Assessment and Model Construction of Talent Attraction in the Creative Industry: A Case Study of Underdeveloped Cities and Regions in China

Abstract

Purpose In China, the creative industry not only plays a crucial role in promoting regional economic development and transforming traditional industries but also serves as a key link to the development of arts and culture. In the development of the creative industry, talent is considered the primary resource. With the expansion of population mobility in China, highly skilled talents are faced with the dilemma of choosing employment and residential destinations. Due to the concentration of the largest share of the creative industry in its wealthiest developed cities and regions, there exists a significant 'brain drain' effect, which greatly hinders the development of the creative industry in underdeveloped areas. Currently, some governments lack comprehensive understanding and accurate measurement of the attractiveness of their own cities in terms of talent retention. Existing talent policies are often formulated from the perspective of industrial development needs, without sufficient attention to the demands of talents for cities. This results in blind spots and homogenization in the government's development plans and talent policies. Therefore, conducting a scientific and comprehensive assessment of talent attraction in underdeveloped Chinese cities is of great significance.

Methodology Building upon existing literature, this study first utilizes User-Generated Content (UGC) platforms as analytical samples to extract potential user demands from online comments. Subsequently, drawing from Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory and the theory of coordinated urban development, a comprehensive evaluation model for attracting young talents in the creative industry is constructed. This model comprises four dimensions: employment environment, living environment, social environment, and ecological environment, each with 2 primary indicators, 6 secondary indicators, and 27 tertiary indicators. Leveraging data from city statistical yearbooks and open sources, entropy weight TOPSIS method is employed to determine the entropy values of each indicator. Weighting is then assigned to evaluate the attractiveness of creative industry talent based on these indicators, calculating the total scores and specific indicator weights for 16 cities from 2018 to 2022. Finally, integrating the TOWA-GA hybrid operator model, a dynamic comprehensive evaluation model with three dimensions—time, indicators, and strategies—is established, enhancing the static assessment with a temporal dimension.

Findings The research reveals that the weighting coefficient of talent mobility attraction in the talent attraction system is increasing annually, while the weighting coefficient of talent development attraction is decreasing over time. Developed scientific and educational infrastructure and well-established public service platforms emerge as key factors in attracting young talents to the creative industry. In comparison to developed regions, underdeveloped areas lag behind in both the functionality and balance of talent attraction in the creative industry. Integrating static and dynamic comprehensive evaluations of talent attraction among young talents in the creative industry, it's observed that the static evaluation scores of talent attraction have an impact on dynamic evaluation scores, and the quality of development of each indicator during the evaluation period also influences the results of dynamic comprehensive evaluation.

Research limitations/implications The research only reflects the factors influencing the attraction of creative industry talents in the Chinese region, and its general applicability remains to be confirmed through subsequent studies. In the future, further integration and utilization of interview or questionnaire data from young talents in the creative industry, along with statistical employment data and interview findings, can demonstrate the influencing factors of the creative industry on talent attraction.

Practical applications A novel evaluation index system for assessing the attraction of young talents in the creative industry is proposed, based on the UGC-entropy weight TOPSIS-TOWA-GA hybrid operator model. This system integrates the current status of creative industry development in underdeveloped regions of China and identifies key factors for enhancing talent attraction in these areas, considering varied talent demands and urban scales. The findings provide valuable insights for the formulation and implementation of effective policies in the relevant domains.