The impact of talent management practices on employees’ satisfaction and commitment in the Saudi Arabian oil and gas industry

Article history: Received 1 October 2021 Received in revised form 24 December 2021 Accepted 4 January 2022 This study investigates the impact of talent management practices in Saudi Arabian oil and gas organizations and assesses their impact on talent management outcomes including employees' satisfaction and commitment. Although talent management is a new concept for increasing employee on employees' satisfaction and commitment, it is rapidly becoming of great value for academics and managers. The literature review identified the gaps in TM literature; prompting the development of a framework for understanding the relationship between TM, its outcomes. A cross-sectional online-based survey was conducted with employees from major oil and gas organizations, achieving a total sample of 417 participants. Results have indicated various issues such as the need to adopt formal approaches for identifying the talent and lack of opportunities for development that exist in TM practices. Furthermore, the majority of the participants reflected poor satisfaction levels, and a lack of strong commitment was observed among the young employees. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that poor TM practices adopted in Saudi Arabian oil and gas industries in a few instances, especially in relation to talent development and retention by creating a supportive environment through transformational leadership.


Introduction
*The application of TM practices has become one of the primary concerns for human resources management departments in organizations globally, especially in relation to the practices of talent identification, attraction, recruitment, and retention (Zhu et al., 2018). The complexity in managing talent resources can be attributed to increasing competition, an increase in the availability of talent resources that need to be carefully assessed and identified, and also lack of talent resources in some regions which increases the dependency on expatriates, etc. (Dimitrov, 2018;Obeidat et al., 2019). In addition, TM (Talent Management) definitions and practices are spread across the various aspects, which has increased the complexity of understanding TM practices, and their impact on employees and organizations. TM is identified to be an effective strategy for engaging the employees, resulting in higher performances, loyalty and commitment, and higher retention rates which can add value to the organizations. Kehinde (2012) defined TM as "the organization's commitment regarding the hiring, management and retaining of talented employees available in the job market." Further, TM involves the development of practices that relate to the improvement of a superior workforce. Kehinde (2012) observed that many organizations focus on attracting and identifying talented individuals, but less emphasis is laid on developing and retaining the talent resources, the process which involves many risks and challenges. Therefore, it is essential to develop and adopt effective TM practices in order to address global issues such as sustainable development (Rabbi et al., 2015;Latukha, 2018). As a result of globalization, the demand for talent has increased where companies aim to improve their competitive advantage in order to achieve sustainable growth. However, the HR (human resource) managers are grappling to find quick and effective solutions to manage the talent according to the changing requirements of the organizations and the globalized and regional markets. Accordingly, Gardner (2002) identified that the survival of organizations, solely relies on the ability to adapt, with regards to attracting and retaining talent. This awareness has made TM a critical discipline that has been approached from various perspectives within organizations.
TM specifically focuses on the administration of talent resources or human capital which comprises skills, people, and knowledge. However, the preparedness of the HR managers is an important question that needs to be addressed in the fastchanging market places and organizational requirements. Similarly, Gardner (2002) ascertained that TM has become a global challenge, as the organizations compete to manage the same pool of talent in terms of acquisition and retaining in order to sustain their businesses (Collings and Mellahi, 2009). Most importantly, the human capital skills are gradually replacing technology and products as key assets of transformation and the management or organizational needs. However, the complexities surrounding TM and factors influencing its application and integration in the organizations were poorly focused by the research studies, as most of the studies considered the individual elements of TM such as talent attraction, development, retention, employee performance, and efficiency, etc. A comprehensive study of all the TM practices, the factors influencing the implementation of TM, and the impact of TM practices at the employee level and organizational level remain largely unaddressed. In addition, TM practices vary from across regions and organizations, and according to the availability of resources. Therefore, there is a need to increase the research specific to TM and its outcomes at different levels.
Saudi Arabia is one of the developing countries in the Middle East, which largely relies on oil exports as a means of raising income. Furthermore, the country largely relies on expatriates, who form the major workforce in most industries (Almaimani, 2021). About 17% of the World's proven petroleum resources are identified in Saudi Arabia, and the oil and gas sector accounts for 50% of the gross domestic product and amounts to 70% of the total export earnings. Saudi Aramco is one of the largest companies in the world valued at $2.03 trillion, from Saudi Arabia. Similarly, there are many other companies such as Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, Sahara, Rabigh, Petromin, etc., which are the few largest companies in the world employing highly talented across the various operations. These companies in order to achieve sustainable development, need to employ talented resources which strive to deliver high performance with increased efficiency. This suggests that organizations should be able to identify and optimize the talent and potential of their employees. However, the current level of TM practices in these corporations is not favorable. Saudi Arabia ranks 40 th globally in terms of Talent Competitiveness. According to Al-Tokhais (2016), the country faced employee turnover due to lack of loyalty and ineffective retention strategies, which has resulted in a total loss of SAR 35 billion in business annually. It was reported that KSA has suffered a competitive disadvantage due to dismissal costs, with estimated costs of 80 weeks of salary per employee (Alanazi, 2018).
Furthermore, Saudi Arabia has adopted Vision 2030 program, which aims to transform its economy from an oil-based to a knowledge-based economy, and has outlined various developmental initiatives in health, sports, tourism, business, industries, research, education, and many other important sectors of the economy (Moshashai et al., 2020). As a result, emphasis is laid on managing and developing talent resources through the Saudization initiative which focuses on reducing the dependency on expatriates and improving the skills and talents among the locals in various sectors. With rapid developments appearing across the industries, it is highly important to review and update TM practices in organizations, especially oil and gas organizations which are the major contributors to the economy, and update them according to the changes in the market places. Considering these issues, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the talent management practices in Saudi Arabian oil and gas industry, and their impact on employee satisfaction and commitment. Accordingly, the following research questions are framed to address the gaps in the TM research related to the oil and gas industry in Saudi Arabia.
1. What are the managerial practices applied by private oil and gas companies in TM? 2. What is the impact of TM practices on TM outputs in terms of employee commitment and satisfaction?

Conceptual framework
The concept of TM is defined and understood from different perspectives. According to Collings and Mellahi (2009), "strategic TM has been defined as a collection of activities and processes that involve the systematic identification of key positions which differentially contribute to the organization's sustainable competitive advantage, the development of a talent pool of high potential and high performing incumbents to fill these roles, and the development of a differentiated human resources architecture to facilitate filling these positions with competent incumbents and to ensure their continued commitment to the organization." The idea of TM has garnered academics' and human resources practitioners' attention since a group of McKinsey consultants studied the topic and developed the phrase "war for talent" in 1997 (Axelrod et al., 2002). Companies then focus on identifying the top performers and the value they have generated, in order to analyze their contributions to the company. This has led to the shift in perception of TM as a mere human resource management activity to a more strategic activity that focuses on the management of talent for creating value and competitive advantage for the companies.

Talent attraction
Attracting talent is one of the important TM practices which allows organizations to select an efficient and skilled workforce from a pool of talented individuals across the globe. The drivers of employee attraction can be understood from two perspectives. Firstly, from an employer perspective, various aspects such as opportunities provided for career development, organizational culture, basic pay, organization's reputation, and its values can be a few influencing factors (Sanjeev and Singh, 2017). However, from an employee perspective, factors such as basic pay, job security availability of opportunities for career development and learning, supportive work culture, organization's reputation, and the list of benefits and incentives offered such as holidays, increments, etc. were identified to be important which may motivate employees to get attracted to an organization. However, differences in the prioritization of these factors may be observed from both employer and employee perspectives.

Talent identification
Talent identification is one of the important TM practices which aims to create a pool of highly skilled employees who are intended to fill key positions in case of emergencies or as a routine practice in order to achieve sustainability in HR operations (Collings and Mellahi, 2009;Sanjeev and Singh, 2017). In the gas and oil sector which has to deal with market vacillations, there are peculiar talent identification challenges as organizations have to deal with identifying talent externally for some areas while at the same time rationalizing talent in other areas in an environment where there is general shrinkage of the talent pool (Deloitte, 2013). The peculiarity of talent identification initiatives in different industry sectors is also highlighted by Ayetuoma (2016), who observed differences between practices in the private and public sectors. Firm size has also been identified as a factor in the talent identification process (Krishnan and Scullion, 2017).

Talent development
Acquiring skills and competencies through learning can have a significant impact on an individual's behavior and attitudes (Cacciattolo, 2015). Talent development is a process of planning and designing various developmental activities focusing on the employees' career and personal development which can support in achieving the organization's goals and objectives (Garavan et al., 2012). Developing talent through various initiatives is one of the effective strategies used for retaining employees, which can improve an organization's competitive position and value. Studies (Dirani et al., 2018;McFarland and Jestaz, 2016) have identified the positive impact of talent development on employees' performance, satisfaction, and commitment.

Talent retention
Talent retention is one of the key TM practices which is aimed at retaining talented and skilled employees within the organization. Orr and McVerry (2007) proposed that oil and gas organizations need to focus on concomitantly "attracting, developing, and retaining employees with the knowledge and capabilities required for success." Retention refers to an organization's ability to retain those employees it considers critical for the attainment of its objectives. This is achieved through retention management, which refers to the policies and practices the organization puts in place to ensure that it reduces the chances of losing employees considered critical for efficient and effective strategy execution (Chadwick et al., 2015;Dirani et al., 2018).

Employee satisfaction
Employee satisfaction is one of the important TM outcomes, which can be used to assess the impact of TM practices as it is identified that employee satisfaction is highly connected to the job or workplace environment, and issues in these aspects which may be related to TM practices such as learning and development, managing talents may have a significant impact on satisfaction levels. Furthermore, employee satisfaction can also be assessed based on its impact on TM practices from a different perspective. For instance, employee satisfaction is positively correlated with talent retention, especially the highly-skilled workforce in the organizations (Luna-Arocas and Morley, 2015). Studies have also associated the level of job satisfaction with the sense of achievement, success, and growth that individuals receive. It has also been generally associated with employee performance and productivity. The key ingredients of job satisfaction are recognition, income, promotion, growth, and professional achievements that further lead to the feeling of contentment and fulfillment. Employee satisfaction with their job, work environment, and opportunities they receive help in aligning their personal goals and objectives with the goals and objectives of the organization.

Employee commitment
Employee commitment is another TM outcome, which reflects the relationship that exists between the employees and the organizations. Commitment can be expressed in terms of employees' connection with the organization, which reflects their understanding of the goals and objectives of the organization, and their perceptions that they fit into the organization. Such relationships can add value to the organizations as the employees tend to work efficiently and offer support with determination, which results in high productivity (Meyer and van Woerkom, 2014). Committed employees reflect positive behavior with organizations and are more likely to adopt (professionally and personally) and they are unlikely to leave the organization, which can add competitive advantage as it helps in retaining key talented employees (Hodges et al., 2018). Fig. 1 shows the study model. Considering the TM practices and TM outcomes, this study uses the study model presented in Fig. 1 for investigating the TM practices and their impact on Saudi Arabian oi and gas organizations.

Methods
Surveys are effective strategies because they allow the researcher to collect standard data from a large population and pave the way for easy comparison (Saunders et al., 2009). Accordingly, the surveys are used for collecting the employees' "talent" perceptions about TM practices in their organizations and the impact it has on their personal and organizational performance. The survey strategy is also easy to understand and explain. Administering the questionnaires is also easy. There exists the opportunity to collect and analyze data with the usage of inferential and descriptive statistics. Survey data could be utilized to advise possible causes to relationships between variables and create relationship models. There is a limitation of how many questions can be used in the survey strategy, and normally these are multiple-choice or close-ended questions. There lies specific issues or problems with fixed-response questions, including the inefficiency of the alternatives in the questions to allow bringing forth a correct answer. Moreover, at times, respondents may not be interested or might be unable to write down accurate information (Silverman, 2013).

Questionnaire design
The questionnaire is divided into four sections. The first section focuses on gathering participants' demographic details; the second section focuses on gathering data related to participants' organization. The third section focuses on collecting the participants' perceptions of talent management practices in their respective organizations. Six items related to talent attraction; three items related to talent identification; five items related to talent recruitment; seven items related to talent retention; and five items related to talent development practices were included in the questionnaire which is identified (Greene, 2020). In addition, the fourth section focuses on collecting participants' views on commitment (five items) and satisfaction (four items) levels with respect to their organizations., Job satisfaction was measured using four items of overall job satisfaction developed by Seashore et al. (1982), and employee commitment was measured using four items developed by Meyer and Allen's (1997). Multiple-choice options were included in sections 1, 2, and three. Likert scale ratings (1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree, 5=strongly agree) were used for questionnaire items in section four relating to TM outcomes. An online survey link was generated using Google forms.

Participant's selection and sampling
Initially, 10 oil and gas organizations were identified in Saudi Arabia to be included in the study. A letter for permission was sent to the HR managers of these companies to conduct the study. Approval was received from five companies. After receiving approval from HR managers, the survey link was shared with the HR managers who administered the survey by forwarding the link to the employees in their respective organizations. This is because the researcher had no direct access to the talented employees and, therefore, it was imperative to use the HR managers to facilitate the proper administration of the survey. Similar approaches were adopted in other studies (Chami-Malaeb and Garavan, 2013;Mensah et al., 2015). The survey was online for four weeks, resulting in total of participants of 463. After removing incomplete responses, a final sample of 417 was achieved in the survey.

Data analysis
The survey data would be analyzed descriptively for section three, which focuses on the TM practices. For section four of the questionnaire, relative frequencies and t-tests are used to identify the differences among the groups and the significance of the impact of TM practices on employee satisfaction and commitment.

Results and discussion
As observed from Table 1, the majority of the participants are male, while female participants only represented 22.8% out of the total participants. The difference in the participation of both genders can be attributed to the labor reports identifying 77.8% of the total workforce in Saudi Arabia are males (WBG, 2021). Observing the educational qualifications of the participants, the majority of them were qualified in Bachelor's degree, followed by Master's degree and Ph.D., indicating that the majority of the participants were having good educational backgrounds. Focusing on the participants' age groups, more than 70% of the participants fall in the category of 30-49 years indicating both young and experienced employees. Considering the participants' work experience, the participants were almost equally distributed across different experience levels groups, representing a population from less and highly experienced employees. About 45.1% of the population are having work experience of 0-10 years; while 54.9% of total participants had experience of more than 10 years. Focusing on their area/industry of operations, the participants were almost evenly distributed across oil and petrochemicals industries, representing 53.2% of total participants, followed by 35.5% in the gas industry, and 11.3% in the metal industry. Analyzing the participants' background and areas of operations, it can be assessed that all industries and sections of employees are appropriately represented, except for both genders.

Evaluation of TM practices
Formal evaluation strategies allow managers to adopt a systematic and effective criterion for identifying the talent in organizations, reflecting transparency and accountability for decisions regarding talent identification. Accordingly, 86.6% (as shown in Table 2) of the participants preferred formal mechanisms considering various metrics related to job evaluation. However, performance criteria may not be useful in all cases of identifying talent; for instance, an employee who is talented in a specific area might be allocated in a different area or department, where his/her performance may not be effective. Therefore, in such cases, identifying talents could be a complex process and may result in failure of implementing TM practices (Piansoongnern et al., 2011). Therefore, a considerable number of participants also preferred other approaches such as informal chats (62.1%) and management evaluation of employees (69.8%) for identifying talent in the organizations. If the gaps in the talent resources are identified within the organization, various measures can be adopted to address the issue. One such approach is to recruit new talent. However, talent recruitment is a complex process, as various attributes of the individuals have to be assessed for identifying the efficient ones to be employed, who can add value to the organizations. Skills and capabilities are some of the important attributes preferred by the majority of the participants (as shown in Fig. 2) while recruiting talented individuals. Similarly, experience is another attribute that is preferred by 82.7% of the participants. However, level of education is less preferred, while placing the importance on creative thinking, which was preferred by 69.7% of the participants. Studies have identified that considering skills and capabilities (Eisenhardt and Santos, 2002) and experience (Lewis and Heckman, 2006), creative and problem-solving skills (Denhardt, 2004) of the individuals while recruiting can add value and competitive advantage to the organizations. With advances in technology, many organizations are automating their operations and relying on technology solutions for various operations. Therefore, assessing computer skills has become one of the common attributes to be assessed while recruiting employees, which is preferred by 82% of the participants. Focusing on the aspect of talent attraction, 83.7% of the participants (as shown in Fig. 3) preferred outsourcing talent recruitment to agencies with good brand value. However, outsourcing may often include a few risks such as talent mismatches which can significantly affect the organization's TM process. Partnerships with universities, promoting recruitment through networking and online platforms, and providing internships for talented students were considered to be good approaches by a considerable number of participants (60-75%). These approaches can give access wider access to the various talents to the organizations, which can be cultivated into strong talent resources in the long term, through networking (Dychtwald et al., 2006). Other approaches such as offering the best packages and benefits is a common approach followed by many organizations (Rabbi et al., 2015) was identified to be effective by the majority of the participants.

Fig. 3: Participants' responses for talent attraction criteria
Talent development is one of the important and effective approaches identified for managing talent resources in various studies. Training and coaching employees were preferred by 84.1% of the participants, to make it an integral part of the organizational operations. Furthermore, providing personalized training (75.4%), a structured system for developing talent according to the changing organizational requirements (73.5%), and providing individual space for employees to experiment and lead innovation (70.7%) were also identified to be important approaches. These practices were identified to be effective in reducing costs (to provide training to new employees), improving workplace culture, adoption of self-development initiatives, etc. (Collings and Mellahi, 2009;Sahoo and Das, 2011). Interestingly, support from the senior managers was identified to be the most important approach by the majority of the participants (90.4%), indicating the need for supportive and transformational leadership styles.
The preference for supportive leadership styles can be further related to the responses identified for the approaches of retaining talent as shown in Table  4 culture (86.5%) were identified to be the most important approaches for retaining talent. These findings relate to the poor TM practices adopted in the Saudi Arabian oil and gas organizations, which can be related to the findings in Haig and Philip (2016).  Other approaches such as employee stock options and non-monetary rewards were preferred by a considerable number of participants. However, the findings have highlighted issues in all the TM practices including talent identification, attraction, development, and retention in relation to the Saudi Arabian oil and gas organizations.

Evaluation of TM outcomes
The findings related to satisfaction levels as shown in Fig. 4, indicate that there are considerable dissatisfaction levels among the participants with respect to basic pay, support, opportunities to learn. Considering overall satisfaction levels, nearly 45% of the participants reflected poor satisfaction levels. With respect to the basic pay, about 63.3% of the participants were satisfied. Supportive managerial practices and enabling opportunities to grow can help in increasing employee satisfaction, which can lead to effective talent management and retention in organizations (Dychtwald et al., 2006). However, with respect to administrative support, 47.7% were not satisfied; and 42.5% were not satisfied with the opportunities to learn new skills. These indicate the major issues in talent development and talent management in relation to supportive leadership styles within the organizations, which are similar to the issues identified in TM practices discussed in the previous section.
The commitment towards the organization can increase employee retention, maintain talent resources, and make optimum use of them, allowing the organizations to maintain their competitive edge (Goldsmith and Carter, 2009). Findings relating to employee commitment as presented in Fig. 5 indicate that participants reflected a lack of effective commitment by the participants towards their respective organizations. About 55% of the participants reflected a lack of commitment towards their organizations, while 42.6 reflected good commitment levels, and the remaining maintained a neutral stand. The majority of the participants feel that they are engaged in activities that are not required but only help to boost the image of their respective organizations. Moreover, only 30.3% of the participants stated that their organization has a great deal of personal meaning, and 38.7% felt a strong sense of attachment with their respective organizations. Thus, the overall findings indicated poor commitment levels.
Furthermore, t-tests were conducted in order to identify if there are any differences between the groups. Focusing on satisfaction levels, significant differences were observed among male and female participants. Male participants were more satisfied (Mean=3.3, SD=1.12) compared to female participants (Mean=3.0, SD=0.96) as identified in Table 5. However, no significant differences between the participants who have aged less than or equal to 39 years and greater than 39 years; and participants with less than or equal to ten years work experience and more than ten years work experience was observed.
With respect to commitment, no significant differences were observed among male and female participants. However, participants who were aged more than 39 years (Mean=3.2, SD=1.38) and participants with more than ten years of work experience (Mean=3.2, SD=1.23) were more committed to participants who were aged less than or equal to 39 years (Mean=2.7, SD=1.21) and participants who had less than or equal to ten years of work experience (Mean=2.6, SD=1.18) respectively. Findings have suggested that young and less experienced employees are less committed to their organizations.

Conclusion
The purpose of this study is to investigate the TM practices in Saudi Arabian oil and gas organizations and assess their impact on organizations, representing the two research questions formulated in this study. The analysis of TM practices in this study has indicated various issues such as the need to adopt formal approaches for identifying the talent, over-reliance on outsourcing talent recruitment operations, poor support from managers, and lack of opportunities for development.  Similarly, the impact of these practices was assessed on employee satisfaction and commitment, which has revealed that the majority of the participants were not satisfied and a lack of strong commitment was observed among the young employees. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that poor TM practices adopted in Saudi Arabian oil and gas industries in a few instances, especially in relation to talent development and retention by creating a supportive environment through transformational leadership.
This study has both practical and theoretical implications. Firstly, it contributed to the lack of research in the context of TM practices in Saudi Arabian oil and gas corporations. Secondly, the findings are of utmost importance in the times when Saudi Arabia is looking forward to transform its oilbased economy into a knowledge-based economy through Vision 2030 initiatives, by making rapid transformations, especially in promoting women participation in major sectors; and Saudization program to reduce the dependency on the expatriates by improving the talents of locals. These findings can support the government and organizations in identifying the issues associated with TM practices and can aid them in developing effective TM practices to support the objectives of Vision 2030. Although this study has both theoretical and practical contributions, there are a few limitations, such as the adoption of the only survey instrument (using other instruments such as interviews could have improved the quality of data collected), and low sample (only 417 participants from five main oil and gas industries). These limitations can be addressed in future research and guide future researchers in assessing the impact from different perspectives such as employee engagement, motivation, organizational value, and competitive advantage.

Conflict of interest
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.