Influence of talent management practices on knowledge acquisition, assimilation, transformation and exploitation

Purpose - To investigate the relationships between talent management practices (i.e. talent attraction, development and retention) and the absorptive capacity dimensions (Zahra and George, 2002), namely knowledge acquisition, assimilation, transformation and exploitation. Design/methodology/approach - The design for this research uses the combined strengths of qualitative and quantitative methods. The multiple-case study approach is used to gain the preliminary qualitative inputs for the "quantitative" core part of our study. Using survey data from HR managers of 240 MNCs from Brazil, Russia, China and India, we aim at investigating the relationship between talent management practices and absorptive capacity dimensions. Specifically, we expect that talent attraction and development will be positively related to knowledge acquisition and assimilation (constitute potential absorptive capacity), while talent development and retention will be positively related to knowledge transformation and exploitation (realized absorptive capacity). At the same time, we want to show that there is a positive relationship between talent management and organization's performance, where absorptive capacity acts as a mediator. To capture absorptive capacity, we use a scale developed by Flatten and colleagues (2011). Originality/value - There is a growing recognition that talent management has the potential to address a number of valuable challenges encountered by organizations, not possible by the adoption of single disciplines. In the light of knowledge management, scholars name human capital in general to be the main source of an organization's absorptive capacity (Mowery and Oxley, 1995) which in turn depends on the interaction between employees' ability and employees' motivation (Minbaeva et al., 2003). And though researchers have already called attention to the effects of certain HRM practices influencing extrinsic and intrinsic motivation of knowledge receivers on knowledge transfer (Minbaeva, 2008), practices connected to the attraction, development and retention of talented employees and their effects on knowledge transfer between different organizational units have not been addressed. Practical implications - The main outcome is the identification of relationships between talent attraction, development and retention and an organization's ability to acquire, assimilate, transform and exploit knowledge by developing a talent management concept within strategic HRM and knowledge management. We demonstrate the applicability of the proposed framework and prove the role of talent management in knowledge transfer and organizational performance in context of developing countries.