What Do Talents Want? Work Expectations in India, China, and Germany

Abstract

International talent management becomes increasingly important, because companies compete on a global scale for qualified employees. Finding highly educated talent, however, is difficult, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. This research investigates the work expectations of Chinese (N=404), Indian (N=588), and German (N=257) students, the talent group from which companies hope to recruit their future workforce. Incorporating their specific expectations is essential; if these expectations are not met, decreases in job satisfaction, commitment, and performance are likely. Using factor analytic techniques, we develop a scale that reliably measures students' work expectations. A two-factor structure was established and generality was assessed across countries, age, gender, and study level. Findings show that students from all countries share more similarities than cultural differences might predict. Nevertheless the subtleties provide essential insights for international talent management and call for more targeted recruitment and retention strategies. Was wollen Talente? Arbeitserwartungen in China, Indien und DeutschlandInternationales Talentmanagement gewinnt zunehmend an Bedeutung, da Unternehmen in einem globalen Wettbewerb um qualifizierte Mitarbeiter stehen. Diese Studie befasst sich mit den Arbeitserwartungen von chinesischen (N=404), indischen (N=588) und deutschen (N=257) Studierenden -der Gruppe, aus der Unternehmen ihre zukünftigen Arbeitskräfte rekrutieren. Die Einbeziehung spezifischer Arbeitserwartungen ist vor allem für qualifizierte Talente notwendig. Sollten ihre Arbeitserwartungen nicht erfüllt werden, ist eine Verringerung von Arbeitszufriedenheit, Commitment und Arbeitsleistung wahrscheinlich. Unter der Verwendung von faktoranalytischen Methoden wird in diesem Artikel ein Erhebungsinstrument entwickelt, welches studentische Arbeitserwartungen reliabel misst. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Studierende aus allen Ländern mehr Gemeinsamkeiten aufweisen, als kulturelle Unterschiede vermuten lassen. Dennoch bieten die festgestellten Besonderheiten wichtige Einblicke für internationales Talentmanagement und fordern gezielte Rekrutierungs-und Bindungsstrategien.

A Review of Empirical Research on Global Talent Management

“…The themes studied in empirical global talent management research are: global talent management outcomes, success factors of and challenges to global talent management, drivers of global talent management adoption, talent pool, role of global talent management actors and talent mobility. Besides, it is observed that majority of the studies have examined multiple or more than one of the aforementioned global talent management themes (e.g., Cole, 2011; Farndale, Pai, Sparrow, & Scullion, 2014; Furusawa & Brewster, 2015; Garavan, 2012; Iles et al, 2010; Latukha, 2015; McDonnell et al, 2010; McNulty & De Cieri, 2016; Sidani & Al Ariss, 2014; Sparrow et al, 2013; Vance, Chow, Paik, & Shin, 2013; Walk, Schinnenburg, & Handy, 2013).…”

“…The most researched topic among the themes is success factors for and challenges to global talent management. Twelve out of the 21 studies have investigated challenges to and critical success factors of global talent management (see Cole, 2011; Farndale et al, 2014; Furusawa & Brewster, 2015; Garavan, 2012; Latukha, 2015; McNulty & De Cieri, 2016; Preece et al, 2013; Sidani & Al Ariss, 2014; Sparrow et al, 2013; Walk et al, 2013; D. Welch & Welch, 2015; Woollard, 2010).…”

“…Welch & Welch, 2015; Woollard, 2010). Studies looking at challenges and success factors to global talent management identify challenges, such as huge financial costs in the management of talents in the global arena, high rate of turnover (Woollard, 2010), cultural differences (Walk et al, 2013), corporate culture that favours individualization (Farndale et al, 2014), global talent knowledge transfer problems (Welch & Welch, 2015), localization difficulties (Latukha, 2015; Sidani & Al Ariss, 2014), balancing economic legitimacy with legal legitimacy (Sidani & Al Ariss, 2014), designing global talent management programmes for the management of bicultural people (Furusawa & Brewster, 2015), cultural and interactional adjustment problems of expatriate spouses (e.g., Cole, 2011), challenges of setting up the regional headquarters, legitimacy and contribution issues relating to the role of the regional headquarters, specific regional talent management matters and centralization versus decentralization within the region (Preece et al, 2013), difficulties in selecting a more suitable global talent management approach (i.e., inclusive approach or exclusive approach) to adopt and the impact of business models on global talent management (the level of centralization or decentralization; Sparrow et al, 2013). These challenges are mainly firm-level problems.…”

“…The next prevalent theme examined is global talent management outcomes. Nine of the 21 studies have examined various outcomes of global talent management (see Cole, 2011; Ewerlin, 2013; Farndale et al, 2014; Garavan, 2012; Latukha, 2015; McNulty & De Cieri, 2016; Tymon Jr., et al, 2010; Vance et al, 2013; Walk et al, 2013). The evidence from these studies indicates that global talent management can enhance MNCs’ global mobility outcomes (expatriate attraction, development and attrition), employer attractiveness, competitiveness and performance.…”

“…The evidence indicates that more than half (57%) of the empirical global talent management research used the qualitative approach (e.g., Farndale et al, 2014; Garavan, 2012; Guttormsen, 2017; Iles et al, 2010; Makela et al, 2010; McNulty & De Cieri, 2016; Preece et al, 2013; Sidani & Al Ariss, 2014; Stokes, et al, 2016; Welch & Welch, 2015; Woollard, 2010), some (29%) employed the quantitative approach (e.g., Ewerlin, 2013; Furusawa & Brewster, 2015; Hedricks, Robie, & Harnisher, 2008; Tymon Jr. et al, 2010; Vance et al, 2013; Walk et al, 2013) and few (14%) utilized the mixed approach (e.g., Cole, 2011; Latukha, 2015). Studies adopting the qualitative method mainly used semi-structured interview as the main instrument for the collection of the research data.…”