Nurses' perception of talent management scale (NPTMS): development, validation and psychometric properties

Background There is an increasing need for a new and comprehensive approach to evaluate nursing talent to increase effectiveness and productivity. Talent management, which plays an important role in identifying, developing and retaining nursing talent, is a key strategy for investing in nursing. This study aimed to develop the Nurses' Perception of Talent Management Scale (NPTMS) and assess its psychometric properties. Methods The scale was developed using a methodological design with a convenience sampling method including 918 nurses (n(EFA)=422, n(CFA)=496) from 12 hospitals in Istanbul between September and April 2022. The scale was developed in three phases. Firstly, items reflecting talent management in nursing were created through a comprehensive literature review employing the deductive method. Then, the face and content validity of the scale were evaluated. Finally, construct validity (exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, concurrent validity, convergent and divergent validity) and reliability (item-total score correlation, split-half method, Cronbach's alpha coefficient, equivalent forms reliability and test-retest) were evaluated for psychometric properties. Results The newly developed scale, for which validity and reliability analyses were conducted using two separate samples through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, was found to consist of 26 items and a single factor. This factor explained 63.2% of the variance related to the structure and showed acceptable goodness of fit (chi 2/sd = 4.325, RMSEA = 0.078, RMR = 0.046, TLI = 0.915, CFI = 0.924, NFI = 0.903, GFI = 0.882, IFI = 0.924). The content validity of the scale was found to be 0.95. Construct validity results indicated that the scale exhibited strong concurrent validity (r(EFA) =0.755, r(CFA) =0.772, p < 0.05) and convergent and divergent validity (AVE > 0.5; CR > 0.8; CR > AVE). The reliability analyses revealed high internal consistency (0.976(EFA);0.978(CFA)), time invariance (ICC = 0.836), and equivalent forms reliability (p < 0.05). Conclusions The scale is a valid and reliable tool for assessing nurses' perceptions of talent management. It can be used to evaluate talent management practices in nursing and developing policies and strategies that support investment in nursing talent. Clinical trial number Not applicable.