The Relationship between Knowledge Management and Organizational Performance of Malaysian Private Colleges: A Mediating Role of Managing Talent Practices

Knowledge management plays a vital role in sustaining organizational performance of private academic institutions over time. Nonetheless the linkage between knowledge management, managing talent practices and organizational performance is not adequately addressed. This study therefore is aimed to investigate the relationship between knowledge management and organizational performance of Malaysian private colleges and whether managing talent practices, namely managing talent development and talent retention mediate the relationship between knowledge management and organizational performance of Malaysian private colleges. PLS-SEM technique is deployed to test the hypothesized relationships in the model. Data to all variables of interest studied is collected through a survey using structured questionnaires. A total of 785 sets of questionnaires was distributed to academic and non-academic staff above the executive level from 157 selected private colleges in Malaysia, out of which 243 (31%) of them were valid and useable to this study. Empirical findings in this study highlight that knowledge management has a significant positive relationship with organizational performance of private colleges. Managing talent development rather than talent retention is found to have a significant direct positive influence on organizational performance of private colleges. In addition, knowledge management is predicted to have a significance positive influence on talent development and talent retention respectively. The mediation effects of talent development is statistically significant and in this regard, talent development is shown to have partially mediated the relationship between knowledge management and organizational performance of Malaysian private colleges. Both limitations and managerial implications are also highlighted in this paper.