Table 2 Some critical definitions of the notion “talent” in the business management literature
Author | Definition |
|---|---|
Ashton and Morton (2005: 30) | Talent can be identified as an employee who performs superior and possesses high-potential for further development. |
Avedon and Scholes (2010: 75) | Talent alludes to significant individuals and groups with the key competencies that facilitate to reach short and long-term objectives of a company. |
Bagheri et al. (2020: 89) | Talent refers to three distinct logic: a) capabilities and unique contributions of an individual; b) a significant employee; c) a definite and featured group in a company. |
Beechler and Woodward (2009: 274); McDonnell et al. (2011:178) | Talent is the total output of an employee’s KSAs, capabilities and his/her ability to learn and develop. |
Bolander et al. (2017: 1533) | Talent can be alluded as a strain of qualifications that are innate, but also must be formalized by the company to be fully operational and beneficial.. |
Bonneton et al. (2019: 4) | Talent can be defined as the employees anticipated to create the difference to business performance by their current and potential contribution. |
Buckingham and Vosburgh (2001: 21) | Talent should reflect an employee’s iterative model of notion, perspective, or action that can be efficiently performed. |
Chabault et al. (2012: 328) | Talent can be seen as a rare and distinguished asset specifically incorporated within an employee which facilitates his/her company in the way of competitive advantage. |
Crane and Hartwell (2019: 83) | Talent is the combination of an employee’s human capital and social capital. |
Ewerlin and Süß (2016: 143); Thunnissen et al. (2013a: 1752) | Both practitioners and academics generally identify talent as a combination of personal attributions which differentiates according to the type of task, the dynamics of the company and across time at the meantime, talent is usually attributed to the high performer and high potential employees. |
Talent is identified as an unalterable employee’s knowledge, skill and abilities (KSAs), motivation, and also value-added contributions to the company. | |
Iles et al. (2010: 180) | Talent is a collection of distinct KSAs, like; leadership ability, emotional intelligence, analytical thinking, communication skills, ability to attract and inspire, operational skills, and result oriented practicalness etc. |
Talent alludes to the employees who are currently or potentially contribute extra to firm performance. | |
Meyers and van Woerkom (2014: 196); Silzer and Church (2009: 379) | Talent is clarified as a potential, intended that it symbolizes the probability that employees can transform into something better than what they currently are. |
Kravariti and Johnston (2020: 81). | Talent is delineated as an employee’s qualifications which leads him/her to outperform other employees. |
Talent is a natural gift, competence and capability which is sustained, rare and difficultly transferrable. | |
Hedayati-Mehdiabadi and Li (2016: 6); Nilsson and Ellström (2012: 29) | Talent is a reflection of an employee’s enduring capabilities which contributes to organizational performance. |
Nijs et al. (2014: 182) | Talent refers to the systematically developed inborn competencies of employees that are assigned in tasks they enjoy, find interesting, and in which they eager to invest energy. |
Poocharoen and Lee (2013: 1187) | Talent is the combination of competence, commitment, and contribution of an employee; competence refers to the ability to do, commitment refers to the devoting his/herself to do, and contribution refers to the value created by the employee. |
Schiemann (2014: 287) | Talent is the congregate KSAs, values, actions and experiences of all employees combined to lead reaching business objectives. |
Tansley (2011: 268) | Talent is an inborn capableness that demonstrates itself in a specific occupation or area and is attached to superior performance in a way. |
Thunnissen and Buttiens (2017: 408) | Talent is the mixture of doing the work you like and doing it good. |
Tlaiss et al. (2017: 428) | Talent can be referred as a potential which can be developed through learning and training. |