Influence of talent retention strategy on employees׳ attitude to work: Analysis of survey data

In this data article, an analysis on the strategies for talent retention in Covenant University and the corresponding effects on employees’ attitude to work was presented. The study population included the academic staff of Covenant University, which has a population of 530 employees, but a sample size was determined using Yamen׳s formula. The data obtained through survey questionnaires were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Linear regression was used to model the effect of talent retention strategy on employees’ attitude to work. This information is made publicly available to aid empirical researches on the subject of talent management in organizations.


a b s t r a c t
In this data article, an analysis on the strategies for talent retention in Covenant University and the corresponding effects on employees' attitude to work was presented. The study population included the academic staff of Covenant University, which has a population of 530 employees, but a sample size was determined using Yamen's formula. The data obtained through survey questionnaires were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Linear regression was used to model the effect of talent retention strategy on employees' attitude to work. This information is made publicly available to aid empirical researches on the subject of talent management in organizations.
& 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Subject area
Business Management More specific subject area Human Resource Management Type of data The data provided in this article will make it easier to explore the issue of talent retention strategies and its consequential effect on employees' attitude to work.
The provision of this dataset will enable the management of organizations to see ways of improving talent retention strategies to enable employees perform better. It makes room for the achievement of the organizations goal because when the employees are happy, the customers are also happy.
Further analysis of this dataset would enhance the skills, abilities and provides solution to employees' level and satisfaction, build positive attitudes and increase productivity level.
Further exploration of these data by the global professional research bodies will enhance the use of effective talent retention strategies to be applied in organizations across countries.
Data shared in this data article will open up doors for new research collaborations.

Data
Talent management is a global challenge but the problem appear to be more acute for business organizations in developing countries as the demand for talented employees in this region keeps rising against its supply [1]. A global view of talent management in human resource development was provided in [2] to ensure balanced understanding. Nankervis [3] has identified the need to attract and retain required talent as a potential approach to sustaining the present economic boom experienced in China. Björkman and Smale [4] discussed some practical solutions that will help in handling the challenges associated with talent identification and development in multinational companies. Tafti et al. [5] attributed the problems and successes of talent management in Iranian automotive industries to structural, environmental, behavioural, and managerial factors. The consequences and prospects of proper handling of global talent challenges were presented in [6] with respect to international human resource management. Some organizations in India have adopted social networking as a veritable strategy for organizational branding and talent retention [7]. Mensah and Bolawole [8] presented a more compelling explanation concerning the positive relationship between talent management and employees' work attitude using person-organization fit.
Most organizations in developing countries are now seeking viable means of retaining their workers by making their organizations more attractive and by training and developing the capacity of the limited human resources. Multinational companies are developing global systems that helps in identifying and developing talent [4]. However, most firms are still faced with the challenge of getting the required number of competent workers for the right positions and at the appropriate time [1]. Therefore, it is necessary to develop an effective talent management strategies that will positively influence employees' attitude to work towards the ultimate purpose of talent retention within an organization.

Experimental design, materials, and methods
In this data article, the effects of the talent retention strategies adopted at Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria are measured with respect to employees' attitude to work. An appropriate survey questionnaire was designed and administered to a total sample size of 200 respondents. The rate of response to survey questionnaire is presented in Table 1. 152, representing 76% of the total distributed questionnaire, were returned while 48, representing 24% of the total distributed questionnaire, were not returned. Table 2 shows the demography of 152 respondents which comprises of gender, age, and educational attainment. The gender distribution showed that 71 respondents (46.7%) were male while the remaining 81 respondents (53.3%) were female. This implies that the female respondents had the highest percentage. The age distribution showed that 40 (26.3%) of the respondents were within the age range of 20 and 30 years. 39 (25.7%) of the respondents were between 31 and 40 years old. 57 (37.5%) of the respondents were between 41 and 50 years old, while the remaining 16 (10.5%) were 51 years old and above. This implies that a greater number of the respondents were averagely between the age of 41 and 50. The educational attainment was categorized into three Responses to the survey questionnaires were analysed based on operationalization of variables into dependent and independent variables. These variables were analysed with different sets of questions listed in the questionnaire. The first set of analyses was conducted on the independent   Tables 3-7. Table 3 presents the summary of the responses to the question asked on whether the employee agreed that compensations were paid to workers in the case of any form of accident sustained on job. 2 (1.3%) respondents indicated that they disagreed with the notion. 2 (1.3%) respondents were undecided about the question. 66 (43.4%) respondents agreed that compensation paid to workers in the case of any form of accident sustained on job is satisfactory while 82 (53.9%) strongly agreed to the same notion. Table 4 presents the responses to the research statement "The organization provides opportunities for professional growth". Only 1 respondent was undecided about the statement. 69 (45.4%) respondents agreed while 82 (53.9%) respondents strongly agreed to the statement. Table 5 presents the summary of the data on the responses to the research statement "This organization's policies for promotion and advancement are fair." 4 respondents are undecided while 98 respondents strongly agree to the notion, however, 50 (32.9%) respondents agreed to the notion.  Table 6 presents the summary of data on the responses to the research statement "Talent is valued in this organization". One respondent was undecided, 72 respondents agreed, while 79 strongly agreed to the notion. Table 7 presents the summary of data on the responses to the research statement "The training programs have empowered me in my overall performance". The data shows that one (0.7%) respondent was undecided, 71 (46.7%) indicated agreement to the notion, while 80 (52.6%) respondents strongly agreed.
Tables 8-11 presents statements that relate to employees attitude to work. These statements includes: (1) I get a feeling of personal satisfaction from my work; (2) I feel a strong commitment to the goals and values of this organization; (3) I display good organizational citizenship behaviour and; (4) I receive encouragement that gives me a sense of belonging.
Regression analyses were performed on the inferential statistical data obtained. The adoption of this test statistics is based on the fact that regression analysis is used in describing the dependence of variable on one or more variables. It is also used to determine the effect and the impact of the independent variable on the dependent variable.  Therefore, from this equation, employees' attitude to work is dependent on talent retention strategies. This is expressed as: Where X,Y are defined above Model summary, results of the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and the coefficients of the independent variables are presented in Tables 12, 13, and 14 respectively.

Ethical considerations
In this study, the goals of the research were plainly made known to all participants to encourage active and objective participation. In order to uphold the ethical values during data collection, respondents were allowed to remain anonymous and all personal information obtained were treated as confidential.

Conclusion
This data article presented and analyzed the statistical information on talent retention strategies in organizations and what effect it has on employee's attitude to work with a case study of Covenant University, Nigeria. The dataset provided in this article will encourage further quantitative analysis into the subject matter. Free accessibility to these data will give management, executives and human resource consultants' useful information for better decision making in the management of human resources.