Journal of Business Research 141 (2022) 528–535
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Business Research
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres
What’s next in talent management?
Esther Pagan-Castaño a, c, *, José Carlos Ballester-Miquel a, Javier Sánchez-García b,
María Guijarro-García a, c
a
ESIC Business & Marketing School, Spain
Universitat Jaume I Castellón, Spain
c
ESIC University, Spain
b
A R T I C L E I N F O
A B S T R A C T
Keywords:
Bibliometrics
Talent management
Leadership
Competencies
Web of Science
VOSviewer
This article presents a literature review of the academic research on talent management (TM). This research topic
is contemporary and highly relevant, given its links with human resources, knowledge management, and dy­
namic marketing capabilities. An exhaustive bibliometric analysis of TM was conducted. The analysis covered
publications from the early 21st century. In total, 1,373 documents published from 2003 to 2020 were retrieved
from the Web of Science (WoS) database and analyzed. Bibliometric methods were applied using some of the
primary bibliometric indicators: number of publications, most cited articles and authors, institutions and
countries, and keywords. This analysis reveals the importance of TM in light of companies’ decisions to switch to
human capital as a source of competitive advantage. The aim of this paper is to highlight the importance of TM in
new business realities and to propose areas of further research.
1. Introduction
Globalization, the advancement of technological processes, and so­
cioeconomic and demographic changes are shaping a business envi­
ronment in which there is a need to focus on identifying, attracting,
recruiting, developing, and retaining talent to meet challenges (Claus,
2019; Reiche, Lee, & Allen, 2019). Thus, organizations have shifted from
focusing solely on increasing their productivity and differentiating their
products and services to focusing on their human capital, considering
their employees the most important asset of the organization (Elshar­
nouby & Elbanna, 2021; Kehinde, 2012).
Organizations that manage their human capital efficiently have been
found to be more likely to have outstanding performance and to create
sustainable competitive advantage (Rop & Kwasira, 2015). Hence, talent
is a key factor in increasing and sustaining organizational performance
(Farndale, Beijer, Van Veldhoven, Kelliher, & Hope-Hailey, 2014).
However, many organizations struggle to implement effective talent
management (TM) programs (Al Ariss, Cascio, & Paauwe, 2014; Vai­
man, Scullion, & Collings, 2012). In many cases, for example, talented
employees represent only 3% to 5% of an organization’s payroll (Berger
& Berger, 2004). Faced with this talent constraint, organizations have
attempted to find and implement talent management strategies associ­
ated with outstanding sustainable organizational performance aligned
with their objectives (Collings, Mellahi, & Cascio, 2019; Ingram, 2016)
and the market. Thus, attracting, developing, and retaining talent has
become one of the biggest challenges facing companies worldwide
(Gallardo-Gallardo, Thunnissen, & Scullion, 2020).
This article presents a bibliometric review based on methods derived
from bibliometrics and content analysis to evaluate the current state of
the TM literature objectively and quantifiably. Unlike other bibliometric
articles, such as the one by Gallardo-Gallardo, Nijs, Dries, and Gallo
(2015), this paper provides the results of quantitative analysis using new
analysis tools such as VOSviewer.
The Web of Science (WoS) database was used to gather the data for
this study. This platform provides indexed articles, with data that are
highly reliable and multidisciplinary. It also has advantages over other
scientific databases such as Scopus in relation to the selection of key­
words (Krämer, Momeni, & Mayr, 2017). Specifically, it enables analysis
of the volume of publications, journals, impact factors, the most cited
articles and authors, and the institutions and countries where the most
research has been authored. It also enables analysis of the evolution of
TM. VOSviewer was used to represent and analyze co-authorship, cocitations, bibliographic coupling, and keyword concurrence between
articles.
The aim of this review is to offer a rigorous, up-to-date overview of
TM to provide a clear, complete picture of the advances in this field
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: esther.pagan@esic.edu (E. Pagan-Castaño).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.11.052
Received 8 June 2021; Received in revised form 2 November 2021; Accepted 18 November 2021
Available online 3 December 2021
0148-2963/© 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
E. Pagan-Castaño et al.
Journal of Business Research 141 (2022) 528–535
while helping to propose future lines of research in under-explored areas
of TM. This review is important for both researchers and practitioners of
TM.
The article is organized as follows. Section 2 presents the theoretical
framework of TM. Section 3 describes the method and data source.
Section 4 shows the results of the bibliometric analysis of the number
and importance of published articles, as well as the most prominent
authors by country and institution. In addition, it shows the keywords
associated with TM. Section 5 presents the main conclusions and pro­
posals for future lines of research on TM.
systematic attraction, identification, development, engagement, reten­
tion, and deployment of talent that is valuable within an organization
(Collings & Mellahi, 2009; Scullion, Collings, & Caligiuri, 2010; War­
raich & Ahmed, 2020). Likewise, TM can be described as the activities
and processes that involve the systematic attraction, identification,
development, engagement, retention, and deployment of those talents
that add value to an organization to create sustainable strategic success
(Boudreau & Ramstad, 2005). Hence, talent may be considered a stra­
tegic resource to create competitive advantage (Warraich & Ahmed,
2020).
Therefore, TM is part of HRM strategies to improve and sustain
organizational performance by enhancing procedures to attract, retain,
develop, and profit from people (Cheese, Thomas, & Craig, 2007). Based
on the human capital approach, value is found in the set of unique
knowledge, capabilities, contributions, commitment, skills, abilities,
competencies, and aptitudes possessed by an organization’s talent.
These aspects enable talent to carry out value-creating strategies and
achieve sustained competitive advantage, in addition to higher perfor­
mance, thus turning talented employees into a strategic asset (Sparrow
& Makram, 2015).
This article reviews the literature on TM by applying methods
derived from bibliometrics and content analysis to assess the current
state of the TM literature objectively and quantifiably. The analysis is
based on the volume of publications, journals, impact factors, most cited
articles and authors, preferred methods and countries, and evolution of
TM. The aim of this review is to help to identify future lines of research
in the area of TM.
2. Theoretical framework
The concept of talent management (TM) was introduced in 1998 by
McKinsey Consultants in the book The War for Talent (Axelrod,
Handfield-Jones, & Michaels, 2002). This book highlighted the impor­
tance of TM and generated avid interest in the subject. Recent studies
have shown that organizations are devoting more and more resources to
the TM process (Schiemann, 2014). Academics and practitioners have
both cited TM as one of the key challenges for organizations because it
represents a potential source of sustained competitive advantage in the
current market environment (Farndale, Scullion, & Sparrow, 2010;
Schuler, Jackson, & Tarique, 2011). However, despite strong interest in
TM, the literature reveals ambiguity in the way it has been conceptu­
alized (Lewis & Heckman, 2006).
Although the general understanding of TM has improved substan­
tially, research has focused on the emergence of TM as a phenomenon,
and there is a lack of studies supporting the development of the concept
of TM (Dries, 2013; Lewis & Heckman, 2006). In recent years, a more
pluralistic conceptualization of TM has emerged (Collings, 2014;
Thunnissen, Boselie, & Fruytier, 2013). This conceptualization places
more attention on the employee’s perspective, individual talent, and its
constraints (Collings, Scullion, & Vaiman 2015). The suggestion is that,
to retain talent, the approach to TM should be more balanced between
the needs of organizations and the goals and expectations of individuals
(Farndale, Pai, Sparrow, & Scullion, 2014).
The literature contains four schools of thought regarding TM (Col­
lings & Mellahi, 2009; Lewis & Heckman, 2006). This first focuses on
specific human resource practices, such as recruitment, leadership
development, succession planning, and the like. It therefore simply re­
places the label of “talent management” with that of “human resource
management”. The second focuses on planning for employees and
managing their progression through jobs, making a clear distinction
between talent management and human resource management. The
third focuses on managing talented people. It is argued that roles within
the organization should be filled by “A players” or “top grading” (Smart,
1999), and it emphasizes the management of “C actors” who consistently
underperform. Finally, the fourth school of thought emphasizes the
identification of key positions that have the potential to influence
competitive advantage. This approach focuses more on the identifica­
tion of key positions and less on the talent of individuals.
Cluster analysis suggests the existence of four talent philosophies:
exclusive/stable, exclusive/developable, inclusive/stable, and inclu­
sive/developable. Regarding these philosophies, a relationship with the
size of the organization has been found, such that smaller companies
develop a more inclusive talent philosophy (Meyers, Woerkom, Paauwe,
& Dries, 2020).
These schools of thought suggest that TM is a “bridging field”
(Sparrow, Scullion, & Tarique, 2014) based on ideas from human
resource management (HRM), in addition to other approaches such as
the resource-based view (RBV) and capability theory (Sparrow & Mak­
ram, 2015). TM has even been defined through ability, motivation, and
opportunities (AMO) theory, which implies that employee performance
is a function of ability, motivation, and opportunity (Collings & Mellahi,
2009).
TM can be defined as the activities and processes that involve the
3. Method
3.1. Data collection
The Web of Science (WoS) by Clarivate Analytics is one of the
world’s most popular and trusted databases for scientific publications in
general, particularly for bibliometric analyses (Šubelj, Waltman, Traag,
& van Eck, 2020). There is a consensus within the scientific community
that the WoS Core Collection is one of the most reliable databases
available (Verma, Lobos, Merigó, Cancino, & Sienz, 2020). The use of
WoS is a consequence of its high level of thematic composition, which
guarantees broad, multidisciplinary data coverage. The WoS Core
Collection indexes more than 10,000 peer-reviewed journals in the sci­
ences, arts, humanities, and social sciences, as well as more than
100,000 conference proceedings updated on a weekly basis. It has some
advantages over other databases, such as Scopus, in terms of keyword
selection and visual disambiguation (Sun, Yao, Xiao, Zhang, Zhang, &
Tang, 2020).
For all these reasons, the WoS Core Collection was chosen for this
study. To collect the data, a search using the keyword “talent manage­
ment” was conducted. The search focused on publication titles to ensure
that the authors truly centered the bibliometric analysis on TM while
avoiding other fields or topics.
3.2. Bibliometric analysis
In science, bibliometrics is associated with quantitative analysis.
Bibliometric studies aim to verify the patterns of production and diffu­
sion of scientific knowledge (Araujo, Carneiro, & Palha, 2020). The
contribution to the productive outcome of the diffusion of scientific
knowledge is studied using an extensive range of indicators.
Bibliometric analysis can show the importance of the production and
evaluation of scientific activity in a given field. The data for this study
were taken from the Web of Science (WoS). The study examines scien­
tific production in journals, cited articles, and the subject categories
found in the Journal Citation Reports, including journal impact factors.
Software such as Procite Pajek and Moodle was used in the analysis.
The bibliometric indicators were the number and distribution of
529
E. Pagan-Castaño et al.
Journal of Business Research 141 (2022) 528–535
Table 1
The most influential articles in TM.
Fig. 1. Number of articles over time.
publications and scientific impact indicators. A distinction was made
between citations, which a document receives from other documents,
and references, which a document makes to other documents (Krauze &
Hillinger, 1971).
3.2.1. Performance analysis
To study the historical evolution of TM research, both quantitative
and qualitative indicators were used. For example, the total number of
articles published is one of the most commonly used quantitative in­
dicators in bibliometric studies. The number of citations is an important
qualitative indicator that reflects the importance of the topic under
study. The h-index was also used. This composite index combines
quantitative and qualitative measures. It is an easy-to-use relative value
derived from the number of publications and the number of citations
(Mas-Tur et al., 2020).
3.2.2. Mapping analysis
The visualization of similarities is intended to transform abstract
data, especially in bibliometric networks, into visible and user-friendly
messages. This technique is called scientific mapping. The software
used to visualize similarities was VOSviewer version 1.6.15 (van Eck,
Waltman, Noyons, & Buter, 2010). VOSviewer provided graphical rep­
resentations of co-authorship, co-citations, bibliographic coupling, and
keyword concurrence. In the graphical representation, the size of the
circle symbolizes the importance of an article, and the connecting lines
represent the linkages between articles.
4. Results
The search was conducted in January 2021 using the WoS Core
Collection database search engine. The search was limited to all papers
published from 2003 to 2020. Using the keyword “talent management”
as the search string, 1,373 papers were identified. The analysis was
restricted to articles.
Next, following a bibliometric analysis approach, the search was
restricted to articles, reviews, notes, and letters (Merigó, Gil-Lafuente, &
Yager, 2015; López-Rubio, Roig-Tierno, & Mas-Verdú, 2021). As a result
of these restrictions, the number of papers was reduced to 955. This
restriction was set to guarantee that the analyzed documents had been
peer-reviewed, thus ensuring their scientific quality (García, RodríguezSánchez, & Fdez-Valdivia, 2017).
R
TC
Document title
Author
PY
C/Y
1
314
26.17
266
Bhattacharya, C. B.;
Sen, Sankar; Korschun,
Daniel
Farndale, Elaine;
Scullion, Hugh;
Sparrow, Paul
2008
2
2010
26.60
3
218
Gruman, Jamie A.;
Saks, Alan M.
2011
24.22
4
175
Al Ariss, Akram; Cascio,
Wayne F.; Paauwe,
Jaap
2014
29.17
5
175
25.00
172
2012
21.50
7
171
Gallardo-Gallardo, Eva;
Dries, Nicky; GonzalezCruz, Tomas F.
Stahl, Guenter K.;
Bjorkman, Ingmar;
Farndale, Elaine;
Morris, Shad S.;
Paauwe, Jaap; Stiles,
Philip; Trevor,
Jonathan; Wright,
Patrick
Schuler, Randall S.;
Jackson, Susan E.;
Tarique, Ibraiz
2013
6
Using corporate social
responsibility to win the
war for talent
The role of the
corporate HR function
in global talent
management
Performance
management and
employee engagement
Talent management:
Current theories and
future research
directions
What is the meaning of
’talent’ in the world of
work?
Six Principles of
Effective Global Talent
Management
2011
19.00
8
169
Cappelli, Peter
2008
14.08
9
164
Mellahi, Kamel;
Collings, David G.
2010
16.40
10
157
Iles, Paul; Xin Chuai;
Preece, David
2010
15.70
11
119
2012
14.88
12
117
Vaiman, Vlad; Scullion,
Hugh; Collings, David
Meyers, Maria
Christina; van
Woerkom, Marianne
2014
19.50
13
115
2013
16.43
14
115
Bjorkman, Ingmar;
Ehrnrooth, Mats;
Makela, Kristiina;
Smale, Adam;
Sumelius, Jennie
Hausknecht, John P.;
Rodda, Julianne;
Howard, Michael J.
2009
10.45
15
113
McDonnell, Anthony;
Lamare, Ryan;
Gunnigle, Patrick;
Lavelle, Jonathan
2010
11.30
16
112
Hartmann, Evi; Feisel,
Edda; Schober, Holger
2010
11.20
17
110
Makela, Kristiina;
Bjorkman, Ingmar;
Ehrnrooth, Mats
2010
11.00
4.1. Publication and citation structure
Fig. 1 shows a graphical representation of the number of articles
from 2003, when the first scientific articles on TM were published, to
2020. During the first decade of the analysis, fewer than 20 articles were
published each year. In contrast, from 2017 onwards, more than 100
articles were published each year. The data therefore show growth in the
Global talent
management and global
talent challenges:
Strategic opportunities
for IHRM
Talent management for
the twenty-first century
The barriers to effective
global talent
management: The
example of corporate
elites in MNEs
Talent Management and
HRM in Multinational
companies in Beijing:
Definitions, differences
and drivers
Talent management
decision making
The influence. of
underlying philosophies
on talent management:
Theory, implications for
practice, and research
agenda
Talent or Not?
Employee Reactions to
Talent Identification
Targeted employee
retention: performancebased and job-related
differences in reported
reasons for staying
Developing tomorrow’s
leaders-Evidence of
global talent
management in
multinational
enterprises
Talent management of
western MNCs in China:
Balancing global
integration and local
responsiveness
How do MNCs establish
their talent pools?
Influences on
(continued on next page)
530
E. Pagan-Castaño et al.
Journal of Business Research 141 (2022) 528–535
Table 1 (continued )
R
TC
18
108
19
103
20
100
Document title
individuals’ likelihood
of being labeled as
talent
Talent management and
the relevance of
context: Towards a
pluralistic approach
Talent Management:
Conceptual Approaches
and Practical
Challenges
Talent management in
China and India: A
comparison of
management
perceptions and human
resource practices
Author
PY
Table 2
The most productive and influential authors in TM.
C/Y
Thunnissen, Marian;
Boselie, Paul; Fruytier,
Ben
2013
15.43
Cappelli, Peter; Keller,
J. R.
2014
17.17
Cooke, Fang Lee; Saini,
Debi S.; Wang, Jue
2014
16.67
Notes: R = rank, TC = total citations, PY = publication year, C/Y cites per year.
number of TM publications each year over the last decade.
R
Author
Affiliation
Country
TP
TC
h
C/P
1
Scullion H.
UK
24
602
13
25.1
2
Sparrow P.
UK
18
532
7
29.6
3
Collings Dg.
Ireland
16
640
12
40.0
4
Dries N.
Belgium
13
703
11
54.1
5
Vaiman V.
USA
11
388
11
35.3
6
Farndale E.
USA
8
535
5
66.9
7
Thunnissen
M.
Netherlands
8
367
6
45.9
8
Mcdonnell
A.
Ireland
8
284
5
35.5
9
Festing M.
Germany
8
201
5
25.1
10
Brewster C.
Univ Hull, Fac
Business Polit &
Law, Kingston
Upon Hull, N
Humberside,
Univ Lancaster,
Management
Sch, Int HRM,
Lancaster LA1
4YW
Dublin City
Univ, DCU
Business Sch,
Leadership &
Talent Inst,
Dublin 9
Katholieke Univ
Leuven, Dept
Work & Org
Studies, Leuven
Calif Lutheran
Univ, Thousand
Oaks, CA
91,360
Penn State Univ,
Sch Labor &
Employment
Relat, 508d
Keller,
University Pk,
PA 16,802
Fontys Univ
Appl Sci, Sch
HRM & Appl
Psychol,
Eindhoven Univ
Utrecht, Utrecht
Univ Sch
Governance
USG, Utrecht
Univ Coll Cork,
Cork Univ,
Business Sch,
Dept
Management &
Mkt, Cork
ESCP Business
Sch,
Heubnerweg
8–10, D-14059
Berlin
Univ Reading,
Henley Business
Sch, Reading,
Berks
UK
8
208
5
26.0
4.2. Influential papers
Regarding the most representative publications, Table 1 shows the
document title, authors, total citations, publication date, and citations
per year of the 20 most cited papers on TM. These most cited articles
were published between 2008 and 2014, and all have at least 100 ci­
tations. The article by Bhattacharya, Sen, and Korschun (2008), entitled
“Using corporate social responsibility to win the war for talent”, leads
the list of the 50 most cited TM articles, with 314 citations and 26.17
citations per year. According to Google Scholar, this paper has 1,167
citations. The second most cited article was authored by Farndale,
Scullion, and Sparrow (2010). The article, “The role of the corporate HR
function in global talent management”, has received 266 citations in
WoS and 667 on Google Scholar.
4.3. Authors, institutions, and countries
This subsection presents the main authors, institutions, and countries
in relation to TM. Table 2 lists the 10 authors who have contributed the
most to TM. The results are ordered by number of publications and are
based only on publications on TM. The authors in this list have more
than seven articles and more than 100 citations. The list also provides
information on affiliation, country, total citations, h-index, and total
citations per article. The continent with the highest contribution is
Europe. The most representative country is the UK. With 24 articles, the
author with the highest number of TM publications is H. Scullin of the
University of Hull in the UK. Scullin is followed by P. Sparrow of Lan­
caster University in the UK and D. Colling of Dublin City University in
Ireland, with 18 and 16 articles, respectively. The h-index is a robust
estimator of the impact of a scientist’s contribution to a particular
research area (Hirsch, 2005). That is, it reflects the quantity and visi­
bility of the work by a given author (Bornmann & Daniel, 2007; Egghe &
Rousseau, 2006). These 10 most cited authors each have more than 200
citations and an h-index ranging from 5 to 13. H. Scullion has the highest
number of citations per article, with an h-index of 13, followed by D.
Collings, with 12, and N. Dries and V. Vaiman, with 11. Dries and Vai­
man were also the most cited authors, with 703 and 604 citations,
respectively.
Table 3 shows the 13 main university affiliations of the authors who
have published on TM, classified by the total number of publications on
the subject. The National University of Ireland Galway has the highest
number of publications (21), the highest number of citations (1,116), the
highest h-index (15), and the highest average number of citations per
publication (53.1). Although it has a lower number of publications and
Notes: R = rank, TP = total publications, TC = total cites, H = h index, C/P =
cites per publication. The results are based only on articles published in TM. All
authors in the table have more than 7 articles and more than 100 citations.
citations (16 and 1,006, respectively), Tilburg University (Netherlands)
has a higher citation rate of 62.9. In general terms, the dominant uni­
versities in the subject are located in the UK (80) and Ireland (47). Four
countries also appear in the ranking: Netherlands, Belgium, Russia, and
South Africa.
4.4. Map of authors
Fig. 2a graphically shows the co-authorship network of authors
publishing on TM. This map was produced with the data on the cocitations of the authors included in the analysis. The colors indicate
the group to which each author should be assigned according to the
application of the cluster technique.
531
E. Pagan-Castaño et al.
Journal of Business Research 141 (2022) 528–535
The clustering has a simple interpretation such that authors are
related to each other in a visual way. This aspect is one of the main
advantages of VOSviewer over other widely used tools such as SPSS and
Pajek, where, for example, the overlapping of labels prevents a clear
visualization.
The graph highlights four groups of interconnected co-authors. Red
corresponds to group 1, consisting of H. Scullion, D. G. Collings, M. J.
Morley, M. Festing, and I. Tarique. Yellow corresponds to group 2,
formed by I. Bjorkman, E. Farndale, and P. Sparrow. Blue denotes group
3, which consists of N. Dries, R. Pepermans, M. Thunnissen, and E.
Gallardo-Gallardo. Finally, green corresponds to group 4, which is
formed by V. Vaiman, A. McDonnell, and V. Khoreva. The three most
representative authors in the field (Table 2) appear in group one and
serve as a link between the groups of co-authors.
Fig. 2b shows a density view using the co-citation data of the authors
analyzed within the main network. Colors indicate the group to which
each author is assigned, according to the application of the clustering
Table 3
The most productive and influential institutions in TM.
R
Institution
Country
TP
TC
h
C/P
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
National U. of Ireland Galway
Lancaster U.
Tilburg U.
U. of London
Ku Leuven
Dublin City U.
U. of Limerick
Saint Petersburg State U.
U. of Reading
U. of Nottingham
U. of Warwick
Edinburgh Napier U.
U. of South Africa
Ireland
UK
Netherlands
England
Belgium
Ireland
Ireland
Russia
UK
UK
UK
UK
South Africa
21
16
16
16
14
13
13
13
12
12
12
12
11
1116
569
1006
317
621
457
341
59
259
138
135
38
21
15
8
10
10
11
9
13
4
8
6
6
4
3
53.1
35.6
62.9
19.8
44.4
35.2
26.2
4.5
21.6
11.5
11.3
3.2
1.9
Notes: R = rank, TP = total publications on the subject of TM, TC = total cites, H
= h index, C/P = cites per publication.
Fig. 2a. Co-authorship map of authors Notes: Minimum number of documents per author = 5; 32 of the 1,854 authors meet this condition.
Fig. 2b. Co-authorship map of authors (main network) Notes: Minimum number of documents per author = 5; 32 of the 1,854 authors meet this condition.
532
E. Pagan-Castaño et al.
Journal of Business Research 141 (2022) 528–535
Fig. 3. Bibliographic coupling analysis Notes: Minimum number of citations per document = 30; 96 of the 955 documents meet this condition.
Fig. 4. Key concepts in TM Notes: Minimum number of occurrences of keyword = 20; 52 of the 3,367 keywords meet this condition.
technique. This graph shows that the co-citation network arises from the
author with the highest number of publications on TM (H. Scullion),
with 24 articles in purple.
by the total number of citations or references of other third parties that
share documents.
In Fig. 3, there are three main groups in red, green, and blue. The red
group, led by Bhattacharya, focuses on challenges and opportunities
faced by companies that deploy their CSR efforts as a strategy to develop
talent, recognizing the importance of how it is implemented in organi­
zations as a fundamental vector of competitive advantage. In the green
group, Gruman and the group of authors associated with this network
approach TM from the perspective of performance management as a
means to generate higher levels of utility by promoting employee
commitment. They also include the aspect of studies of public action. In
blue, Farndale proposes a line of research on the role of corporate HR
4.5. Bibliographic linkage of authors, institutions, and countries
Bibliographic linkage is used to detect relationships between docu­
ments, and therefore authors. This linkage refers to the similarity be­
tween the citing document and the cited document. There are two
groups of documents: one in which the citing document and the cited
document appear together and one consisting of the documents that
reference them. The intensity of the bibliographic linkage is determined
533
E. Pagan-Castaño et al.
Journal of Business Research 141 (2022) 528–535
with respect to global talent management (GTM), also considering the
concept of exclusive talent status in organizations.
Fig. 4 illustrates the keywords associated with TM. The most repre­
sentative keywords are performance, human resource management,
management, talent, impact, leadership, career, and job satisfaction.
These keywords reflect the strong connection of TM with HRM. In
addition, the graph shows a wide variety of connected keywords such as
education, tourism, and repatriation, which are seemingly not strongly
related to the definition of TM. The growth shown in Fig. 1 and this wide
range of fields can be considered a symptom of a non-mature field
(Thunnissen & Gallardo-Gallardo, 2019).
for further research, the clusters identified in the current paper should
be investigated in more depth.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Esther Pagan-Castaño: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing –
original draft. José Carlos Ballester-Miquel: . Javier Sánchez-García:
Resources, Methodology. María Guijarro-García: Conceptualization,
Formal analysis.
Declaration of Competing Interest
5. Conclusions
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
This article presents bibliometric analysis of the scientific research
on TM published between 2003 and 2020 and indexed in the Web of
Science database. The paper provides a literature review and an analysis
of the research conducted so far in this field.
First, the study examined the trend of TM academic publications over
the last 17 years, revealing progressive growth, mainly in the last
decade. This growth (Fig. 1) is a sign of the growing interest in the
subject from both practitioners and academics. The growth also reflects
changes in the business paradigm derived from a growing interest in HR
and human capital. This finding highlights potential for the develop­
ment of future research in this field, specifically in relation to TM.
Particularly, there is an opportunity to break with the generic concep­
tual framework resulting from the view of TM as a bridging concept of
HRM (Sparrow & Makram 2015).
Second, the study examined the most influential TM articles. In this
case, the article authored by Bhattacharya, Sen, and Korschun (2008),
entitled “Using corporate social responsibility to win the war for talent”,
is the most heavily cited, with 314 citations. Interestingly, these authors
do not have the highest number of citations and publications. With
respect to publications classified according to authors, affiliation, and
country, the author with the highest number of publications is H.
Scullion of the University of Hull (UK), with a total of 24 publications
and an h-index of 13. However, D. N. Katholieke of the University of
Leuven (Belgium) has the most citations (703).
Third, the study examined productivity by authors, countries, and
institutions. The author with the highest number of publications on TM
is H. Scullion (24). The continent with the highest number of publica­
tions is Europe. The UK is the most prolific country in terms of publi­
cations in this field, and its universities dominate this research area.
However, the National University of Ireland has the highest number of
publications on TM (21), the highest number of citations (1,116), and
the highest h-index (15).
Finally, there is a wide variety of connected keywords such as edu­
cation and tourism that were previously thought to be unrelated to the
definition of TM. This interrelatedness may be a symptom of a field that
has yet to mature and of the need for further theoretical exploration of
this concept (Warraich & Ahmed, 2020).
These findings are a sign of the evolution of ways of thinking about
TM, which is considered an important element to develop the compet­
itive advantage of companies and is increasingly studied within various
disciplines. It is developing into its own area and is becoming less
limited to HRM practices. This trend suggests that future lines of
research should address the relationship between TM and competitive
advantage in greater depth through the development of the compe­
tencies of not only company members but also future workers.
The principal limitation of the study is the fact that the analysis was
mainly conducted using the WoS Core Collection database, which con­
tains a limited number of publications. In addition, the fact that this
study consisted of quantitative bibliometric analysis means that it does
not go into depth regarding the definitions and conceptual frameworks
of TM. However, the publications reflect the current state of knowledge.
Therefore, the results of this study can be generalized. Regarding topics
References
Al Ariss, A., Cascio, W. F., & Paauwe, J. (2014). Talent management: Current theories
and future research directions. Journal of World Business, 49(2), 173–179. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2013.11.001
Araújo, A. G., Pereira Carneiro, A. M., & Palha, R. P. (2020). Sustainable construction
management: A systematic review of the literature with meta-analysis. Journal of
Cleaner Production, 256, 120350. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120350
Axelrod, B., Handfield-Jones, H., & Michaels, E. (2002). A new game plan for C players.
Harvard Business Review, 80(1), 80–90.
Bhattacharya, C. B., Sen, S., & Korschun, D. (2008). Using corporate social responsibility
to win the war for talent. Available at SSRN: MIT Sloan Management Review, 49(2) htt
ps://ssrn.com/abstract=2333549.
Berger, L. A., & Berger, D. R. (2004). The talent management handbook: Creating
organizational excellence by identifying. Developing & Promoting Your Best People.
New York, NY, USA: McGraw-Hill.
Björkman, I., Ehrnrooth, M., Mäkelä, K., Smale, A., & Sumelius, J. (2013). Talent or not?
Employee reactions to talent identification. Human Resource Management, 52(2),
195–214. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.v52.210.1002/hrm.21525
Bornmann, L., & Daniel, H.-D. (2007). What do we know about the h index? Journal of the
American Society for Information Science and Technology, 58(9), 1381–1385. https://
doi.org/10.1002/asi.v58:910.1002/asi.20609
Cappelli, P. (2008). Talent management for the twenty-first century. Harvard Business
Review, 86(3), 74.
Boudreau, J. W., & Ramstad, P. M. (2005). Talentship, talent segmentation, and
sustainability: A new HR decision science paradigm for a new strategy definition.
Human Resource Management, 44(2), 129–136. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.v44:
210.1002/hrm.20054
Cappelli, P., & Keller, J. R. (2014). Talent management: Conceptual approaches and
practical challenges. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational
Behavior, 1(1), 305–331. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-031413091314
Cheese, P., Thomas, R. J., & Craig, E. (2007). The talent powered organization: Strategies for
globalization, talent management and high performance. Kogan Page Publishers.
Claus, L. (2019). HR disruption—Time already to reinvent talent management. BRQ
Business Research Quarterly, 22(3), 207–215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
brq.2019.04.002
Collings, D. G., & Mellahi, K. (2009). Strategic talent management: A review and research
agenda. Human Resource Management Review, 19(4), 304–313.
Collings, D. G. (2014). Toward mature talent management: Beyond shareholder value.
Human Resource Development Quarterly, 25(3), 301–319. https://doi.org/10.1002/
hrdq.21198
Collings, D. G., Scullion, H., & Vaiman, V. (2015). Talent management: Progress and
prospects. Human Resource Management Review, 25(3), 233–235. https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.hrmr.2015.04.005
Collings, D. G., Mellahi, K., & Cascio, W. F. (2019). Global talent management and
performance in multinational enterprises: A multilevel perspective. Journal of
Management, 45(2), 540–566. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206318757018
Cooke, F. L., Saini, D. S., & Wang, J. (2014). Talent management in China and India: A
comparison of management perceptions and human resource practices. Journal of
World Business, 49(2), 225–235. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2013.11.006
Dries, N. (2013). The psychology of talent management: A review and research agenda.
Human Resource Management Review, 23(4), 272–285. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
hrmr.2013.05.001
Egghe, L., & Rousseau, R. (2006). An informetric model for the Hirsch-index.
Scientometrics, 69(1), 121–129. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-006-0143-8
Elsharnouby, T. H., & Elbanna, S. (2021). Change or perish: Examining the role of human
capital and dynamic marketing capabilities in the hospitality sector. Tourism
Management, 82, 104184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2020.104184
Farndale, E., Scullion, H., & Sparrow, P. (2010). The role of the corporate HR function in
global talent management. Journal of World Business, 45(2), 161–168. https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.jwb.2009.09.012
Farndale, E., Beijer, S. E., Van Veldhoven, M. J. P. M., Kelliher, C., & Hope-Hailey, V.
(2014). Work and organisation engagement: Aligning research and practice. Journal
534
E. Pagan-Castaño et al.
Journal of Business Research 141 (2022) 528–535
Schuler, R. S., Jackson, S. E., & Tarique, I. (2011). Global talent management and global
talent challenges: Strategic opportunities for IHRM. Journal of World Business, 46(4),
506–516. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2010.10.011
Scullion, H., Collings, D. G., & Caligiuri, P. (2010). Special issue—Global talent
management. Journal of World Business, 45(2), 105–108.
Smart, B. D. (1999). Topgrading: How leading companies win by hiring, coaching, and
keeping the best people. Paramus, NJ: Prentice Hall Press.
Sparrow, P., Scullion, H., & Tarique, I. (2014). Strategic talent management: Future
directions. In P. Sparrow, H. Scullion, & I. Tarique (Eds.), Strategic Talent
Management (pp. 278–302).
Sparrow, P. R., & Makram, H. (2015). What is the value of talent management? Building
value-driven processes within a talent management architecture. Human Resource
Management Review, 25(3), 249–263.
Stahl, G., Björkman, I., Farndale, E., Morris, S. S., Paauwe, J., Stiles, P., … Wright, P.
(2012). Six principles of effective global talent management. Sloan Management
Review, 53(2), 25–42.
Šubelj, L., Waltman, L., Traag, V., & van Eck, N. J. (2020). Intermediacy of publications.
Royal Society Open Science, 7(1), 190207. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.190207
Sun, Z., Yao, Y., Xiao, J., Zhang, L., Zhang, J., & Tang, Z. (2020). Exploiting textual
queries for dynamically visual disambiguation. Pattern Recognition, 110, 107620.
Thunnissen, M., Boselie, P., & Fruytier, B. (2013). Talent management and the relevance
of context: Towards a pluralistic approach. Human Resource Management Review, 23
(4), 326–336. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2013.777543
Thunnissen, M., & Gallardo-Gallardo, E. (2019). Rigor and relevance in empirical TM
research: Key issues and challenges. BRQ Business Research Quarterly, 22(3),
171–180.
Vaiman, V., Scullion, H., & Collings, D. (2012). Talent management decision making.
Management Decision, 50(5), 925–941. https://doi.org/10.1108/
00251741211227663
van Eck, N. J., Waltman, L., Noyons, E. C. M., & Buter, R. K. (2010). Automatic term
identification for bibliometric mapping. Scientometrics, 82(3), 581–596. https://doi.
org/10.1007/s11192-010-0173-0
Verma, R., Lobos, V., Merigó, J. M., Cancino, C., & Sienz, J. (2020). Forty years of
Applied Mathematical Modelling: A bibliometric study. Applied Mathematical
Modelling, 89(2), 1177–1197. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apm.2020.07.004
Warraich, I. A., & Ahmed, A. (2020). The logic for organizational talent management
scorecard. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 7(7), 40–47.
of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, 1(2), 157–176. https://doi.
org/10.1108/JOEPP-03-2014-0015
Farndale, E., Pai, A., Sparrow, P., & Scullion, H. (2014). Balancing individual and
organizational goals in global talent management: A mutual-benefits perspective.
Journal of World Business, 49(2), 204–214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
jwb.2013.11.004
Gallardo-Gallardo, E., Dries, N., & González-Cruz, T. F. (2013). What is the meaning of
‘talent’in the world of work? Human Resource Management Review, 23(4), 290–300.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2013.05.002
Gallardo-Gallardo, E., Nijs, S., Dries, N., & Gallo, P. (2015). Towards an understanding of
talent management as a phenomenon-driven field using bibliometric and content
analysis. Human Resource Management Review, 25(3), 264–279. https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.hrmr.2015.04.003
Gallardo-Gallardo, E., Thunnissen, M., & Scullion, H. (2020). Talent management:
Context matters. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 31(4),
457–473. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2019.1642645
García, J. A., Rodriguez-Sánchez, R., & Fdez-Valdivia, J. (2017). STRATEGY: A tool for
the formulation of peer-review strategies. Scientometrics, 113(1), 45–60. https://doi.
org/10.1007/s11192-017-2470-3
Gruman, J. A., & Saks, A. M. (2011). Performance management and employee
engagement. Human Resource Management Review, 21(2), 123–136. https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.hrmr.2010.09.004
Hartmann, E., Feisel, E., & Schober, H. (2010). Talent management of western MNCs in
China: Balancing global integration and local responsiveness. Journal of World
Business, 45(2), 169–178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2009.09.013
Hirsch, J. E. (2005). An index to quantify an individual’s scientific research output.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 102(46), 16569–16572.
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0507655102
Iles, P., Chuai, X., & Preece, D. (2010). Talent management and HRM in multinational
companies in Beijing: Definitions, differences and drivers. Journal of World Business,
45(2), 179–189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2009.09.014
Ingram, T. (2016). Relationships between talent management and organizational
performance: The role of climate for creativity. Entrepreneurial Business and
Economics Review, 4(3), 195–205.
Kehinde, J. S. (2012). Talent management: Effect on organizational performance. Journal
of Management Research, 4(2), 178.
Krämer, T., Momeni, F., & Mayr, P. (2017). Coverage of author identifiers in web of
science and scopus. arXiv preprint arXiv:1703.01319.
Krauze, T. K., & Hillinger, C. (1971). Citations, references and the growth of scientific
literature: A model of dynamic interaction. Journal of the American Society for
Information Science, 22(5), 333–336. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.4630220507
Lewis, R. E., & Heckman, R. J. (2006). Talent management: A critical review. Human
Resource Management Review, 16(2), 139–154. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
hrmr.2006.03.001
López-Rubio, P., Roig-Tierno, N., & Mas-Verdú, F. (2021). Assessing the Origins,
Evolution and Prospects of National Innovation Systems. Journal of the Knowledge
Economy, 1–24.
Mäkelä, K., Björkman, I., & Ehrnrooth, M. (2010). How do MNCs establish their talent
pools? Influences on individuals’ likelihood of being labeled as talent. Journal of
World Business, 45(2), 134–142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2009.09.020
Mas-Tur, A., Roig-Tierno, N., Sarin, S., Haon, C., Sego, T., Belkhouja, M., … Merigó, J. M.
(2020). Co-citation, bibliographic coupling and leading authors, institutions and
countries in the 50 years of Technological Forecasting and Social Change.
Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 165, 120487. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
techfore.2020.120487
Mellahi, K., & Collings, D. G. (2010). The barriers to effective global talent management:
The example of corporate elites in MNEs. Journal of World Business, 45(2), 143–149.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2009.09.018
Merigó, J. M., Gil-Lafuente, A. M., & Yager, R. R. (2015). An overview of fuzzy research
with bibliometric indicators. Applied Soft Computing, 27, 420–433. https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.asoc.2014.10.035
Meyers, M. C., van Woerkom, M., Paauwe, J., & Dries, N. (2020). HR managers’ talent
philosophies: Prevalence and relationships with perceived talent management
practices. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 31(4), 562–588.
https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2019.1579747
McDonnell, A., Lamare, R., Gunnigle, P., & Lavelle, J. (2010). Developing tomorrow’s
leaders—Evidence of global talent management in multinational enterprises. Journal
of World Business, 45(2), 150–160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2009.09.015
Reiche, B. S., Lee, Y. T., & Allen, D. G. (2019). Actors, structure, and processes: A review
and conceptualization of global work integrating IB and HRM research. Journal of
Management, 45(2), 359–383. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206318808885
Rop, L., & Kwasira, J. (2015). Influence of Talent Attraction on Organizational
Performance in Public University Campuses in County Government of Nakuru,
Kenya. International Journal Of Management & Information Technology, 10,
2453–2460.
Schiemann, W. A. (2014). From talent management to talent optimization. Journal of
World Business, 49(2), 281–288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2013.11.012
Esther Pagán-Castaño Esther Pagán Castaño is Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the
University of Valencia. Master’s Degree in Secondary Education from the University
Jaume I of Castellón. She is part of the teaching staff and the research department of ESIC
Valencia. Her professional career has been developed in the Fundación Educativa Activa-t
in the creation of educational programs to promote deliberative pedagogy in the classroom
through tools such as school debate. She is currently a doctoral student at Jaume I
University.
José Carlos Ballester-Miquel Phd, from the Universitat Politècnica of Valencia. Degree in
Business Administration from the UNED and Industrial Technical Engineer (current de­
gree) from the Universitat Politècnica of Valencia. Master in Commercial Management and
Marketing from ESIC Business & Marketing School and Master’s Degree in Marketing and
Market Research from the University of Valencia. Founding Manager of IBBA Negocios, S.
L. company dedicated to real estate brokerage, director of a Commercial Agency operating
in the retail sector. He is currently collaborating in a Collaborative Economy Project
commissioned by the government within a team of researchers from the Polytechnic
University and the University of Valencia. He has been a collaborating professor at ESIC
since 1998.
Javier Sánchez-García Javier Sánchez García is Full Professor of Marketing and Market
Research at Universitat Jaume I (Castellón, Spain). He holds a Degree in Economics and
Business Administration from the University of Valencia. Phd in Business Administration
from Universitat Jaume I. Author of articles in journals included in the Journal Citation
Report: Transport Reviews, Journal of Air Transport Management, Journal of Business-toBusiness Marketing, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business & Industrial
Marketing, Service Industries Journal, International Journal of Aging & Human Devel­
opment, Tourism Management, Tourism Geographies and Annals of Tourism Research.
María Guijarro-García. PhD accredited by ANECA in the integration of NNTT (New
Technologies) in the business organization, Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain).
She e holds a Degree in Computer Science, branch Management Systems from Universitat
Politècnica de València. Master MBA from ESIC Business & Marketing School. She is part of
the teaching staff and is director of the research department at ESIC Valencia. Her primary
areas of research included customer relationship management and marketing. She has
published international journals such as Journal of Busines Research, Sustainability, or
International Journal of Intellectual Property Management. Director of the International
Symposium on Applied Innovation (IMAT). Regarding her professional profile, she has
worked in different companies in the consulting and marketing departments.
535