Exploring talent management in practice: an Arab country-specific empirical investigation
ISSN: 0142-5455
Article publication date: 1 October 2020
Issue publication date: 29 December 2020
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the proliferation of studies on talent management (TM), few studies focus on the perspectives of human resource management (HRM) representatives. Furthermore, there is a dearth of studies that explore talent philosophies and TM in practice in private organizations in emerging economies, such as those of the Arab Middle East (AME) region. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to explore talent philosophies and TM in practice in the country-specific context of Lebanon.
Design/methodology/approach
This study was exploratory in nature and followed a qualitative interpretive methodology. It capitalized on in-depth, semi-structured interviews with HRM representatives.
Findings
The findings of this study indicated relative consensus in talent philosophies across organizations in four industries; talent was largely perceived as exclusive, despite disagreements on whether it was stable or developable. Differences were identified in terms of how TM was understood in organizations and also how it was executed in practice in terms of talent identification and recruitment, training and development, performance assessment and talent retention.
Originality/value
This study is the first to empirically explore talent philosophies and TM in practice in the context of Lebanon. It is also among the few studies to extend the use of institutional theory (IT) to talent philosophies and TM practices. The originality of this study is also derived from its focus on the practices of HRM departments through using feedback from HRM representatives.
Keywords
Citation
Tlaiss, H. (2021), "Exploring talent management in practice: an Arab country-specific empirical investigation", Employee Relations, Vol. 43 No. 1, pp. 63-81. https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-10-2019-0411
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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