Assessment Centers in Higher Education Institutions in Ecuador: Strategic Impact on Human Talent Management and Organizational Development
Keywords:
resilience, sustainability, social innovation, governance, adaptabilityAbstract
Introduction: Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Ecuador face challenges in modernizing their human talent management processes, where traditional selection and evaluation methods persist, limiting the identification of strategic competencies and organizational strengthening. Materials and methods: A quantitative, descriptive, correlational, and explanatory study was conducted with a non-experimental, cross-sectional design. The sample included 83 participants (directors, administrative staff, and human talent managers) from various Ecuadorian HEIs. Structured surveys with a Likert scale and semi-structured interviews were administered, and the data were processed using IBM SPSS Statistics with descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and regression analysis. Results: A high positive correlation was found between the Assessment Center and organizational development (r = 0.81; p < 0.001), as well as with human talent management (r = 0.78) and institutional performance (r = 0.76). The highest mean scores were obtained for the Assessment Center (4.34/5) and organizational development (4.28/5). Participants perceived that implementing competency-based methodologies improves objectivity in selection, strengthens leadership, productivity, and strategic decision-making. Discussion: The findings confirm that competency-based models promote more efficient institutional processes, aligning with international literature on strategic human talent management and organizational development. Conclusions: The Assessment Center constitutes a strategic mechanism for modernizing university management in Ecuador, promoting more objective and holistic evaluations of human talent. It is recommended to strengthen strategies focused on competency-based assessment, continuous training, proactive leadership, and institutional innovation.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Verónica Isabel Muñoz Anchundia, Kevin Arnold Garcia Ortega, Laura Isabel López Mera, Nancy Paola Carreño Arteaga
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