Organizational Resources Management Researches

Organizational Resources Management Researches

Explaining the concept of talent in human resource management; from ambiguity to clarity: A systematic review of existing definitions, approaches, and challenges

Document Type : Original Research

Authors
1 Ph.D. Student in Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior, Department of Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior, Faculty of Management, Imam Sadiq University, Tehran, Iran.
2 Prof, Department of Management and Accounting, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.
3 Associate Professor at the Department of Business Administration, Imam Sadiq University, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
This research was conducted to examine the definition of 'talent' in the field of Human Resource Management through a systematic review of 349 articles. Findings reveal that despite the importance of talent management, there is no single, consensual definition, and existing definitions are multidimensional, context-dependent, and sometimes contradictory. Content analysis showed that talent is defined through three main approaches: innate (30% of articles), acquired (20%), and hybrid (50%), with the latter approach being particularly dominant in articles published after 2020. Regarding scope, definitions are categorized into two groups: exclusive (focusing on the top 10-20% of the workforce, in 60% of articles) and inclusive (developing all employees, in 40% of articles). The innovation of this study lies in identifying a paradigmatic shift: apparent contradictions in definitions are not a weakness, but rather indicate the evolution of the talent concept from a fixed individual trait to a dynamic relational capital that is shaped at the intersection of three layers: organizational strategic needs (strategic level), economic justification of human capital (value level), and the design of talent management systems (operational level). This integrated perspective explains why 70% of talent definitions in the past five years have shifted towards ecosystemic and organization-centric models, emphasizing that sustainable competitive advantage stems less from attracting elites and more from an organization's ability to create dynamic, living talent-building systems. This insight reveals the necessity to shift the focus from seeking a universal definition towards designing dynamic, internal definition-making processes.
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