Abstract:

The main purpose of this paper is to explore the work-related attitudes and behaviors of employees who are members and non-members of talent management programmes and investigate the impact of inclusion or exclusion in the talent pool on work engagement, organizational commitment, motivation to work and organizational citizenship behavior.

The study had a case-control design, comparing data reported by 90 employees that take part in the TM programmes (so-called talents) with data reported by a marched control group of employees who are not covered by such programmes (i.e. non-talents).

Research findings reveal that being part of the talent pool has a positive impact on employees’ work engagement and organizational commitment but does not necessarily translate into their motivation to work and organizational citizenship behavior.

The study’s design did not allow for the explanation of casual effects. Despite this limitation, the findings seems to be valuable in showing potential results of talent management at individual level.

There is a scarcity of comparative studies on attitudes and behaviors of individuals who were and who were not identified as organizational talents. This seems to be an important oversight as employee reactions indicate how effective talent management practices are. The paper expands the academic understanding of talented employee reactions to talent management and, in consequence, gives an enhanced insight into the results of managing talents at individual level.