Talent Management in Academia Evidence From a Spanish Public Technical University

Abstract

This research investigates Talent Management in academia and serves both as an evaluation of the scientific research on the topic to this day and as an attempt to identify Talent Management practises in academia and comparing the theory of existing research with the reality in academic context. The purpose of this research is to explore the subject of Talent Management with regards to the practises of identification, selection and retention of academic talent. The research aims to provide contribution to the existing research within the subject of Talent Management. This research consists of a literature review of the current research available on Talent Management in academia. To examine the application of the theory found in the literature review a survey was conducted at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) in Barcelona, Spain. The results of the survey show that there exists both similarities and differences between the existing research and the applications at UPC. Regarding the identification of talent, it can be concluded that the definition of talent is not unanimous. Furthermore, the perception on if and how talent can be measured is also divided. To reach a stronger conclusion, more research must be conducted, preferably within different contexts. The results also show that in the selection of academic talent, recruiting through networks is the most common practice. In the practices of retaining academic talent, the results from the survey display that individuals in an academic environment seem to value flexibility and networking as key factors for wanting to stay employed at their current university. In order to continue the research in Talent Management in academia, we suggest that more focus should be invested in understanding the contextual differences that may exist due to different contexts and environments.