Talent management and ethical behavior

There is a generalized perception that managerial ethical behavior is low in organizations. Thomas, Schermerhorn, and Dienhart (Reference Thomas, Schermerhorn and Dienhart2004) already pointed out years ago that the strategic leadership of ethical behavior in business could not continue to be ignored, both in academia and in professional practice. Managers must accept the fact of the moral impact of their leadership and their behavior. These are rarely neutral. In their leadership capacity, managers have a great power to change the ethical mindset of the members of their organizations in a positive direction, or negative (Jovanović, Mijatov, Dragin, Simat, & Majstorović, Reference Jovanović, Mijatov, Dragin, Simat and Majstorović2022; Ullah et al., Reference Ullah, Hameed, Kayani and Fazal2022).

As we have previously indicated, the excessive desire to increase profits or unscrupulous management can lead to unethical behavior, especially among managers (Brown & Mitchell, Reference Brown and Mitchell2010). On the other hand, we also find authors (Cheng, Bai, & Hu, Reference Cheng, Bai and Hu2022; Fu, Deshpande, & Zhao, Reference Fu, Deshpande and Zhao2011; Ullah et al., Reference Ullah, Hameed, Kayani and Fazal2022) who study the relationship between the ethical behavior of managers and their organizational consequences in relation to organizational commitment. Fundamentally, the authors conclude that the four elements of job satisfaction (salary, partners, supervisors and the work itself) have a significant impact on the generation of organizational commitment, but that the perception of the ethical behavior of managers with success for the development of it. That is, we can correlate the organizational commitment and job satisfaction with improvements in managerial ethical behavior (Jovanović et al., Reference Jovanović, Mijatov, Dragin, Simat and Majstorović2022).

More specifically, Swailes (Reference Swailes2013) describes how organizational focus on talent management is often concerned with a small proportion of high-performing employees, and there is a lack of studies about the ethical guidelines about the evaluation system programs. Among the conclusions of Swailes (Reference Swailes2013) he pointed out the need of deeper research about questions related to cross-cultural differences, as well as differences among public and private sectors, and finally about how organizations evaluate the ethical, economic and social contribution of talent management as a service to society.

Talent management and ethical behavior would reinforce work environments, by restoring trust and lost authority (Cheng, Bai, & Hu, Reference Cheng, Bai and Hu2022; Jovanović et al., Reference Jovanović, Mijatov, Dragin, Simat and Majstorović2022). Previous studies by Professors Brown and Treviño (Reference Brown and Treviño2006, Reference Brown and Treviño2014) have identified the traits and behaviors associated with leadership and ethical behavior. Brown, Treviño, and Harrison (Reference Brown, Treviño and Harrison2005: 120) define ethical leadership as ‘a demonstration of normatively appropriate behavior through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, as well as the promotion of such behaviors among subordinates or followers through of a double way of communication, reinforcement and decision making.’

More recently, both authors (Brown & Treviño, Reference Brown and Treviño2014) carry out an empirical study in which they conclude that model examples or roles are related to leadership and ethical behavior. Thus, they conclude that having had an example or role as a managerial ethical model during the professional career is positively related to the ethical leadership of the manager. The importance of having ethical role models is greater or stronger for the leaders or senior managers. In the same way, having had an ethical role model in childhood and youth is positively related to the ethical leadership of followers or subordinates, but this relationship decreases with the age of the leaders or managers.

These studies suggest that organizations can promote and develop ethical leadership and behavior within their environments, through the selection of young employees who have had role models in their youth, and through the support of leaders and managers who are ethical referents since they play a very important role in the development of ethical leadership, especially for leaders or senior managers.

Moral legitimacy and social to operate offer another perspective on this issue. Moral legitimacy provides moral support for social license to operate, in particular when we are related with controversial projects that required social acceptance. But there are times when social license to operate is not supported by moral legitimacy. Nevertheless, it is important to provide objective criteria to evaluate moral legitimacy (Melé & Armengou, Reference Melé and Armengou2016). Moral legitimacy is in the basis of ethical behavior.

On the other hand, and more recently, O'Connor and Crowley-Henry (Reference O'Connor and Crowley-Henry2017) explore the relationship between exclusive talent management, the perception of organizational justice and the commitment of employees. Using the theories of social exchange and labor equity, they come to the conclusion that effectively talent management for high performance and more exclusive personnel generates a greater organizational commitment, but not for the rest of the employees, thus reaching to be a demotivating element for the rest.

In conclusion, the study on the relationship between talent management and ethical behavior is critical to see the results of a situation of labor equity or not. Talent management environment is related with concepts like equity, justice, person-organization fit. All of them refer to the organizations as an ethical role model and will have an impact and a service to society. Therefore, up to the date of our research, there is no theoretical model that properly studies the relationship between talent management and ethical behavior, hence our research is important, since it can contribute to improving the academic literature on this subject.

Talent management and intention to stay

Growing international competition, deregulation, dynamic environment and globalization of markets force organizations to be more flexible to improve their productivity. This situation leads to lower job security for employees at all levels of the organization (Bihani & Dalal, Reference Bihani and Dalal2014; King, Reference King2000). For this reason, employees who add value to the company are difficult to retain, as they will give priority to their professional development over loyalty to a company. In this context, human resources managers are pressured to prevent the best employees from leaving the organization (Horwitz, Chan, & Hesan, Reference Horwitz, Chan and Hesan2003; Oladapo, Reference Oladapo2014).

Taking into account the costs associated with the rotation of the employees, the managers of the companies must carry out an adequate management of the talent that reduces the abandonment of the talented employees, who with their work achieve that the company reaches its objectives (Bihani & Dalal, Reference Bihani and Dalal2014; De Vos & Dries, Reference De Vos and Dries2013; De Vos & Meganck, Reference De Vos and Meganck2009; Horwitz, Chan, & Hesan, Reference Horwitz, Chan and Hesan2003; Luna-Arocas & Morley, Reference Luna-Arocas and Morley2015).

The company must manage the talent of its employees, so that their dedication and commitment generate a competitive advantage for organizations (Guillon & Cezanne, Reference Guillon and Cezanne2014; Thunnissen & Gallardo-Gallardo, Reference Thunnissen and Gallardo-Gallardo2017).

Analyzing whether talent management reduces organizational abandonment, numerous works have used the term ‘psychological contract’ (Ahmad, Donia, Khan, & Waris, Reference Ahmad, Donia, Khan and Waris2019; De Vos & Meganck, Reference De Vos and Meganck2009; Ma, Liu, Lassleben, & Ma, Reference Ma, Liu, Lassleben and Ma2019; Roehl, Reference Roehl2019; Sheehan, Tham, Holland, & Cooper, Reference Sheehan, Tham, Holland and Cooper2019). This concept analyzes employees' subjective interpretations of the promised incentives and the relationship with the results they obtain, including the intention to remain in the company. The works in this field argue that for employees not to leave the company, they must manage the employees' perceptions of what they believe they contribute to the company and what it has promised in exchange for their loyalty and commitment (De Vos & Meganck, Reference De Vos and Meganck2009).

Different works have studied the relationship of organizational abandonment with the development of a professional career or with the reconciliation of work and family, considering affective factors, behaviors and possibilities of finding another job (Horwitz, Chan, & Hesan, Reference Horwitz, Chan and Hesan2003).

According to different studies, the factors for which employees remain in companies are the following: financial rewards, social benefits for employees and their families, job enrichment, prospects for developing a professional career, training and development opportunities, good environment for work, reconciliation of personal and work life (Bihani & Dalal, Reference Bihani and Dalal2014; De Vos & Meganck, Reference De Vos and Meganck2009; Horwitz, Chan, & Hesan, Reference Horwitz, Chan and Hesan2003).

The results obtained in an empirical study indicate that the main reasons for organizational abandonment are: the absence of financial rewards and the lack of career development opportunities. On the contrary, the reasons why employees remain in the company are: good work climate, good relationship with colleagues, content of work, financial rewards and opportunities for promotion and development (De Vos & Meganck, Reference De Vos and Meganck2009). Therefore, a talent management that facilitates the achievement of these points will reduce the abandonment of employees.

Generally, employees leave the company because they are dissatisfied with their work and have the opportunity to leave for another company, where they assume they will be better off (Oladapo, Reference Oladapo2014). This author indicates that the dissatisfaction of employees is due to a mixture of tangible goods (wages and social benefits) and intangibles (relationship with superiors, content of work, lack of confidence in management, difficulty in reconciling work and personal life). It also points out that talent management is essential to ensure the long-term profitability of organizations and offer better results to shareholders (Alexandre & Petit-Romec, Reference Alexandre and Petit-Romec2021; Gelashvili, Aguilar Pastor, Segovia-Vargas, & Camacho, Reference Gelashvili, Aguilar Pastor, Segovia-Vargas and Camacho2019; McNulty & De Cieri, Reference McNulty and De Cieri2016; Oladapo, Reference Oladapo2014; Song, Pan, Pan, & Jiao, Reference Song, Pan, Pan and Jiao2019).

Some authors consider that talent management should contribute to the creation of long-term links between organizations and their employees, with the aim of increasing their permanence rates in the company (Meyers & van Woerkom, Reference Meyers and van Woerkom2013).

Currently, many companies face the problem of shortage of talent since few employees contribute value to the company. According to these authors, in the short term, talent management should focus on the selection and hiring of these employees, but in the long term only, a competitive advantage will be achieved with a talent management that prevents the best employees from leaving the company to go to another option that seems more attractive to them. Therefore, the company must detect the factors that reinforce the commitment and loyalty of valuable employees (Bihani & Dalal, Reference Bihani and Dalal2014).

In addition, we must point out that the interests of employees and their socioeconomic needs vary with the passage of time, and that companies through appropriate talent management must adapt to these changes to avoid the cost of employee turnover (Kumar, Chebolu, & Babu, Reference Kumar, Chebolu and Babu2015).

The results obtained through a series of interviews with employees of the company France Telecom (between 2008 and 2011, 69 employees of this organization committed suicide) point out that the employees wanted to leave the company because it only sought to satisfy the interests of the shareholders (Chabrak, Craig, & Daidj, Reference Chabrak, Craig and Daidj2016). There was a lack of talent management aimed at motivating employees, showing them the value of the work done.

Some works consider that the main factor to avoid the abandonment of the employee is not the salary, but the recognition of the work done (Ferguson & Brohaugh, Reference Ferguson and Brohaugh2009).

At the same time, it must be taken into account that not all employees reason in the same way and, therefore, talent management must be different for those employees who give more importance to money, who will be the ones who more easily leave the company (Luna-Arocas & Tang, Reference Luna-Arocas and Tang2004).

Other studies consider that employees will be more identified with their company when their objectives coincide with those of their company, so that they experience the successes and failures of their organization as their own (Collings & Mellahi, Reference Collings and Mellahi2009; Van Gils, Hogg, Van Quaquebeke, & Van Knippenberg, Reference Van Gils, Hogg, Van Quaquebeke and Van Knippenberg2017).

Taking into account workforce trends, such as demographic change, global supply chains, aging workforce and increasing global mobility, managers must rethink the role of talent management to take advantage of better the talent they have and prevent them from leaving the organization (Oladapo, Reference Oladapo2014).

More recently, a study from Finland (Nie, Lämsä, & Pučėtaitė, Reference Nie, Lämsä and Pučėtaitė2018) focuses on the effects of socially responsible human resource management practices on female employees' turnover intentions. Their findings suggest that organizational measures which support work–family integration should be taken seriously to decrease female employees' turnover intentions.

The previous review of the literature allows us to offer the following hypothesis:

Sample

The sample was made up of 176 professionals in all category levels of firms (public and private) working in the city and province of Valencia, Spain. The sample was obtained from an offer of participating in the research in two main conferences addressing the topic of management trends in 2019. Of the 400 conference attendees, 184 completed the questionnaire, with eight being eliminated due to missing data.

As regards gender, 59.3% were men and 40.7% were women. The average age was 33.74 years (S = 9.961), with 43.9% being below 30 years of age, 30.1% between 30 and 40 and 26% over 40. As regards present job tenure, the average is 6.91 years (S = 7.301). In total, 76.7% had been at the present organization for 10 years or less, with the remaining 23% having been there over 10 years, with the maximum being 30 years. With regard to total work experience, the average was 12.15 years (S = 9.925). In total, 53.1% had 10 years or less experience, and 25.9% between 10 and 20 years, with 21% having had over 20 years of total work experience. In total, 25.9% had never changed company, while 15.1% had done so once, 20.5% twice, 18.7% three times and 11.4% four times. The remaining 8.4% had done so between five and 15 times.

Moreover, 69.1% indicated that they belonged to private companies and 30.9% to public companies. As regards the degree of responsibility over other employees that individuals in the sample had, 46% had some type of organizational responsibility. More specifically, 5.9% were top management, 9.5% managers, 13% middle-level managers, 15.4% team heads and 56.2% employees. This mix of positions reflected in the sample has the positive aspect of representing all levels of the firm, although at the same time fails to represent any specific population of employees or managers.

In terms of work type, 60.5% were permanent full-time, 16.9% temporary full-time, 13.4% temporary with half-day and 8.7% fixed half-day. The average number of employees is 2,835.74 (S = 16,470,386). More specifically, 21.8% worked in firms with less than 11 employees, 15.8% between 11 and 20 employees, 10.9% between 21 and 50 employees and 17% between 51 and 100 employees. In addition, 15.2% worked in firms with between 101 and 500 employees, 14.5% between 501 and 5,000 and 9.7% over 5,000 employees.

The educational level was high, with 57.6% having a university degree, 32.6% secondary level studies and 9.9% primary level studies. As regards the business sector, 68.9% worked in the service sector, 22.6% in industry, 6.1% in construction and 2.4% in agriculture and fishing. As for place of residence, 60.7% lived in cities of over 500,000 inhabitants, 9.6% between 50,001 and 500,000 inhabitants, 18.6% between 10,001 and 50,000 and 11.1% less than 10,001.

Measurements

We use four operational variables. In fact, to measure talent management, we use two variables adapted from previous studies of different authors (Luna-Arocas, Reference Luna-Arocas2018; Luna-Arocas & Lara, Reference Luna-Arocas and Lara2020; Luna-Arocas & Morley, Reference Luna-Arocas and Morley2015): managerial talent and talent development. Both consisted of three items each.

Talent mentality of the managers is made up of three items which are the following: ‘the way my boss manages the talent of his employees,’ ‘the work climate of talent generated by my leader in the organization’ and ‘the criteria based on talent applied for recognition in the company.’

Also, talent development is measured with three items that are the following: ‘the way my boss manages the talent of his employees,’ ‘the work climate of talent generated by my leader in the organization’ and ‘the criteria based on talent applied for recognition in the company.’

Furthermore, we measure the ethical behavior of the scale of Chen and Tang (Reference Chen and Tang2006) by selecting three items very much related to the general vision that the company has about ethical behaviors. These items are: ‘managers in my company often engage in behavior that I consider unethical’ (reversed item), ‘to be successful in my company, it often takes compromising personal ethics’ (reversed item) and ‘company management has made it clear that unethical conduct will not be permitted.’

Finally, intention to stay was measured with three items adapted from the 15-item scale used by Roodt (Reference Roodt2004). The items were rated on a 5-point response scale, from 1 = never to 5 = every day. The items of this scale were: ‘I have been thinking of quitting my current job,’ ‘I have been evaluating the cost of quitting my current job’ and ‘I am trying to leave my current job.’ Once the data were obtained, the variable was reversed so that the concept was to stay and not leave work.