Abstract/Summary

This research aims to shed light on the scattered and incomplete story on how entrepreneurially relevant contingencies influence the decision-making around talent, its retention, and strategies for its management during periods of growth. A multiple case study methodology and an abductive strategy has been used to study the phenomena from the perspective of three distinct organisational actors at five firms selected based on a pre-set array of growth-indicating characteristics. Most extant research on talent and its management is in the context of larger organisations, and the study uncovers notable implications for how talent is identified, retained and thus managed in this unique context of growth-stage entrepreneurial firms. This study also responds to calls for future research directions in the extant talent management literature to move the discourse from debates on conceptualisation and boundaries to actual implementation. The study adds to the limited understanding in extant literature of the distinct characteristics of entrepreneurial firms, such as prevalence of informality and significant influence of founders, to uncover the nuances of talent management design and implementation challenges. The study finds the preferred position for talent in these organisations to be exclusive; however, the trajectory that their talent management programs take dynamically evolve from ‘informally-exclusive’ to ‘formally-exclusive’, forming the two ends of a continuum. Thus, the identification, retention and management of talent is ‘espoused in an exclusive’ manner but ‘enacted in an inclusive’ style. This finding contrasts with the inclusive versus exclusive debate that dominates the extant literature, and points to a potential misalignment in expectations of the organisational decision-makers and the talented employees. Another major finding is the interconnectedness of talent identification and retention in the broader context of talent management, pointing to a dynamic relationship that involves ongoing interactions and feedback loops between these constructs. This led to a comprehensive framework for dynamically evolving effective talent management practices where talent identification and talent retention evolve in response to the shifting needs of firms at different growth stages. By uncovering the reactions and expectations of founder/s and talented employees, a contribution to practice and theory is a framework for firms to devise bespoke retention strategies using distinct organisational levers. This analysis also contributed to conceptualisation of weak and strong turnover signals, which when combined with retention strategies, led to the development of an evidence-based framework for enhancing retention. Further, by analysing not just the broader context of growth-oriented firms, but the sub-context of each individual firm, a roadmap for anticipating transitions in talent management trajectories has been proposed that not only delineates the growth stages, but also identifies the growth triggers indicating transition. The framework identifies factors causing gaps in perspectives between founders and talented employees during firm growth, and recommends actionable strategies to reduce these gaps, thereby improving the effectiveness of talent retention efforts. It is hoped that this study prompts further research that advances understanding of the interplay of actors, contexts, and growth stages in furthering talent management agendas in practice.