Talent Management and the Employee: Systematic Review of the Nascent Literature and Research Agenda

Abstract

Talent management is a strategic workforce management practice of priority interest to CEOs and argued to be a business imperative of top management. As the scholarly literature in talent management continues to develop and become established as a distinct topic in the literature, it continues to broaden and establish links to multiple realms of empirical enquiry including strategy, international management, mobility, and human capital. However the participation of the employee as a central actor in talent management requires further consideration in understanding how this strategic practice may access and influence the development and deployment of human capital within teams, firms and ultimately, nations. This paper presents a systematic review of the nascent talent management literature focused specifically on the stream in the literature which considers the employee as a central actor and stakeholder in talent management. In doing so, this review presents an illustrative overview of the landscape for future research on the topic of the employee within talent management, along with indicative research questions of interest.