Eva Gallardo-Gallardo

Standing on the shoulders of giants? A critical review of empirical talent management research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to frame empirical literature on talent management (TM), and to provide a clear and comprehensive picture of the topics under investigation, the conceptualization of TM, and under-explored areas. Design/methodology/approach – The authors adopted a systematic review that covers empirical research on TM which has been published between 2006 and 2014 in academic peer-reviewed journals. A total of 96 articles were included in the review. A bibliometric as well as a content analysis has been carried out. Findings – The results reveal that the Anglo-Saxon context (in particular EU) has a great impact on empirical TM research. Also research foundations and designs are not very rigorous. A slight awareness of context and culture was found. Empirical TM research is predominantly built on an exclusive approach to TM. Yet, how TM works in practice and how well (from the perspective of multiple actors) as well as the role and perceptions of line managers are under-explored areas...

Special issue of International Journal of Human Resource Management. A contextualized approach to Talent Management: Advancing the field

Nowadays, there is little doubt that Talent Management (TM) is a hot topic not only for practitioners but also for scholars. According to Collings, Scullion, and Vaiman (2015), it is one of the fas...

Understanding scientific communities: a social network approach to collaborations in Talent Management research

Research on talent management (TM) is an emerging field of study and little is known about the connections among authors in this research community. This paper aims at disclosing the dynamics in TM research by offering a detailed picture of its evolving collaboration networks. By means of social network analysis (SNA), we both show and explain the extent of collaboration, taking articles’ co-authorship as an indicator of collaboration. We graphically display how the network builds up throughout time, which has allowed us to examine its main structural characteristics. We analyze the contribution of individual researchers and identify key players in the research network and their characteristics. The co-authorship network is composed by loose and low-density collaborations, mainly consisting in two big components and surrounded by scattered and weak relationships. Two main research perspectives are built and consolidated through time, but they are missing the richness of exchanging ideas among different views. Our results complement recent studies on the dynamics of TM research by offering evidence on how and why collaboration among researchers shapes the current debates on the field. Some basic hypothesis about network indicators are also tested and provide further evidence for the SNA advancement. The findings can be of value in the design of strategies that might improve both system and individual performance.

Mapping collaboration networks in talent management research

Purpose Despite the popularity of talent management (TM), very little has been published on the community of scholars that contribute to the knowledge base of the field. The purpose of this paper is to disclose the dynamics in TM research through a detailed analysis of its evolving collaboration networks (i.e. research communities) in order to identify key authors and major topics covered. Design/methodology/approach A total of 225 co-authored articles published on TM from 2001 to May 2016 were retrieved from the Web of Science and Scopus and then analyzed and mapped using social network analysis methods. Findings The authors identified two major scientific communities (one of 63 authors and the other one of 24 authors). Both communities not only have different characteristics and structure, but also focus on different topics. The authors identified key players within each community and offer a dynamic view on the main topics studied. Practical implications This paper may help practitioners and newcomers to the field to rapidly identify key players and main topics studied in the TM field. It may assist academic institutions and journal editorial teams in better assessing and identifying key scholars in this field. Originality/value This paper offers the first analysis of TM collaborative research networks.