PERCEIVED BARRIERS TO TALENT IDENTIFICATIONAMONGUNDERGRADUATES IN THE UNIVERSITY OF BENIN

This study was conducted to examine the perceived barriers totalent identification among undergraduates in the University of Benin. To guidethisstudy, five research question were raised. The descriptive surveyresearchdesign was adopted to accomplish the objectives of the study. Thetarget population was 300 and 400 level students of Human Kinetics andSportsScience Department totaling One hundred and Eighty Two (182) students. Thesample size for the study comprised of 110 students which is 60%of thetotal population. The main instrument of this research is a 27 itemself-structuredquestionnaire which was validated by the researcher’s supervisors andtwoother experts, all from the Department of Human Kinetics and Sports Science, University of Benin. The instrument was tested for reliability usingthetestretest reliability method. The research instrument was administered twicetoasmall sample within an interval of two weeks. The results showed a reliabilitycoefficient of 0.88 which was considered high, acceptable and accurate. Datacollection was carried out by the researcher, and the collected datawereanalyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version21. Thedescriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation was used for thedataanalysis. The findings of this study revealed that human factors, management, infrastructural and environmental factors are major barriers totalent identification among undergraduates in the University of Benin. It alsoshowedthat human factors of prejudice and bias affect talent identification; policymaking of the government act as barrier to talent identification; whilegeographical variation pose as barrier to talent identification. It wasrecommended that the stakeholders who are objective without bias intheirselection process, should be placed in the selection and identificationphase/process. Also, adequate policies on proper talent identificationat thegrass-root level should be ensured by the government.