LEARNING AGILITY AND TALENT MANAGEMENT: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND FUTURE PROSPECTS

The unprecedented complexity and unpredictability of the current business scenalio amplified by the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic require employees to constantly learn new skills and new ways of performing their jobs. Over the past decades the construct of learning agility has attracted considerable attention from human-resource professionals and consultants interested in talent identification. Organizations have then incorporated the construct into their model of high-potential selection and leadership development, and the term is becoming embedded into the talent-management (TM) lexicon. The specific contribution of the current systematic review is to provide a rigorous critique of the existing literature about learning agility and its applications to talent management, focusing on definition, measurement, and operationalization of the construct. In addition, the relationships between learning agility and other talent management constructs have been also investigated. A literature search on Scopus, Web of Science, and PsycINFO databases was performed. The review process has followed the international Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement guidelines. The initial search identified 250 titles. Fifty-two studies were assessed, and 10 empirical studies (qualitative and quantitative) were considered eligible. Despite the extensive usage of learning agility in organizations, the academic community only recently has become interested in studying the construct. TM research reinforced the importance of learning agility as a key indicator of potential, highlighting learning and growth competences as central components of potential. Nevertheless, a scientific approach to the concept remains still limited. Limitations, practical implications, and directions for future research are also discussed.