Gender, talent management and firm performance: MNCs' female-focused talent management practices in Russia
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-04-2021-0132 |
| Published date | 11 January 2022 |
| Date | 11 January 2022 |
| Pages | 850-869 |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
| Author | Marina Latukha,Snejina Michailova,Dana L. Ott,Daria Khasieva,Darya Kostyuk |
Gender, talent management and
firm performance: MNCs’
female-focused talent
management practices in Russia
Marina Latukha
Graduate School of Management, Saint Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg,
Russian Federation
Snejina Michailova
Department of Management and International Business,
The University of Auckland Business School, Auckland, New Zealand
Dana L. Ott
School of Business, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, and
Daria Khasieva and Darya Kostyuk
Graduate School of Management, Saint Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg,
Russian Federation
Abstract
Purpose –There is a substantial void in the understanding of the effect of talent management (TM) practices
specifically targeted at females on firm performance. This paper investigates the relationship between female-
focused TM and firm performance with the aim of demonstrating the importance of gender diversity in firms.
Design/methodology/approach –The authors developed and empirically tested a contextually embedded
model using data from 103 multinational corporations in Russia to examine the effect of female-focused TM on
firm performance.
Findings –The authors found an overall positive relationship between female-focused TM and firm
performance. The authors’analysis also revealed significant positive effects of female-focused talent
development and talent retention, but not talent attraction, on firm performance.
Originality/value –This paper contributes to the vibrant TM scholarship by focusing on female-focused
talent attraction, development and retention practices.
Keywords Talent management, Female-focused talent management, Talent attraction, Talent development,
Talent retention, Firm performance, Russia
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Talent management (TM) refers to the processes and activities used to identify and develop a
pool of talent to fill the pivotal positions that disproportionately contribute to sustained
organizational success (Bolander et al., 2017;Collings and Mellahi, 2009). Through TM,
organizations secure the quality and quantity of talent in the right positions and throughout
the organization to meet their current and future strategic objectives (McDonnell et al., 2017).
TM differs from human resource management (HRM), which focuses more on the long-term
legal aspects of managing all employees (Michailova and Ott, 2019). In contrast, TM is more
dynamic and involves disproportionately investing resources into a smaller group of
employees with specific knowledge, expertise, skills and potential to increase output and
enhance firm performance (Collings and Mellahi, 2009).
Both scholars and practitioners have become increasingly interested in TM (Michailova
and Ott, 2019), which now occupies a central position in many organizational strategies
(Collings et al., 2015;Mahfoozi et al., 2018;Morrison et al., 2013). TM positively influences
ER
44,4
850
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0142-5455.htm
Received 3 April 2021
Revised 2 November 2021
23 December 2021
Accepted 23 December 2021
Employee Relations: The
International Journal
Vol. 44 No. 4, 2022
pp. 850-869
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-04-2021-0132
organizations’profitability, sustainability and competitive advantage (Chambers et al., 1998;
Schuler, 2015) and improves individual performance (Thunnissen et al., 2013). To achieve
this, organizations must attract, select, develop and retain high-performing, high-potential
employees to fill strategically significant positions (Festing and Sch€
afer, 2014;Stahl et al.,
2007). Therefore, the TM practices of attracting, developing and retaining talent are crucial.
Talent attraction is defined as the activities undertaken to identify internal talent and attract
external talent to obtain necessary skill sets and meet organizational needs (Collings and
Mellahi, 2009). Talent development includes activities that provide organizational members
with the opportunity to acquire strategically valuable knowledge, skills and abilities that are
known to facilitate a sustained competitive advantage (Cappelli, 2008;Collings and Mellahi,
2009). Talent retention refers to the activities that address the various needs of talented
employees to enhance their organizational commitment and job satisfaction and prevent
them from leaving (Michailova and Ott, 2019).
Thunnissen et al. (2013, p. 1758) state that the field of TM is still in its infancy but that,
“some progress towards adolescence”has been made. They also advocate for a pluralistic
approach to TM that incorporates different contexts. The recent literature highlights the
importance of not only individual and organizational but also macro-level factors such as
government policies, global mobility, diaspora effects, global labor markets and brain
circulation across countries when examining TM (Khilji et al., 2015;Vaiman et al., 2018). Other
scholars have investigated the transferability of TM knowledge from the private to the public
sector (Kravariti and Johnston, 2020). Similarly, diverse individual-level factors such as
gender, age, ethnicity, nationality, disability, sexual orientation and religion are also of
interest in the TM scholarship (Sheehan and Anderson, 2015).
When diversity is valued, harnessed and effectively managed, it can be transformed into
opportunities for organizational success (Chrobot-Mason and Aramovich, 2013;Richard and
Johnson, 2001;Ritter-Hayashi et al., 2016), improved performance (Carter and Wagner, 2011)
and firm attractiveness (Groysberg and Connolly, 2013). As a diversity dimension, gender has
attracted increasing attention in the TM literature. TM practices that improve diversity can
serve as powerful tools to attract and retain the best talent available and help firms overcome
current and future talent shortages (Allen et al., 2008). The underutilization and inequitable
attraction, development and retention of female talent have prevented talented women from
achieving the same work-related outcomes as their male counterparts (de Klerk and
Verreynne, 2017;Tatli et al., 2013). Others have argued that TM practices tend to discriminate
against women or fail to consider female talents’preferences (Festing et al., 2015). Increasing
women’s participation in the workforce (B€
ohmer and Schinnenburg, 2016) and incorporating
TM practices specifically aimed at the promotion and inclusion of female talent (Tatli et al.,
2013) are possible solutions to overcoming global talent scarcity. However, there is a
substantial gap in understanding how TM practices targeted specifically at female talent
affect firm performance. This has created a research agenda to examine the role of female-
focused TM practices, particularly those “designed to achieve a gender-diverse workforce by
effectively promoting diversity and monitoring the well-being of women”(Ali, 2016, p. 377), in
firm performance. Against this background, we aim to answer the following research
questions: (1) How does female-focused TM affect firm performance?; (2) How do female-
focused talent attraction, development and retention practices affect firm performance?
The answers to these questions will make four contributions. First, we empirically
examine the link between TM and firm performance. While this link has been proposed
conceptually and theoretically, there is insufficient empirical evidence to confirm or reject it
(Lewis and Heckman, 2006;Thunnissen and Gallardo-Gallardo, 2017). Second, we answer the
call for more diversity-related TM research that focuses on the management of female talent
in particular (Festing et al., 2015;Makarem et al., 2019;Sheehan and Anderson, 2015;
Tatli et al., 2013). Although diversity management has held a prominent place in research
MNCs’female-
focused TM
practices
851
To continue reading
Request your trial