Talent management and talented employees’ attitudes: mediating role of perceived organisational support

Abstract

This study responds to calls to examine the mechanism through which talent management affects talented employees’ attitudes. Anchored on exchange theories, this study examines a salient mechanism, perceived organisational support, through which talent management practices might affect talented employees’ attitudes. Data were obtained from a cross-sectional survey of 242 talented employees in the Ghanaian banking sector and analysed with the use of the structural equation modelling analytical technique. Our findings show that talent management has not only a direct effect, but also an indirect effect, on talented employees’ attitudes of affective commitment and quit intention through perceived organisational support. The study has implications for the management of talented employees. Points for practitionersThe effectiveness of organisational support systems exists not only in the practices themselves, but also in the perceptions that employees have of those practices. For organisations to benefit fully from the implementation of talent management, managers must inform talent pool members of their status and constantly communicate talent management practices. While directly impacting affective commitment and intention to quit, talent management also operates through a path connecting perceived organisational support to these attitudes.