Different ladder, different story? Dissecting the talent management paradox within the framework of the postmodern career

Putting the literature on talent management alongside postmodern careers literature, a twofold 'talent management paradox' seems to arise. First of all, talent management is simultaneously depicted as utterly outdated, and as more pivotal than ever for the competitive advantage of organizations. Second, talent management practices seem to be aimed at retaining exactly those employees who are most likely to leave. The current dissertation presents four chapters covering eight papers, each approaching the topic of talent management within the context of the postmodern career from a different vantage point. It aims to contribute to the field in a threefold manner: first, by integrating the careers literature with the talent management literature, thus creating a comprehensive framework; second, by building on empirical data collected from different talent management stakeholders (i.e. general managers, HRM professionals, and individual employees identified as high potentials); and third, by examining cross-level effects, in that organization-level variables (i.e. the classification of employees into different 'talent categories') are related to individual-level variables (i.e. career antecedents and outcomes).