ABSTRACT

Talent retention is one of the main reasons why organizations set up and invest in talent management programs. Organizations allocate considerable amounts of resources to prevent talents from voluntarily leaving the organization. Extensive empirical research exists on voluntary employee turnover. Yet research focusing specifically on talent turnover and distinguishing it from voluntary employee turnover is scarce. While it is reasonable to assume that the broadly established antecedents and consequences of voluntary employee turnover also hold for talent turnover, we claim that situational aspects and the distinct characteristics of talents could change the relevance of specific boundary conditions as well as the magnitude of consequences. We review existing literature on talent turnover and discuss talent status awareness, psychological contract modification, career, and learning opportunities, financial rewards and compensation, as well as perceived and actual employability as potential moderators of the relationship between talent characteristics and talent turnover. We further compare consequences of voluntary employee turnover and talent turnover and discuss how they might relate differently to firm performance, replacement costs, and social capital loss. In this chapter, we identify opportunities for future research and encourage further empirical investigation focussing on talent turnover.