ROLE OF TALENT ACQUISITION IN PROMOTING DECENT WORK AND INCLUSIVE GROWTH (SDG 8) A STUDY OF CORPORATE HR PRACTICES

In today's dynamic environment, talent acquisition has come out as an effective tool
for achieving organization sustainability and socio-economic development. This is particularly
true when we consider Sustainable Development Goal 8 (SDG 8) where inclusion and decent
work are of prime importance. Although the trend towards adopting a diverse approach
towards talent acquisition is gaining importance, there still exist certain difficulties in
ensuring inclusive recruitment through talent acquisition. This paper seeks to find out how
talent acquisition can help organizations ensure inclusiveness and enhance employees'
engagement levels. For this purpose, a quantitative research method was employed and data
was collected through a well-structured questionnaire from a sample of 120 respondents. The
main independent variable included talent acquisition practices while the dependent variable
was inclusive growth. Employee engagement and workforce diversity were considered
mediating factors. Some of the statistical tools used for analyzing the relationships among
different variables included descriptive statistics, correlation, regression, ANOVA, t-test, chi�square, and mediation analysis.
Keywords: Talent Acquisition, SDG 8, Inclusive Growth, Decent Work, HR Practices,
Employee Engagement.