Influences of Talent Cultivation and Utilization on the National Human Resource Development System Performance: An International Study Using a Two-Stage Data Envelopment Analysis Model

To enhance national competitiveness, countries are committed to building a National Human Resource Development (NHRD) system to develop talents. However, studies have rarely investigated the internal development process of the NHRD system and the performance at the system and sub-system levels. Thus, this study constructed the performance evaluation model of the NHRD system from a two-stage process efficiency perspective that first cultivates talents and then uses the talents produced to create value. In addition, considering the problem of international talent flow and the time-lag effect, the bad output and the time-lag between inputs and outputs were incorporated into the model. The subjects included 60 countries, including Argentina, China, and OECD member countries. The results reveal that countries that excel at nurturing talents do not necessarily have the ability to effectively use talents to create value. Only having high-efficiency talent cultivation cannot strengthen competitiveness. Sensitivity analysis was also conducted to identify the input that affects talent cultivation and utilization efficiency, which could be used as a reference for competitiveness and NHRD performance improvement.