Resumo

Talent retention is essential for organizational success, emerging as a key practice for optimal performance and continuous development since the late 1990s. It plays a strategic role in maintaining motivation, commitment, and extra-role behavior among employees, leading to sustainable organizational performance.

Intense competition challenges sustained competitive advantage, necessitating adaptable professionals with new skills. Retaining these professionals is essential, as turnover leads to high financial costs, loss of tacit knowledge, work disruption, and the potential departure of other valued employees. This study systematizes academic knowledge on talent retention, exploring methods, contexts, and variables to understand current research and identify future opportunities for best practices in the field.

Gallardo-Gallardo et al. (2015) review seminal works in Talent Management, citing Collings, Mellahi, Heckman, and Lewis for significant academic efforts despite conceptual debates. Talent is debated as innate or acquired, with management classified as inclusive or exclusive. Inclusive approaches face resource allocation challenges. Collings and Mellahi (2009) prioritize key positions over individual talents. Overall, talent retention preserves high-potential employees, aligning with business goals and reducing turnover (Yildiz & Esmer, 2023).

The study uses an 8-category structure to analyze talent retention strategies, from geographic location (1) to organizational context (8), with codes (A-E, etc.) for deeper analysis. This systematic approach ensures diverse perspectives, covering methodological approaches (2), analysis levels (3), target audience (4), data sources (5), surveyed population (6), talent retention variables (7), and organizational nature (8). This structured method enhances understanding by organizing data systematically across dimensions, ensuring robust analysis and insights into talent retention research.

Our study highlights the urgency of enhancing talent management systems amid global talent shortages and heightened competition. While research predominantly focuses on Eastern regions, opportunities exist for cross-continental analyses, especially in diverse cultural and economic contexts. Despite methodological preferences for quantitative approaches, the lack of standardized variables challenges comparative studies. Future research should aim for integrated assessment models to improve the efficacy of global talent retention strategies.

ABRAHAM, M.; KALIANNAN, M.; AVVARI, M. V.; THOMAS, S. Reframing talent acquisition, retention practices for organizational commitment in Malaysian SMEs: A managerial perspective. Journal of General Management, SAGE Publications Sage UK: London, England, 2023. CLAUS, L. HR disruption—time already to reinvent talent management. BRQ Business Research Quarterly, SAGE Publications Sage UK: London, England, v. 22, n. 3, p. 207–215, 2019. COLLINGS, D. G.; MELLAHI, K. Strategic talent management: A review and research agenda. Human resource management review, Elsevier, v. 19, n. 4, p. 304–313, 2009.