TalentManagement Contingencies: Empirical Research Results

Talent management gained significant research attention in previous 15 years. While lots of researches focused on the nature (composition, shape, timing, and other features) of talent management programs, there are few, if any studies dealing with talent management contingencies. The paper aims at exploring organizational level and external contingencies of talent management programs. Basic research questions are: what are organizational level and external contingencies of talent management and how do they influence talent management programs. After short theoretical background, author tries to answer posed questions on the basis of grounded theory research results carried on in 3 large (1000+ employees) companies located in Poland. Research results reveal there are numerous internal contingencies and four main external contingencies; the latter are of lesser importance. Study suggests that “best practice” approach characteristic for human resource management does not necessarily work well for talent management programs and that the same talent management programs may be differently effective in diverse organizational settings. Thus, the paper comprises of a call for contingency or configurational studies on talent management.