Finders, keepers? Attracting, motivating and retaining knowledge workers

Attracting, motivating and retaining knowledge workers have become important in a knowledge‐based and tight labour market, where changing knowledge management practices and global convergence of technology has redefined the nature of work. While individualisation of employment practices and team‐bas...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Human resource management journal 2003-11, Vol.13 (4), p.23-44
Main Authors: Horwitz, Frank M., Heng, Chan Teng, Quazi, Hesan Ahmed
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Competitive advantage
Corporate culture
Employees
Employment
Global economy
Human resource management
Hypothesis testing
Intellectual capital
Job satisfaction
Knowledge management
Studies
Workers
Workforce
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Summary:Attracting, motivating and retaining knowledge workers have become important in a knowledge‐based and tight labour market, where changing knowledge management practices and global convergence of technology has redefined the nature of work. While individualisation of employment practices and team‐based work may provide personal and organisational flexibilities, aligning HR and organisational strategies for competitive advantage has become more prominent. This exploratory study identifies the most and least effective HR strategies used by knowledge intensive firms (KIFs) in Singapore for attracting, motivating and retaining these workers. The most popular strategies were not always the most effective, and there appear to be distinctive ‘bundles’ of HR practices for managing knowledge workers. These vary according to whether ownership is foreign or local. A schema, based on statistically significant findings, for improving the effectiveness of these practices in managing knowledge workers is proposed. Cross‐cultural research is necessary to establish the extent of diffusion of these practices.
ISSN:0954-5395
1748-8583
DOI:10.1111/j.1748-8583.2003.tb00103.x