention (Kravariti et al. 2022; Weerasinghe 2017; Maxwell and MacLean 2008). Nonetheless, this study defines talent management as contemporary human resource practices designed to attract talent, develop talent, and retain talent for organisational continuity.

From the foregoing, several dimensions of talent management had been validated by researchers across the globe. Aina and Atan (2020) in their validation came up with talent attraction, talent retention, learning and development, and career management. Other measures from different scholars include workforce planning, talent attraction, talent development (Al-Dalahmeh et al. 2020); talent attraction, talent engagement, talent development, talent retention (Appau et al. 2021; Edeh and Mlanga 2019); leadership, talent retention, reward (Mohana et al. 2021); recruitment and selection, training, employee retention, competency management, skill gap, skill shortage (Asrar et al. 2018); and job experience, coaching, mentoring, training, succession planning, career management (Chitsaz-Isfahani and Boustani 2014). However, this study adapted talent attraction, talent development and talent retention as dimensions of talent management based on their authenticity as well as reliability in validation by different researchers, as seen in the literature above. Talent attraction is a process of identifying (recruiting) individuals that possess relevant skills required to perform a particular task in the hospitality sector (Kravariti et al. 2022; Nzonzo and Chipfuva 2013). Talent development is concerned with the activities of improving talent skills in the workplace (Bagheri et al. 2020; Watson 2008), while talent retention is the policies that could be used to prevent talent from leaving the organisation (Kravariti et al. 2022; Maxwell and MacLean 2008).

Nonetheless, regarding prior empirical evidence on talent management, Al-Dalahmeh et al. (2020) investigated talent management practices and employee turnover intention in the ICT sector of Jordan and found that talent management has a significant effect on employee turnover. Yadav (2020) examined the role of talent management in employee retention at Indian insurance firms. Yadav's result shows that talent management has a significant correlation with the retention of employees. Mohana et al. (2021) examined the impact of talent management on the performance of employees. Their results show that talent management has a significant effect on employee performance. Appau et al. (2021) carried out empirical investigation on the influence of talent management on work performance at colleges of education in Ghana and found that talent management has significant influence on the performance of employees. Tetik and Zaim (2021) examined the effects of talent management policies on organisational engagement at Turkish holding firms. Their findings reveal that talent management is significantly associated with firm engagement. The results of the Ramadan et al. (2021) study on talent management and talent retention at Egyptian hotels indicated that talent management practices have a positive effect on the retention of talent. Ollor and Harry (2020) investigated the relationship between talent management and employee commitment at Le Meridien hotel in Nigeria and found that talent management dimensions have a significant positive association with employee commitment. Jepchumba (2021) studied the effect of talent management practices on hotel performance in Kenya and found that talent attraction, talent retention, and talent development have a significant positive effect on hotel performance. Wangechi et al. (2020) examined the effect of talent management on the service delivery of hotels in Kenya and found that talent development improves service delivery. Yeswa and Ombui (2018) investigated the influence of talent management on employee retention in Kenyan hotels and found that talent management indicators predicted employee retention. Mnim et al. (2018) investigated the correlation between talent management and innovation at hotels in Rivers state and found that talent identification (attraction), talent development, utilization and retention predicted the indicators of innovation in the hotels examined. Bibi (2018) investigated the impact of talent management on employee performance at Pakistan healthcare firms and found that talent management has significant effect on employee performance. Baba (2018) examined the impact of talent management on workplace trust and employee retention. Baba's finding revealed that talent management is associated with workplace trust and employee retention. Agarwal (2018) investigated the effects of talent management practices and firm performance on employee retention at Indian IT firms and found that talent management predicted the two criterion elements.

#### *2.2. Discretionary Work Behaviour (DWB)*

The term 'discretionary work behaviour' is used synonymously with organisational citizenship behaviour, prosocial behaviour and extra-role behaviour (Edeh et al. 2020; Edeh et al. 2021; Edeh and Ofoegbu 2017; Edeh and Onuba 2019; Dialoke and Edeh 2016; Eketu and Edeh 2015). Discretionary work behaviour was propounded by Bateman and Organ (1983). In their original definition, they perceived discretionary work behaviour as the behaviour of employees that is not related to the job description but is essential to the functioning of the organisation (Robbins and Judge 2018). Thus, any action that is geared toward going beyond an individual job description and specification is known as discretionary work behaviour. Other researchers viewed discretionary work behaviour as voluntary work behaviour that employees display to cover organisational leakages (Chamisa et al. 2020; Shaad 2019). In this case, a voluntary work behaviour that employees display is also discretionary. This study perceived discretionary work behaviour as a helping behaviour displayed by organisational members for the continuity of organisational existence. Employees engage in discretionary work behaviour as a result of certain factors such as motivation, job satisfaction which are the outcomes of talent management (Yaakobi and Weisberg 2020).

Dimensions of discretionary work behaviour were previously advocated and validated by Organ (1988), namely, altruism, sportsmanship, conscientiousness, courtesy and civic virtue. Altruism is a helping behaviour that is demonstrated within and outside the formal workplace. Conscientiousness is an employee's ability to abide by the organisation's rules and norms. Courtesy is about being concerned with the prevention of conflicts amongst colleagues and the ability to consider others' feelings. Civic virtue is a helping behaviour associated with involvement in organisational activities such as meeting attendance, and defending the policies of the organisation at any place. Sportsmanship is an employee ability to tolerate work pressure without complaining.

In addition to Organ's dimensions, Graham (1989) and Graham (1991) advocated four indicators, which are interpersonal helping, individual initiative, being industrious, and loyal boosterism, and these were later modified to organisational obedience, participation, and commitment. Podsakoff et al. (2000) reconstructed their own dimensions as helping behaviour, sportsmanship, civic virtue, loyalty to organisation and compliance, individual initiative, and self-development. Drawing from the literature review, the research hypotheses are hereby developed.

#### 2.2.1. Talent Attraction and Altruism

Talent attraction is crucial to the altruistic behaviour of attracted employees in the hospitality industry. Altruistic behaviour takes place whenever recruitment processes followed sequential procedures ranging from selection to proper placement (Chamisa et al. 2020). These processes produce positive organisational behaviour which enhances organisational growth and sustainability (Shaad 2019). Studies have shown that talent selection requires much time to avoid bringing in pretenders without the relevant skills required in the contemporary workplace (Dayel et al. 2020). Another group of scholars opined that attracting talent in the workplace may not necessarily be an issue, but what might be an issue is the ability to identify those that are willing to exhibit helping behaviour that would salvage hospitality organisations that were adversely affected by COVID-19 pandemic (Thunnissen and Buttiens 2017; Dialoke and Edeh 2016). Thus, talent attraction is the entry point that leads to proper placement, and thereafter, these employees learn to display altruistic behaviour that fosters the prosperity and sustainability of hospitality businesses. Dayel et al. (2020) assert that when talent observed that the process through which other colleagues were attracted did not breach any part of the psychological contract, they would be motivated to engage in discretionary work behaviour. Aina and Atan (2020) are of the view that during a job interview, human resource professionals should endeavour to look out for altruistic behaviour amongst selected talent as this would bring sanity in the formal workplace, especially in the post-COVID-19 work environment. Helping behaviour has been attributed to the proper selection of talent during the encounter stage of socialization within the organisation (Dayel et al. 2020). This implies that altruistic behaviour must be part of talent behaviour before joining the organisation. However, in the event of identifying talent, human resource practitioners must watch out for altruistic behaviour traits during the selection process to avoid a high turnover, which would cost the organisation a lot of resources in starting another recruitment process. It is against this backdrop that Appau et al. (2021) assert that talent attraction, if properly implemented, has the capacity to predict discretionary work behaviour in the hospitality industry. It is against this premise that the first research hypothesis is formulated as thus.

#### **H1.** *Talent attraction has a significant effect on altruism.*

#### 2.2.2. Talent Development and Sportsmanship

Studies have shown that talent development has positive significant effect on discretionary work behaviour in service organisations (Manenzhe and Ngirande 2021; Kamarul 2011). Thus, the development of talent is significant for any organisation aiming to retain industry leadership. This is because without developing talent, their skills will be out of place, leading to poor performance and social loafing, quite apart from ineffectiveness in rendering services to customers (Rubel and Rahman 2018; Deery 2008; Hughes and Rog 2008). It has been shown that talent that received development opportunities from their organisation are likely to be normatively committed to the goals and philosophies of that organisation (Tumwesigye et al. 2020; Bagheri et al. 2020; Nzonzo and Chipfuva 2013). This implies that the development of talent skills adds value to the organisation in terms of higher productivity orchestrated by talent discretionary behaviour. This argument

is in line with the Nawangsari and Sutawidjaya (2018) submission that individuals who receives one form of development opportunities in the organisation would, in one way or another, contribute to the success and prosperity of that organisation through discretionary behaviour. Prior studies have shown that skills development is very important, especially as most hospitality organisations across the globe were adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic restriction policies (Vuong 2022). In line with the above contentions, the second hypothesis is hereby developed.

#### **H2.** *Talent development has a significant effect on sportsmanship.*

#### **Talent retention and Conscientiousness**

Retention of talent is a prerequisite for conscientiousness to be displayed in the workplace especially in the service oriented organisations such as hospitality industry (Olendo and Muindi 2017). Retaining talent is crucial when it comes to conscientiousness displayed in the workplace. After talent has been recruited (attracted) through the formal processes, the next stage is to continuously develop their skills and knowledge using different training approaches (Maxwell and MacLean 2008; Watson 2008). The essence of doing this is to equip talent with the latest skills that hospitality organisations require to survive in the affected COVID-19 pandemic environment. Rahman and Chowdhur (2018a) assert that for talent to avoid leaving their organisation to go elsewhere, it is the responsibility of human resource professionals to employ several retention strategies such as direct and indirect compensation. Thus, the retention of talent has direct effects on their conscientiousness, which is a helping behaviour of working for extra hours in the workplace as well as obedience to the rules guiding the organisation (Sivapragasam and Raya 2018). Keeping talent in the organisation for a longer period of time results in employees working extra hours. Thus, human resource scholars and practitioners have opined that retaining people in the organisation has a greater positive effects on encouraging them to put more effort into working extra hours in order to ameliorate COVID-19 pandemic disruptions (Zanuchi et al. 2017; Makau et al. 2017). This means that the high rate of turnover is a function of not retaining valuable talent that have the keys to certain areas of the organisation (Baki 2021; Rahman et al. 2018b). In line with the above, talent retention improves the conscientiousness of talent to display discretionary behaviour in the organisation. Sarker (2017) contended that talent that work extra hours do so because they were retained for number of years. Therefore, talent that work extra hours in most hospitality organisations do so when they perceived that they would not be laid off since their knowledge is valued by the management. It is based on this argument that the third hypothesis is formulated as thus.

#### **H3.** *Talent retention has a significant effect on conscientiousness.*
