Elaine Berkery

Background: With the domestic supply of nurses failing to meet healthcare demands, sourcing nurses globally has become a key strategy in healthcare. Taking an Ecosystem approach, our study is designed to advance and deepen our understanding of how recipient country systems at the macro, exo, meso and microsystems layers can affect talent management practices for internationally educated nurses (IENs). Objective: The objective of this study is to answer the following research question: How do the different layers of a host country’s ecosystem impact the talent management practices for internationally educated nurses?. Methods: Using face-to-face semi-structured focus groups, data were collected from 21 IENs in Ireland. The results were managed and organised using the NVivo™ version 14 software, while Braun and Clarke’s reflexive thematic analysis approach was used to analyse the qualitative data based on their six-phase framework. Results: The experiences of IENs moving to Ireland suggest that at the macrosystem, national policy and structures around housing, early childhood education and visa deployment are adversely affecting their ability to work and stay. At the exosystem layer, they highlight clear recruitment ‘reality gaps’ and role mismatch on their arrival, as well as systems and language uncertainty. Finally, IENs describe how issues with organisational leadership and meso and microsystems can create a difficult day-to-day work environment. Conclusion: Through the ecosystem approach, we consider the broader macro and exosystems, as well as the more commonly researched micro and mesosystems, and their impact on talent management for IENs. The research findings show how national environments provide the context in which the exo, meso and microsystems operate and suggest the important need for policymakers as well as healthcare organisations to understand and adopt a holistic, multisystem view of how IENs are managed from a talent perspective.

Background: Against the backdrop of the shortages of nursing managers, this paper examines predictors of career aspirations among nurses in Ireland. Rather than viewing career aspirations as being determined solely by personal, job related or organizational factors we consider the individual nurse, within the context of their job, interacting with the overall organization and seek to ascertain how these factors are related to nurse’s career aspirations. Objective: The objective of this study is to explore how personal, job-related, and organizational factors shape nurses’ career aspirations. The research question guiding this study is: “What variables relating to the individual, job or organization predict career aspirations among nurses?”. Design: This cross-sectional study gathered questionnaire data from 263 nurses. Setting: A large public hospital group in Ireland comprising 5 hospitals. Methods: Pearson correlations provided an initial understanding of the bivariate relationships between scales measuring career aspirations and scales measuring resilience, job satisfaction, employee engagement, psychological safety, organizational citizenship behavior, and organizational commitment. Multivariate Linear Regression models examined factors independently associated with career aspirations. Results: Correlational analysis identified statistically significant relationships between career aspirations and the individual, job and organizational scales, with resilience showing the strongest positive correlation (r = 0.418, p < 0.01). The Multivariate Linear Regression analysis identified having a postgraduate qualification (β = 2.92, 95% CI [1.38, 4.45], p < 0.001) and higher levels of resilience (β = 2.22, 95% CI [1.26, 3.19], p < 0.001) as statistically significant independent predictors of career aspirations. Conclusion: The findings provide insights into developing strategies to create a pipeline of qualified nurses to optimize recruitment and succession planning for nurse managers, thereby building a sustainable workforce. Hospital managers should develop policies and programs that promote organizational support for further education and resilience-building workshops. These initiatives could encourage more nurses to pursue nursing management roles.

Drawing on data from a 2.5-year field case study, this research examines how an International Non-Government Organization (DevCo) uses ambidexterity to manage the tensions between upward and downward accountability. Using the theoretical lens of organizational ambidexterity, particularly the explore-exploit paradox, and utilizing Miles and Snow’s adaptive cycle, we analyze how DevCo optimized existing systems to strengthen donor reporting and upward accountability. At the same time, we unearth how DevCo fostered downward accountability by building new relationships with local non-governmental organizations and recipient communities. Using the explore-exploit paradox, we highlight how DevCo’s ambidextrous capabilities were seen to be mutually supportive as opposed to being mutually exclusive. This case study also shows how ambidexterity enabled DevCo to effectively manage the diverse array of stakeholders to whom they are accountable. These findings are discussed from both a practical and theoretical perspective.

The chapter examines the rationale, design, pilot, and implementation of the Preparing for Academic Advancement programme across seven higher education institutions in Ireland. Through quantitative data, we evidence the success of the intervention to career progression outcomes and progress towards gender-balanced representation in senior academic roles within each institution. Crucially, we also draw on qualitative data from programme participants and facilitators to examine the lessons for the design of career development activities that can be drawn from this programme. The chapter contributes to our understanding of the importance of mentoring, social support, and creating opportunities for broadening academic networks outside of individual institutional and disciplinary networks. The chapter also outlines the development of a programme aimed at Professional, Managerial, and Support Staff (PMSS). The chapter concludes with a future research agenda for identifying targeted impactful interventions to those at specific career stages.

Aim: To identify and systematically review current scholarship on talent management of international nurses in healthcare organizations.Background: As nurse shortages persistently pose challenges for healthcare organizations globally, one of the primary strategies employed to address these shortages is employment of international nurses. To date little has been done to systematically review and collate contemporary research on talent management of this strategically important cohort. Talent management is a holistic construct that can support healthcare organizations to attract, develop, motivate, and retain talented employees to drive organizational performance. This systematic review isolates, appraises and collates available evidence on talent management practices for international nurses.Study design: Systematic literature review.Data sources: Searches of PubMed, EBSCO and Scopus were made covering literature from 2012–2022.Review methods: This study followed Cochrane protocol for Systematic Reviews and key search terms were developed in consultation with University of Limerick library. As a key aim of the review was to provide evidence for the development of effective talent management practices, only peer-reviewed academic papers and empirical studies were included. Initial articles screening was conducted by two reviewers and full articles review was conducted by the entire research team. Findings were combined in a data extraction template for further analysis.Results: This review includes 62 articles thematically analysed under the headings recruitment and selection, retention and turnover, career progression, professional development, discrimination and racism, culture and communication.Conclusion: No articles were found that directly address talent management for international nurses. Although there are studies that address aspects of talent management independently, more research is required on talent management as a holistic process for international nurses to inform evidence-based practice.Impact: This research emphasizes the importance of talent management for retention of international nurses in healthcare settings. It provides a knowledge base for healthcare organisations to enhance employee retention and ensure quality care for patients, as well as setting the foundation for future studies in this area.

The survival of non-government organisations (NGOs) requires that they develop strategies designed for non-profits (Laurett & Ferreira, 2018) given the unique environment in which they operate (Akingbola, 2007; Courtney, 2002) while encapsulating sectoral diversity (Eagleton-Pierce, 2020). Extant research has focused on what NGOs do as opposed to how they perform activities (Lewis, 2014) with the latter offering researchers additional insights on the theoretical frameworks used in practice (Lindenberg, 2001). How organizations strategically respond to their environment can be examined using Miles & Snows (1978) adaptive cycle as an organizing framework. This research examines, over a two-and-a-half-year period ‘how’ an international non-governmental INGO developed a knowledge management strategy to align its internal operations with its external environment. This research identifies ‘how’ the adaptive cycle can support and understanding of how knowledge management strategy is developed in practice in INGOs.

Aim: The aim of this study is to gather evidence on talent management practices for nurses and midwives in an Irish hospital group, to identify any shortcomings in the current practices and to develop an evidence‐based talent management framework for the hospital group.Design: This paper details a protocol for a mixed methods research study that will be used to (1) identify, critically evaluate and summarize academic scholarship on talent management strategies for both domestically and internationally trained nurses and midwives, leading to the development of a model of talent management for this study, (2) gather evidence from both domestic and internationally trained nurses and midwives, via questionnaires and focus groups within the hospital group on current talent management practices and (3) use the model previously developed to organize our findings and develop a talent management framework for the hospital group.Methods: The study will adapt a mixed methods approach. Quantitative data will be analysed using SPSS, and qualitative data will be analysed using NVivo.Results: Our findings will support a stakeholder approach to the development of talent management practices for both domestic and internationally trained nurses and midwives in healthcare organizations. Doing so should improve the pipeline of suitably qualified nurses and midwives for future roles, by assisting nurses and midwives to identify career paths and future educational opportunities. From an organizational perspective, this research will allow healthcare organizations to adapt their current workforce planning strategies, tailoring them to the needs of the current workforce, which should reduce turnover, ensuring a highly skilled workforce, with the appropriate numbers to provide the care required within that healthcare setting.No Patient of Public Contribution: Contributions will be sought from nursing and midwifery staff and management within the hospital group.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate changing implicit leadership theories (ILTs) within a business student population over a ten-year period. Design/methodology/approach: Students from the same business student population rated men, women and managers in general, using Schein’s Descriptive Index, first during the academic year 2008–2009 and again in 2018–2019. Findings: In Sample 1, the authors found multiple ILTs, male students gender typed the managerial role in favour of men, while female students held a more gender egalitarian view of the managerial role. In Sample 2, the authors found evidence that ILTs are starting to converge, as neither the male nor female sample gender typed the managerial role. Practical implications: These results aid the understanding of the ILTs that these graduating professionals bring into their new full-time organisations. Originality/value: The analysis of data from the same population using the same measurement at ten-year intervals, along with the findings that male students no longer gender type the managerial role in the most recent round of data collection, are original contributions to the literature.