Measuring talent management: a proposed construct
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-05-2021-0224 |
| Published date | 23 March 2022 |
| Date | 23 March 2022 |
| Pages | 1192-1215 |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
| Author | Muhammad Mujtaba,Muhammad Shujaat Mubarik,Kamran Ahmed Soomro |
Measuring talent management:
a proposed construct
Muhammad Mujtaba
Department of Management Sciences,
Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan
Muhammad Shujaat Mubarik
College of Business Management, Institute of Business Management,
Karachi, Pakistan, and
Kamran Ahmed Soomro
Department of Management Sciences,
Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan
Abstract
Purpose –The study aims to develop a construct to measure talent management (TM) in an organization.
Design/methodology/approach –The study adopts a fourfold approach to develop the construct. Data
were collected through close-ended questionnaires by conducting surveys from human resource professionals.
Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis techniques were employed to analyze the data
and develop the construct.
Findings –Resultsof the study indicatethat TM practices arecrucial in changing businessdynamics. A final26
itemsunder 5 factors(identification ofcritical positions,talent acquisition,talent development,talent engagement,
and talent retention) were found significant and integratedTM strategies in uncertaineconomic environments.
Practicalimplications –This research focuses on the entire process of the TM cycle and develops an integrated
construct of TM; thus, the study will provide an in-depth understanding of TM strategies to practitioners and
researchers, facilitate researchers for the effective conduct of empirical research work on TM, whereas, for
practitioners, this work will support in designing of TM strategies leading to organizational performance.
Originality/value–This is the first research study that has been done in the context of South Asia. It will help
build up TM strategies to the necessity of a business environment.
Keywords Talent management, Strategies, Construct
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) led rapidly changing business dynamics created
hallmark challenges for number of firms. In addition to that, quickly changing climatic
conditions and global awareness about the environmental issuesare also putting pressure on
the firms to be moresustainable. The simultaneouspursuit of sustainabilityalong with coping
up COVID-19is proving to be a highly difficulttask for many businesses. However,some of the
firmshave shown incredible resilienceto countering the COVID-19impacts and simultaneously
maintainingthe sustainability of their businessoperations. Effective talentmanagement (TM)
strategy is considered one of the significant reasons for this resilience-cum-sustainable
behavior.As noted by Mujtaba and Mubarik (2022),the effective TM strategies(TMSs) help an
organization to truly capitalize on the power of its human capital (HC), and to face the
disruptions be it man-made or natural. Likewise, such strategies also uplift the sustainable
behavior of the workforce, leveraging sustainability of all organizational operations
(Jayaraman et al.,2018;Crowley-Henry et al., 2019;Beheraand Mohapatra, 2020).
Since there are numerous TMSs, it is challenging to select the right set of them.
Furthermore, the implementation of TMSs requires time, consistency and efforts to refine and
ER
44,5
1192
The study acknowledges the support of HEC, Pakistan under NRPU:20-11226.
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 26 May 2021
Revised 23 December 2021
20 February 2022
Accepted 4 March 2022
Employee Relations: The
International Journal
Vol. 44 No. 5, 2022
pp. 1192-1215
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-05-2021-0224
uplift the HC of an organization. Therefore, most of the organizations either cannot recognize
the right set of TMSs or fail to develop the talent through it. Subsequently, this situation
creates in-house shortage of HC and companies look for the options outside the company
(Joyce and Slocum, 2012). The acquisition of HC from the outside sources, due to lack of
effective in-house TMSs, may not be a stable solution. Hence, to retain externally hired talent
and for developing the in-house HC, a comprehensive TM strategy is essential (Jones et al.,
2012;Mujtaba and Mubarik, 2022).
Interestingly, despite of significantly growing research literature on TM, there is a void of
empirical research in this area. Majority of the research studies, according to De Boeck et al.
(2018), focus on definitions and assumptions, whereas limited research has been done on
empirical studies (Narayanan et al., 2019;Dries, 2013). One of the major reasons for the limited
work on TM may be the rare availability of a comprehensive TM scale, accounting for its
various dimensions (Yogalakshmi and Supriya, 2020). Moreover, previous studies have also
found ambiguity in meaning, value, nature and instrument of TM (Meyers and Van
Woerkom, 2014;Bolander et al., 2017;Yogalakshmi and Supriya, 2020).
Against this backdrop, the purpose of this study is to develop a construct of TM in the
context of South Asia. The study is grounded on exclusive approach and adopts a fourfold
approach consisting of identification,selection, development and validation stages to achieve
the researchobjective. Indoing so, this study contributesto the body of knowledgeby offering a
comprehensive TMscale, to be used for empirical research,in the context of South Asia.
The following section comprehensively reviews the literature to identify the various
dimensions of TM.
2. Literature review
2.1 Theoretical underpinnings
We draw the theoretical basis of the research from HC, resource-based view (RBV) and
dynamic capabilities (DCs). As the basic premise of the HC theory is to improve human skills,
knowledge and ability in attaining a competitive advantage. Since organizational
performance is one of the integral parts of competitive advantage, any resource improving
organizational performance improves competitive advantage. In this context, TM is one of
the apex strategies to manage HC to attain a competitive advantage. Further, TM is an
extension of human resource management (HRM) and the sub-division of HCM (Farndale
et al., 2010). TM and HCM are almost similar because both are focused on attracting,
developing and retaining high potential employees. Moreover, HC theory directly supports
TM in the setting of the development of talented employees. For instance, the HC theory
describes that education and training are the essential components of human investment that
support individuals to perform their duties above the average (Becker, 1993). RBV theory also
strongly backs to this study. It explains that an organization’s competitive advantage could
be developed from firms’resources that are rare, valuable, difficult to replicate and non-
sustainable (Barney, 1991). Human resource fulfills all criteria of competitive advantage
(Wright et al., 1994), but all humans do not fit in these criteria except those who have the talent
to perform high-quality work and become a source of competitive edge (Narayanan et al.,
2019). Moreover, having competent employees in firms is not sufficient in uncertain economic
conditions of the market. Organizations need to constantly refine the competencies and
capabilities of their talented employees to remain competitive in the market. Thus, the DC
theory directly supports this work. It focuses on effectively using a firm’s competitive
advantage in a rapidly changing business environment. Many studies have argued that DCs
have an essential role in dealing with the uncertain environment (Gathungu and Mwangi,
2012). DCs are indispensable for those organizations which want to remain competitive in the
Measuring
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