Effect of Recruitment on the Culture of Excellence in Public Administration in Chad ()
1. Introduction
Recruiting new employees in public administrations helps to improve their cultures of excellence [1]-[3]. That’s why the focus is increasingly on the recruitment process [4], [5]. Indeed, Human Resources (HR) practices have an impact on the company’s performance by creating an efficient and productive workforce capable of achieving the company’s goals and objectives [6], [7]. Recruitment has become crucial and necessary for the survival of any company in today’s competitive environment [8], [9]. When organizational learning capacity is greater, high-performing work environments have a positive impact on administrative excellence [10]. Faced with strong competition and the complexity of the environment, public administrations are now using new technologies to stay in the current competitive environment [11] to improve the overall employee experience [12] [13], to achieve organizational objectives [14], [15] and Organizational Excellence [14], [16]. This is why global companies spent US$358 billion on training and development in 2020.
However, in view of all these recruitment benefits, one would expect to see underdeveloped countries follow the example of developed countries in defining and strengthening recruitment practices in public administrations. Unfortunately, despite the emphasis on recruitment in public administrations, trends in human resource development seem to be changing slowly; companies in these countries are unable to devote sufficient time and resources to recruiting, training and developing staff [8]. In Chad, for example, the last official recruitment to the civil service dates back to 2015. Over the period 2016-2022, the civil service had officially stopped recruiting. This may explain the underperformance recorded in public administrations. As proof, in 2014, Chad took 43rd place out of 52 in the Mo Ibrahim index, corresponding to a score of 38.9 out of 100.
This article is interesting because it aims to study the relationship between recruitment and the culture of excellence in public administrations in Chad. While protected markets, economies of scale, products and processes, the Internet and other traditional success factors can still give an organization a competitive advantage, its employees play a more important role in its long-term viability [17]. Hence, there is an interest in analyzing the effect of recruitment on the culture of excellence in Chadian public administrations. This article therefore aims to address three main limitations. The first is related to the lack of interest of researchers in the effect of recruitment on the culture of excellence in public administrations in Chad. This work aims to enrich the literature in this direction by taking into account the endowment of natural resources. In addition, this study stands out by opting for an index of culture of excellence. Its specificity is that it takes into account five dimensions out of the six dimensions of a culture of excellence advanced in the previous literature. This reinforces the relevance of this survey. The second limitation is methodological. At the limit of our knowledge, no study has used a mixed approach to study the relationship between recruitment and the culture of excellence in public administration.
The article is structured in three main sections. The first presents the literature review. The second presents the methodological approach deployed. The third is devoted to the presentation of the results and the discussions.
2. Literature Review
An analysis of the previous literature on the effect of recruitment on the culture of excellence in public administration reveals two lines of research. The first demonstrates that recruitment practices improve organizational excellence. Clearly, human resources can improve organizational excellence due to their scarcity in the market (a valuable asset) and social complexity, making them difficult to imitate [18] [19]. According to proponents of this trend, the practice of recruitment is essential, as it allows the company to attract competent human resources who can fit into the organizational culture and contribute to innovation and value creation [20] [21]. To this end, a study conducted in Sudanese public sector organizations with a sample of 245 employees, [22] examine the impact of human resource management practices on organizational excellence. Their findings reveal that dimensions of human resource management practices, including human resource planning, recruitment and training, have a significant impact on organizational excellence in Sudanese public sector organizations [22]. Specifically, the results revealed that there is a statistically significant impact of the dimensions of human resources management practices on the culture of excellence. Recruiting competent people helps to improve the level of performance and improve the culture of excellence within organizations, and achieve institutional excellence [23]-[25].
[26] Emphasize that organizations that are designed with a clear purpose in mind and that seek to meet the needs of their employees will demonstrate greater resilience and adaptability, allowing them to thrive. [27] believe that HR, through the recruitment process, for example, plays a crucial role in preparing a company to meet future expectations. Similarly, a study carried out in private tertiary institutions, validates the hypothesis that there is a positive and significant influence between talent management and the culture of excellence [24], [28]-[30]. In Nigeria, [31] suggest that companies be aware of the different recruitment methods available and choose the ones that best suit their specific needs. In this context, effective human resources management is a crucial element in achieving organizational excellence [32]-[38].
The second line of research shows that recruitment on employee performance shows no significant effect [39]. Moreover, in their study of 210 Cameroonian decentralized local authorities, [39] examine the role of human resource management (HRM) practices in the social performance of these communities. It emerges that the current approach to HRM within local authorities does not promote harmonious and effective local development. Based on the universalist approach, which postulates that HRM practices have a beneficial effect wherever they are applied, two observations can explain the challenges related to HRM in Cameroonian communities. First of all, the absence of a real HRM department limits its activity to administrative tasks of personnel management, which are often carried out by the secretaries general of the municipalities. This does not promote the development of a culture of excellence within these communities. Secondly, the political culture marked by permanent uncertainty about the results of the next elections leads some mayors not to invest in HRM practices.
3. Methodological Approach
3.1. Data Collection
We have opted for a mixed methodological approach. Thus, the first phase of data collection was quantitative and these analyzed data come from our survey conducted within public administrations in Chad. The distribution of respondents by ministry is as follows: Ministry of Agriculture (8.72%), Ministry of Public Health and Prevention (14.87%), Ministry of Foreign Affairs (12.31%), Ministry of Higher Education (3.08%), Ministry of Public Service and Dialogue (7.18%), Ministry of Posts and Digital Economy (10.26%), Ministry of Infrastructure (10.26%), Ministry of Territorial Administration, decentralization and good governance (7.69%), Ministry of Livestock and Agricultural Production (11.79%) and Ministry of Finance, Budget and Public Accounts (13.85%). It should be noted that these percentages are based on the respondents of the study mentioned and may vary according to the total population of positions in the Chadian public administration.
A total of 212 questionnaires were administered to employees in these 10 jurisdictions. But only 195 questionnaires were deemed acceptable and usable during the analyses. This means that 17 questionnaires were excluded due to issues such as incomplete responses or data entry errors. Hence a rejection rate of 7.07% and an acceptance rate of up to 92.93%. The total sample of this survey is therefore 195 employees. In addition, the distribution of respondents’ positions in Figure 1 is as follows: division director (10.77%); deputy director (10.77%); Director of the Finance Department (2.05%); Director of the Human Resources Department (2.05%); responsible for resource management (5.64%); head of finance (7.18%) and others (48.72%).
Figure 1. Distribution of respondents’ positions (in percentage).
3.2. Analysis of Model Variables
3.2.1. The Dependent Variable: The Culture of Excellence
The culture of excellence is multidimensional and complex, and cannot be directly observed or measured. But in the context of this article, five dimensions from the theoretical literature have been apprehended in order to get as close as possible to the culture of excellence [40]-[42]. These are five dimensions are: the external orientation of the organization, the internal orientation of the organization, collective work, long-term orientation, commitment and involvement of the management team. All these dimensions are respectively captured by the following questions: “I work towards the same goal, the same direction (instead of working in silos)”; “Your organization is as focused on driving business results as it is on engaging people”; “Your organization ensures that all leaders base their actions on strong values, without compromise”; “The involvement of the management team promotes the sharing of the same goal of the organization”.
The analysis is based on multivariate exploratory analysis techniques applied to qualitative variables, and the most suitable in this case is multiple component analysis (MCA) (See Figure 2) as mentioned above. It is generally done in two stages. First, it is necessary to rank each variable in descending order of contribution to the inertia of the axis under consideration, in order to give meaning to the axis. Then, it is a question of considering the signs of the coordinates of each modality: those going in the same direction being strongly linked. In short, the AFCM makes it possible to associate a weight or a level of importance to each variable as well as to each modality of the variables [43]. Thus, the raw indicator is normalized to have positive values for ease of interpretation [43].
Source: Author.
Figure 2. AFCM of the culture of excellence.
In order to ensure the consistency of the variables used for the construction of our index, several preliminary tests were performed, first the Cronbach alpha test1 and then the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test2. The results are reported in Table 1 and Table 2.
The value of Cronbach’s alpha statistic calculated on the basis of the five variables retained is 0.75 close to 1, thus denoting a good reliability and therefore a perfect internal consistency between the different items considered.
Table 1. Cronbach’s alpha test.
Test Scale = Mean (Unstandardized Items) |
Culture Excellence |
Average interitem covariance: |
0.233054 |
Number of items in the scale: |
5 |
Scale reliability coefficient: |
0.7561 |
Source: Author.
Moreover, the value of the KMO test is 0.803 so the variables used to construct the index are consistent. After this internal consistency check between the items, we proceeded to the multiple correspondence analysis to calculate the culture of excellence index.
Table 2. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test (KMO).
Bartlett Test of Sphericity |
Culture Excellence |
Chi-square |
153.775 |
Degrees of freedom |
10 |
p-value |
0.000 |
H0: variables are not intercorrelated |
|
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy |
|
KMO |
0.803 |
Source: Author.
3.2.2. The Independent Variable: Recruitment
Recruitment theories identify several types of processes that organizations typically use to identify the best talent. The recruitment variable in this study is captured by asking the following question: “What types of recruitment do you usually use?”.
3.2.3. Control Variables
Years of experience: Employees with many years of experience may accumulate in-depth expertise and knowledge in their field, allowing them to make valuable contributions to the organization and improve the quality of the work done [44]. Experienced employees can also take on strategic positions and play a mentoring role to more junior members of the organization, guiding, inspiring, and motivating them to achieve high levels of excellence [45].
Position held: Leaders and managers have a key role in promoting a culture of excellence. They set ambitious goals, communicate performance expectations, and provide the resources needed to achieve those goals [46] [47]. According to [48], employees in operational positions also contribute to the culture of excellence. In addition, employees must be supported in their efforts to achieve excellence through training, adequate resources, and a supportive work environment [49].
Age: The age of employees can also influence the culture of excellence within a public institution [50] [51]. Younger employees can bring increased energy and motivation to achieve excellence. Their familiarity with new technologies and adaptability can also foster innovation and continuous improvement. In contrast, older employees can bring valuable experience and wisdom that contributes to a culture of excellence [51] [52].
Gender: Gender stereotypes can influence employees’ expectations and perceptions of skills [53]. In Chad, for example, traditional roles often assign women domestic and care responsibilities, these stereotypes can limit their access to strategic and decision-making positions, which can have an effect on the culture of excellence. The work of [54] highlights the importance of gender diversity in promoting an inclusive culture of excellence.
The level of education: [55] [56] show that employees with a higher level of education are more likely to seek to improve their performance and achieve excellence in their work. Educated employees are also more likely to participate in professional development activities, such as training and workshops, which can reinforce their commitment to excellence. However, educational attainment does not necessarily guarantee a culture of excellence. For [57], organizational culture, performance expectations, and leadership are key factors that influence the culture of excellence. In Chad, where higher education is still relatively underdeveloped and access to continuing education is limited, it can be difficult to cultivate a culture of excellence based on the educational level of employees.
Religion: Religion is present in all human cultures, even the most primitive [58]. This is due to the fact that it binds man to powers that are more than human [58]. It is a doctrine or practice constituting the relationship of man with the divinity. In the company, the perception of the sacred, an alliance of fear and consideration for forces that surpass us, generally affects the performance of companies [58]. The results on the effects of religion on organizational performance are mixed. Religion is certainly considered a means of trust, inclusion and social cohesion, even if it can sometimes be a source of conflict between different religious personnel [58] [59].
3.3. Method of Analysis
Our model in its compact form is given by Equation (1) below:
(1)
where CultureExcellence represents the culture of excellence index, Recruitment is the recruitment variable and X the vector presents the matrix of control variables and the error term. The exploded form of the model is given by Equation (2) below:
(2)
Thus, drawing on the literature and taking into account the nature of the dependent variable, we will use the Tobit for our basic analysis. The Tobit estimation is a model in which the censored values of the dependent variable are fixed. Censorship can be observed on the left, on the right, or both. Equation (3) reflects the standard procedure for estimating the Tobit model.
(3)
where is the latent response, is the vector of the unobservable variables and. i.d and independent.
(4)
The second phase of data collection aimed to understand the recruitment process and identify the texts that hinder the recruitment process in Chadian public administrations. The target population for the qualitative data collection phase is the Human Resources Directors (HRDs) of public administrations. The sample size is 5 individuals (Table 3). Semantic saturation has been reached. Semantic saturation is said to occur when an additional interview no longer provides new information. In addition, we interviewed individuals with various profiles [60]. The following Table 3 presents the different individuals interviewed during this survey.
Table 3. Presentation of the individuals interviewed.
No. |
Department Interviewed |
Respondent Position |
Duration of the Interview |
1 |
Ministry of Livestock |
Director of Human Resources |
30 minutes |
2 |
Ministry of Foreign Affairs |
Director of Human Resources |
45 minutes |
3 |
Ministry of Finance |
Director of Human Resources |
51 minutes |
4 |
Department of Public Service |
Director of Human Resources |
27 minutes |
5 |
Ministry of Public Health |
Director of Human Resources |
55 minutes |
Source: Author of the survey.
These interviews were conducted through an interview guide. The data collected was recorded, transcribed and analysed manually and automatically using the qualitative data analysis software.
4. Results and Discussion
4.1. Quantitative Data Analysis Results
This section reviews the descriptive statistics on the one hand, and presents the results and their discussion on the other.
Descriptive Statistics
Figure 3 presents the types of recruitment that respondents typically use in public institutions in Chad. Here are the results of this breakdown: Program (66%) and One-off (34%). Figure 3 and Figure 4 indicate the proportion of respondents who use each type of recruitment. It is interesting to note that the majority of respondents use recruitment programs. This suggests that public institutions in Chad have structured and pre-established recruitment processes.
Source : Author, based on field survey data.
Figure 3. Distribution (%) of respondents by type of recruitment used in their institution.
Source: Author, based on field survey data.
Figure 4. Distribution of respondents by the existence of a study unit or group to select the best candidate at their institution.
Figure 4 shows the distribution of respondents according to the existence of a unit or study committee responsible for selecting the best candidate in public institutions in Chad. Here are the results of this distribution: No (47%) and Yes (53%). These figures indicate the proportion of respondents from public institutions that have set up a study unit or commission for the selection of the best candidates. Interestingly, almost half of the respondents indicated the existence of such structures, suggesting that these institutions value a rigorous selection process.
Figure 5 shows the distribution of respondents according to the share of recruitments made by the public employment service in public institutions in Chad. Here are the results of this distribution: less than 25% (15.38%), between 26 and 50% (20.51%), between 51 and 75% (10.77%) and between 76 and 100% (29.23%). These figures indicate the proportion of respondents whose recruitment is partly carried out by the public employment service. Interestingly, more than half of the respondents indicated that the public employment service plays a significant role in their recruitment processes. This suggests that the public employment service is an important resource for public institutions in Chad when it comes to finding qualified candidates.
Source: Author, based on field survey data.
Figure 5. Distribution (%) of respondents, by recruitment by the public employment service.
4.2. Bivariate Statistical Analysis
4.2.1. Interdependence between Recruitment and Culture of Excellence
According to the information in Table 4, it appears that among the individuals questioned on the culture of excellence, 42.05% have a weak culture of excellence while 57.94% have a strong culture of excellence. Regarding the types of recruitment, 52.82% of respondents believe that Chadian public institutions use scheduled recruitment. While 47.17% of respondents believe that Chadian public institutions usually resort to unscheduled recruitment. Moreover, 71 individuals, or 36.41% of respondents, believe that Chadian public institutions that have a strong culture of excellence usually use a programmed recruitment method. Also, the interdependence test between the type of recruitment and the strong culture of excellence in the civil service in Chad shows that, with regard to the value of Chi square in the Pearson sense (10.8076) and the probability associated with it, there is a significant relationship of dependence at a threshold of 1% between the strong culture of excellence and the type of recruitment.
Table 4. Interdependence between recruitment and culture of excellence.
|
Recruitment Type |
|
|
Strong Culture of
Excellence (0 = No; 1 = Yes) |
Unscheduled |
Programmed |
Total |
|
0 |
50 |
32 |
82 |
42.05% |
1 |
42 |
71 |
113 |
57.94% |
Total |
92 |
103 |
195 |
100% |
|
47.17% |
52.82% |
100% |
|
Pearson chi2(1) = 10.8076 Pr = 0.001 |
Source: Author of the survey.
4.2.2. Interdependence between Culture of Excellence and Control Variables
In Table 5, which presents the interdependence between the strong culture of excellence and the number of years of professional experience, we can see that the correlation (Chi-square coefficient in the Pearson sense = 20.1349) between these two variables is statistically strong. Specifically, the strong culture of excellence is significantly dependent on the number of years of professional experience in Chadian administrations.
Table 5. Interdependence between culture of excellence and number of years of experience.
|
Year of Experience |
|
Strong Culture of Excellence (0 = No; 1 = Yes) |
Under 5 Years Old |
Between 5 and 10 Years Old |
Between 11 and 20 Years Old |
More Than 20 Years |
Total |
0 |
38 |
21 |
17 |
6 |
82 |
1 |
21 |
32 |
37 |
23 |
113 |
Total |
59 |
53 |
54 |
29 |
195 |
Pearson chi2(3) = 20.1349 Pr = 0.000 |
Source: Author of the survey.
The results in Table 6 show that, of the individuals interviewed, 76 of them are neither Directors nor do they have a culture of excellence. However, 6 individuals do not have any culture of excellence but are nevertheless Director. In contrast to the previous results, 69 individuals have a culture of excellence but are not Directors, while 44 of the individuals are Directors and have a culture of excellence. The statistical results of the Chi-square test, on the other hand, show that there is a significant 1% dependency relationship between the strong culture of excellence and the position of Director.
Table 6. Interdependence between the culture of excellence and the position of Director.
Strong Culture of Excellence
(0= No; 1=Yes) |
Director |
Total |
0 = No |
1 = Yes |
0 |
76 |
6 |
82 |
1 |
69 |
44 |
113 |
Total |
145 |
50 |
195 |
Pearson chi2(1) = 24.9195 Pr = 0.000 |
Source: Author of the survey.
Table 7, which relates the strong culture of excellence to the age of the employee, does not allow us to conclude, with regard to the value of Chi squared in the Pearson sense (3.6875), which is statistically insignificant.
Table 7. Interdependence between culture of excellence and age.
Culture of Excellence
(0= No; 1=Yes) |
Between
18 - 30 |
Between
31 - 43 |
Between
45 - 56 |
57+ |
Total |
0 |
12 |
58 |
9 |
3 |
82 |
1 |
13 |
71 |
20 |
9 |
113 |
Total |
25 |
129 |
29 |
12 |
195 |
Pearson chi2(3) = 3.6875 Pr = 0.297 |
Source: Author of the survey.
Table 8 highlights the results of the test of the interdependence between strong culture of excellence and gender. Similar to Table 9, the value of Chi-square in the Pearson sense (0.3203) is low and statistically non-significant, inducing an absence of dependence between the two variables.
Table 8. Interdependence between culture of excellence and sex.
|
Sex |
|
Culture of Excellence (0 = No; 1 = Yes) |
Masculine |
Feminine |
Total |
0 |
61 |
21 |
82 |
1 |
88 |
25 |
113 |
Pearson chi2(1) = 0.3203 Pr = 0.571 |
Source: Author of the survey.
Table 9 highlights the results of the test of interdependence between culture of excellence and religion in Chad. The results are inconclusive because the probability of the test is non-significant.
Table 9. Interdependence between culture of excellence and religion.
|
Religion |
|
Culture of Excellence (0 = No; 1 = Yes) |
Muslim |
Christian |
Total |
0 |
59 |
23 |
82 |
1 |
76 |
37 |
113 |
Total |
135 |
60 |
195 |
Pearson chi2(2) = 0.5600 Pr = 0.756 |
Source: Author of the survey.
4.3. Multivariate Descriptive Analysis
The results in Table 10 support the general consensus on the importance of the various factors that explain the culture of excellence. In the estimated model, we note the presence of two variables of interest (strong culture of excellence and the type of recruitment); socio-demographic characteristics. These are the individual characteristics of respondents. The model is globally significant. In this sense, several characteristics of the respondents can be established.
Table 10. Result of the logistic regression.
■ Dependent Variable: Culture of
Excellence (0 = No; 1 = Yes) |
Odds Ratio |
Standard Deviations |
T-Value |
p-value |
GIS. |
■ Recruitment type |
|
|
|
|
|
■ (Scheduled = 1; unscheduled = 0) |
2.012 |
0.724 |
1.94 |
0.042 |
** |
■ Number of years of experience (Reference: less than 5 years old) |
|
|
|
|
|
■ Between 5 and 10 years old |
1.572 |
0.754 |
0.94 |
0.346 |
|
■ Between 11 and 20 years old |
2.101 |
1.072 |
1.45 |
0.146 |
|
■ More than 20 years |
5.133 |
4.239 |
1.98 |
0.048 |
** |
■ Position held |
|
|
|
|
|
■ Director (0 = No; 1 = Yes) |
9.845 |
5.103 |
4.41 |
0 |
*** |
■ Age of the respondent |
|
|
|
|
|
■ Between 31 - 43 |
0.858 |
0.458 |
−0.29 |
0.775 |
|
■ Between 45 - 56 |
0.744 |
0.551 |
−0.40 |
0.689 |
|
■ 57 and over |
0.534 |
0.619 |
−0.54 |
0.588 |
|
■ Gender of respondent |
|
|
|
|
|
■ (Female = 0; Male = 1) |
0.585 |
0.255 |
−1.23 |
0.218 |
|
■ Level of education (Reference: Primary) |
|
|
|
|
|
■ Secondary |
2.582 |
3.847 |
0.64 |
0.524 |
|
■ Undergraduate |
9.789 |
10.73 |
2.08 |
0.037 |
** |
■ Graduate |
2.438 |
2.643 |
0.82 |
0.411 |
|
■ Postgraduate |
6.535 |
7.233 |
1.70 |
0.09 |
* |
■ Religion of the respondent (Reference: Other) |
|
|
|
|
|
■ Muslim |
0.143 |
0.177 |
−1.57 |
0.117 |
|
■ Christian |
0.143 |
0.177 |
−1.57 |
0.115 |
|
■ Constant |
0.725 |
0.912 |
−0.26 |
0.798 |
|
■ Nickname r-squared |
0.232 |
■ Chi-square |
61,496*** |
■ Akaike writes. (AIC) |
235,882 |
Notes: Standard errors in parentheses *** p < 0.01, ** p < 0.05, * p < 0.1. Source: Author of the survey.
The interpretation of the results in Table 10 that emerges confirms the results of the analysis of dependence between the type of recruitment and the strong culture of excellence. Thus, the results clearly show that Chadian public administrations that use scheduled recruitment are 2.012 times more likely to have a strong culture of excellence than those adopting unscheduled recruitment methods. Scheduled recruitment allows public administrations to respond in a planned way to specific human resource needs, thus improving their ability to adapt to changes and new requirements of the public service. Scheduled recruitment is often considered to be the most effective method of attracting and selecting talent that meets the competence and performance criteria set by the organization. This approach, which involves careful planning and selection of candidates, is combined with a strengthening of the strong culture of excellence. According to [61], planned recruitment helps to better identify and attract talent that has not only the required technical skills, but also the personal and professional qualities that match the culture of the organization, thus promoting high performance and rapid adaptation to change. Also [61] notes that well-designed recruitment practices increase the likelihood of hiring quality candidates, which is essential to strengthen the strong culture of excellence in the organization. By adopting the programmed recruitment method, Chadian public administrations can ensure that the people recruited are in line with the values of excellence and organizational performance objectives, which contributes to an improvement in user satisfaction.
On the other hand, unscheduled recruitment methods, characterized by an ad-hoc or ad hoc approach, may not optimally meet the human resources needs of an administration. For example, studies show that this type of recruitment leads to greater variability in the quality of the candidates hired, which can be detrimental to overall performance and organizational cohesion [62]. Recruiters in this context often lack a clear strategy and specific goals for recruitment, which can lead to a mismatch between the skills of new hires and the organization’s requirements. Adopting unplanned recruitment methods can also lead to challenges such as increased recruitment costs and low employee retention, due to a lack of preparation and long-term vision. According to [61], misaligned human resource management practices can reduce operational efficiency and diminish an organization’s ability to maintain the strong culture of excellence.
Scheduled recruitment promotes the ability of public administrations to adapt to changes and new requirements of the public service. Based on a proactive and planned approach, governments can anticipate future skills needs and recruit talent that brings new perspectives and innovations needed to meet current and future challenges.
Regarding the number of years of experience, the positive sign of the statistically significant coefficient here suggests that compared to the baseline category (less than 5 years), people with a number of years of experience “more than 20 years” are 5.13 times more likely to lead to a strong culture of excellence. People who hold the position of director are 9.84 times more likely to lead to the strong culture of excellence than those in other administrative roles. The level of education influences the strong culture of excellence. The statistically significant coefficients for age are all positive. The positive sign of each statistically significant coefficient here suggests that compared to the baseline (primary) category, the corresponding categories with statistically significant coefficients are all more likely to lead to the strong culture of excellence.
4.4. Results of Qualitative Data Analysis
The results of the study of the interviews highlight the three phases. Figure 6 summarizes this trilogy.
Source: Author based on the results of interviews.
Figure 6. Recruitment trilogy.
The in-depth analysis based on the results of the interviews shows that after the identification of the personnel needs related to a vacant position or a new position by a ministry in phase-1, recruitment is declined differently. According to the respondents, recruitment can be done in several ways depending on the nature of the need (phase-2). On the one hand, respondents are unanimous on planned, scheduled, sequential and competitive recruitment. However, they note that this branch of recruitment is more supervised by the Ministry of Public Service, which provides employment in Chad. On the other hand, 75% of respondents believe that one-time recruitment, on the basis of a file study or by recommendation, is more common in departments. Finally, 25% of the executives interviewed mention recruitment practices by redeployment in ministries (Interview of human resources executives in ministries, 2023).
“…this is the procedure planned by the State… Because it’s not like the private sector… The civil service there, they have a one-stop recruitment window, there’s a commission there… (Human Resources Framework No. 1). “…Recruitment is authorized by law to pass a competitive examination to enter the civil service, so with this exception there is not yet an implementing decree and we recruit by selection of files sent to the Ministry of the Civil Service with regard to the needs that are expressed, if its needs are identified in its actions” (Human Resources Framework No. 2). “The need to recruit very often comes from the complaints raised by the directors of the different sections of the human resources section… we analyze our staff, then we try to analyze the situation on a personal development problem, is it a problem of staff deployment, if it is a deployment problem, we try to balance things” (Human Resources Framework No. 3). “In other structures, they launch a recruitment notice, people submit the files and then there will be an interview here, it’s not the same; This is not the case why… Academic trainees or trainees on an internship or who have come for an advanced training course may be recruited; so people who came to do internships here; in their internship it can be considered as a veiled interview… they can be called back to submit the files for interviews” (Human Resources Manager No. 4).
The interpretation of the verbatims seems a little contrasted and shows that recruitment can affect the culture of excellence (Phase-3). Ad hoc recruitment through interviews and the like allows an institution to quickly fill vacancies, which strengthens its ability to respond to operational and strategic needs in an agile manner. This can help to maintain a high level of performance and efficiency within the institution. Additionally, by filling vacancies quickly with qualified candidates, the institution can attract and retain exceptional talent. This reinforces the institution’s reputation as an employer of choice and stimulates the culture of excellence by fostering a dynamic and competent work environment through capacity building of new recruits, teamwork, integration of new employees into internship and follow-up programs. The programs provide an opportunity to understand the objectives, the vision and to gain experience with the heads of departments.
“…That is to say, how first of all they must have done the internships. They do internships because they have done the theoretical training, now they go down to the field so they have to do practical work in internships. They do internships now of 45 days it depends on a month now they will follow the courses where we have asked what they can do or they can do the same work there so they have to learn the practice, as soon as they master it we can assign them to different positions… (Human Resources Framework No. 2). “New recruits, …, there is an observation period, this observation period is provided for in the law for 11 months, from which at the end of 11 months, they are supervised by the line managers and it is the line managers who supervise them until their tenure and it is after their tenure that they are positioned to assert their skills in the respective fields” (Human Resources Manager No. 3). “…After a year of internship, he produces internship reports, he is graded and at the moment he is tenured and the like. But now it doesn’t exactly happen much, the texts of the civil service say that when you are new you don’t have the right to be a head of department. The internship is to gain experience with the heads of departments” (Human Resources Manager n˚ 4).
5. Conclusions and Recommendations
The objective of this article is to empirically analyze the effect of recruitment on the culture of excellence of public institutions in Chad. It highlights several important points, namely: first, the recruitment process in public institutions in Chad has some shortcomings, such as the lack of transparency and meritocracy. This has a direct impact on the culture of excellence within these institutions. In addition, the empirical analysis highlighted the importance of good human resource management in the recruitment process. Objective and transparent criteria must be put in place to assess the skills and qualifications of candidates, thus promoting the emergence of a culture of excellence. It also emerged that employee training and development play a key role in promoting a culture of excellence. Public institutions need to invest in continuous training programs to improve the skills and knowledge of their employees, which will help strengthen the culture of excellence. These measures are essential to foster a culture of excellence within public institutions and contribute to their overall efficiency and performance.
The limitations of this article are twofold. On the one hand, this paper is based on a limited sample of public institutions in Chad. Future work may work on a wider sample of public institutions. On the other hand, this work has only focused on Chad. Future work may focus on other specific cases of public administration.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
NOTES
1The alpha coefficient (α) varies between 0 and 1. A coefficient of 0 represents zero reliability, and a coefficient of 1 indicates perfect reliability. In a first exploratory phase, a coefficient of 0.50 or 0.60 may be acceptable (Pichon, 2006).
2The KMO is a factor solution suitability test. It indicates the extent to which the set of variables retained is coherent and makes it possible to constitute one or more adequate measures of concepts. A KMO value of less than 0.5 is unacceptable; of 0.5 is mediocre; of 0.6 is acceptable; of 0.7 is average; of 0.8 is meritorious; of 0.9 is excellent (Pichon, 2006).