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Talent retention and employee turnover are major concerns for higher education institutions (HEIs) because they are losing highly qualified staff to the private sector and to other HEIs that are able to offer better rewards and benefits. The turnover of talented staff is therefore a major concern for the institution under investigation. The retention and voluntary turnover decisions among a workforce of 4 651 employees was thus investigated. A quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted by means of the objective analysis of organisational data in combination with the structured questionnaire (organisational climate survey). Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied to analyse the data across demographic groups, including age, employment category (academic as well as professional and support), etc. The results indicated that the institution’s turnover rate was acceptable (4.34%) and that dysfunctional turnover was marginal because employees with below-standard performance ratings had voluntarily resigned. Positive correlations and significant beta (b) values were reported between Organisational citizenship, Leadership, My manager and Compensation and the employees’ intent to stay in or to leave the organisation. These organisational climate factors were found to explain approximately 30 per cent of the variance in the employees’ intent to stay in or to leave the organisation. The article recommends that a talent retention tool be developed. In addition, it contributes to the literature on retention and turnover of high-performing employees, as it underscores the importance of measuring employee turnover

Leadership and leadership research should be viewed in a particular context. The contextual lens is largely neglected when Afrocentric leadership in organisations is framed. The purpose of this study was to assess whether the qualitative assertions that there are distinctive characteristics that underpin Afrocentric leadership in organisations can be authenticated by an empirical study conducted in Southern Africa. The aim is to determine and validate a leadership behaviour taxonomy within the regional context using an empirical paradigm in a crosssectional design. The sample was drawn from 30 organisations in Southern Africa: South Africa, Swaziland, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, consisting of 1,676 participants from all sectors. The original conceptualisation of leadership in terms of a Westernised leadership behaviour taxonomy was statistically confirmed, in a unique permutation. This literature as well as the empirical findings revealed that while some leadership behaviours are generic, there are unique behaviours in an Afrocentric leadership taxonomy. This context specific taxonomy includes the following meta-categories: task, relations, a combined category change and external, and an additional unique African meta-category, which has a participatory, democratic and communalistic focus. As this is a first empirical study of this nature and magnitude, it could serve as a reference for further conceptualisation of Afrocentric leadership. The reconfigured meta-category taxonomy has been positively examined for structural validity as well as an assessment of convergent

An empirical study was conducted into the structural configuration of person-organisational fit (P-O fit), measured by the P-O fit questionnaire. The data from three independent studies (a total of 4 388 respondents) was analysed and consistent results across the three studies were reported. The exploratory factor analysis yielded a two factor model with acceptable psychometric properties. The factors names were based on previous literature, namely Supplementary fit (person-organisational fit, indirect fit and value congruence) and Complementary fit (combination of demands-ability and needs-supply fit) perceptions. The two factor model was further tested for construct validity (discriminant and convergent validity) and was found to be valid. The findings could be used as a foundation for future studies as they provide an empirically refined conceptualisation and measurement of fit perceptions which is theoretically supported. An accurate measure of P-O fit could be used to make better predictions of individual’s work attitudes and behaviour.