Exploring Recruitment and Selection Practices of Ghanaian Organisations

Abstract

Although Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) has emerged as the new approach to human capital management, operational level Human Resource Management (HRM) activities (traditional personnel functions) remain crucial when linking business strategy with HRM. This paper is inspired by the contribution of selection and recruitment practices in managing the global talent war, particularly in less developed economies. It is based on a multiple case-study research into employee recruitment and selection techniques within five case-study firms located in Tema, Kumasi and Accra. The paper draws on in-depth face-to-face interviews and documents to explore the various recruitment and selection practices utilised by Ghanaian firms. The findings suggest more commonalities in the utilisation of the following employee recruitment sources – for example, newspaper advertisement, campus recruitment, employee referrals, direct applications and unsolicited applications among all case-study organisations and a slight variation in the utilisation of selection techniques such as: psychometric testing or aptitude testing, the use of assessment centres and employee referrals due to differences in employees’ categories and industry types. Though internet-based recruitment is growing significantly among organisations, yet the evidence in this paper rather demonstrate limited growing visibility towards internet-based or social media recruitment among Ghanaian organisations. This paper set out a rationale for utilising multiple case-study design in Human Resource Management research in under-researched contexts.

Keywords: recruitment sources, selection techniques, multiple case-study research, Ghana

DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/12-12-02

Publication date: April 30^th 2020