The impact of talent competence and human resource management practices on individual work performance through employee engagement

The rate of productivity per employee in Malaysia manufacturing sector has declined by 6.9 percent in 2016. If this situation left unchecked, it may impact negatively on the organizational productivity. In view of the national agenda to increase productivity per employee in Malaysia manufacturing industry, organizations should identify significant drivers to boost individual work performance, initiate their plan and continuously play a critical role in preparing the employees for future demand. Thus, this research examined the impact of talent competence and human resource management practices on individual work performance through employee engagement. Based on the Self-Determination Theory (SDT), Social Exchange Theory (SET) and literature, a total of seventeen hypotheses have been generated to be tested. The questionnaire comprises of four main research variables namely talent competence, and human resource management practices as independent variables, whereas, employee engagement as mediating variable, and individual work performance as dependent variables, which was adapted from seven scholars. A total of 400 questionnaires were distributed to the employees who were in executive and managerial levels at selected manufacturing organizations in Klang Valley area, and 252 completed questionnaires were used for analysis. Smart Partial Least Square (SmartPLS) version 3.2.7 and IBM SPSS Statistics version 24 statistical software were used in the analysis. The finding revealed that there was a positive and significant relationship between talent competence and human resource management practices towards individual work performance. Additionally, employee engagement showed a significant role in mediating the relationship between the talent competence, human resource management practices as independent variables and individual work performance as dependent variables. In brief, this research contributed in adding a new variable which is the talent competence in the model of Self-Determination Theory (SDT), advancing existing knowledge in the Social Exchange Theory (SET) and enhancing the understanding of organization in managing individual work performance more effectively