The impact of exclusivity in talent identification: sources of perceived injustice and employee reactions
ISSN: 0142-5455
Article publication date: 1 April 2022
Issue publication date: 23 September 2022
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines antecedents to perceived injustice in exclusive talent identification practices.
Design/methodology/approach
31 in-depth interviews with individuals working in for-profit organizations in France were conducted and analyzed. Interviewees represented a variety of sectors such as transportation, aerospace, energy and telecommunications.
Findings
The use of exclusivity in talent identification influences perceived organizational justice through ambiguous advancement policies, support from hidden networks, lack of diversity in the talent identification process, frequent gender discrimination, and premature labeling of talent. These practices suggest breaches in procedural, distributive and interactional justice by allocating advantages to some employees over others. Exclusivity yielded frustration, jealousy and potential retaliatory behavior against those individuals deemed to be unfairly identified as talent.
Practical implications
The challenge of ensuring fair and equitable talent identification is a growing issue for organizations. For managers, it requires paying close attention to how some forms of exclusivity in talent identification may create unfair treatment of employees.
Originality/value
While organizational justice research focuses on the background and practices that promote justice, our research finds its originality in examining the sentiments of injustice that remain contextual, subjective and comparative.
Keywords
Citation
Peterson, J., Tahssain-Gay, L. and Laila, B.-N. (2022), "The impact of exclusivity in talent identification: sources of perceived injustice and employee reactions", Employee Relations, Vol. 44 No. 6, pp. 1217-1240. https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-03-2021-0123
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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