Mapping the landscape of talent management research in higher education: a bibliometric analysis

Figures & data

Table 1. Search procedure.

Filtering Criteria	Excluded	Included
Database: Scopus
Date of search: August 10, 2023
Published from: No time limit
Language: English only
Document type: limited to ‘articles’ only
Limit to documents with publication stage as ‘final’		142
Content screening: Only articles in which the scope of the study (TM in higher education) discussed in ‘Titles, Abstracts, and Keywords’ are included	15	127

Note(s): This table shows the filtering criteria used to reach the final compilation of 127 articles.

Figure 1. Publication trend of TM research in higher education, 2006–2023.

Source: Authors’ conception, based on VoSviewer.

Table 2. Top authors and countries of TM research in higher education.

R	Author	TP	Institution/Country	Author	TC	Institution/Country	Countries	TP	Countries	TC
1	Ghani, E.K.	4	Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Malaysia	Collings, D.G.	72	DCU Business School, Dublin, Ireland	Malaysia	17	Netherlands	333
2	Thunnissen, M.	3	Fontys University of Applied Sciences, Eindhoven, Netherlands	Thunnissen, M.	60	Fontys University of Applied Sciences, Eindhoven, Netherlands	South Africa	16	United Kingdom	221
3	Mousa, M.	3	WSB University, Dabrowa Gornicza, Dabrowa Gornicza, Poland	Dries, N.	54	KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium	United States	15	United States	128
4	Mohamed Jais, I.R.	3	Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Malaysia	Scullion, H.	52	Hull University Business School, Hull, United Kingdom	United Kingdom	13	South Africa	91
5	Ayoubi, R.M.	3	Coventry University, Coventry, United Kingdom	Paauwe, J.	43	Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands	Iran	10	China	75
6	Abdullahi, M.S.	3	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia	Mellahi, K.	41	Centre for Responsible Business, Dubai, United Arab Emirates	China	9	Singapore	69
7	Yusof, N.M.	2	Universiti Sains Malaysia, Minden, Malaysia	Gallardo-Gallardo, E.	40	Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain	Australia	5	Ecuador	37
8	Yarmohammadian, M.H.	2	Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran	Barkhuizen, E.N.	36	College of Business and Economics, Johannesburg, South Africa	Indonesia	5	Mexico	34
9	Van Arensbergen, P.	2	Van Hall-Larenstein University of Applied Sciences, Velp, Netherlands	Fruytier, B.	35	Utrecht University of Applied Sciences, Utrecht, Netherlands	Singapore	5	Australia	33
10	Surendran, N.N.	2	Asia Pacific University (APU), Malaysia	Farndale, E.	31	Pennsylvania State University, University Park, United States	Jordan	4	Pakistan	27

Note(s): R: rank; TP: total publications; TC: total citations. Source: Authors’ conception, based on VoSviewer.

Table 3. Top sources of TM research in higher education.

R	Journal	TC	TP	Publisher	Subject area
1	Employee Relations	130	1	Emerald Publishing	Business, Management and Accounting
2	Human Resource Management Journal	110	1	Wiley-Blackwell	Business, Management and Accounting
3	International Journal of Human Resource Management	98	4	Taylor & Francis	Business, Management and Accounting
4	Journal of Management Development	54	2	Emerald Publishing	Business, Management and Accounting
5	Personnel Review	54	1	Emerald Publishing	Business, Management and Accounting
6	Higher Education Policy	39	1	Springer Nature	Social Sciences
7	SA Journal of Human Resource Management	37	8	Open Journals Publishing AOSIS	Business, Management and Accounting
8	Future Internet	34	1	Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)	Computer Science
9	Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences	30	2	Mediterranean Center of Social and Educational Research	Social Sciences
10	Journal of the American College of Surgeons	29	1	Lippincott Williams and Wilkins	Medicine

Note(s): R: rank; TP: total publications; TC: total citations. Source: Authors’ conception, based on VoSviewer.

Table 4. Top articles on TM research in higher education.

R	Document title	Author	Source	First Author Institution/Country	TC
1	Talent management: For what, how and how well? An empirical exploration of talent management in practice	Thunnissen (2016)	Employee Relations	Fontys University of Applied Sciences, Eindhoven, Netherlands	130
2	Talent management in academia: performance systems and HRM policies	van den Brink et al. (2013)	Human Resource Management Journal	Radboud Universiteit, Nijmegen, Netherlands	110
3	Understanding graduate recruitment, development and retention for the enhancement of talent management: sharpening ‘the edge’ of graduate talent	McCracken et al. (2016)	The International Journal of Human Resource Management	Ulster University Business School, Coleraine, United Kingdom	56
4	A multi-dimensional approach to talent: An empirical analysis of the definition of talent in Dutch academia	Thunnissen & Van Arensbergen (2015)	Personnel Review	Fontys University of Applied Sciences, Eindhoven, Netherlands	54
5	Determinants of Success in Academic Careers	Van Balen et al. (2012)	Higher Education Policy	QANU (Quality Assurance Netherlands Universities), Utrecht, Netherlands	39
6	Characterization of the Teaching Profile within the Framework of Education 4.0	Ramírez-Montoya et al. (2021)	Future Internet	Tecnológico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico	34
7	Inclusive/exclusive talent management, responsible leadership and organizational downsizing: A study of academics in Egyptian public business schools	Mousa & Ayoubi (2019)	Journal of Management Development	WSB University, Dabrowa Gornicza, Dabrowa Gornicza, Poland	34
8	Overcoming the ethnocentric firm? – foreign fresh university graduate employment in Japan as a new international human resource development method	Conrad & Meyer-Ohle (2019)	The International Journal of Human Resource Management	Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Dusseldorf, Germany	31
9	A Review of Trends in Attrition Rates for Surgical Faculty: A Case for a Sustainable Retention Strategy to Cope with Demographic and Economic Realities	Satiani et al. (2013)	Journal of the American College of Surgeons	The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, United States	29
10	Talent management issues for multinational logistics companies in China: observations from the field	Shi & Handfield (2012)	International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications	Shanxi University of Finance and EcoNomics, Taiyuan, China	28

Note(s): R: rank; TC: total citation. Source: Authors’ conception, based on VoSviewer.

Figure 2. Co-authorship relations based on countries. Visualisation: VoS viewer.

Figure 3. Trending topics with the use of keyword. Visualisation: Bibliometrix.

Figure 4. Thematic map. Visualisation: Bibliometrix.

Table 5. Top keywords.

R	Keyword	TO	R	Keyword	TO
1	Talent Management	71	11	Talent Retention	5
2	Higher Education	20	12	China	4
3	Talent	11	13	Employee Engagement	4
4	Leadership	10	14	Recruitment	4
5	Human Resource Management	7	15	Talent Attraction	4
6	Talent Development	6	16	Training	4
7	Talent Management Practices	6	17	Universities	4
8	Academic Staff	5	18	Academics	3
9	Higher Education Institutions	5	19	Development	3
10	Retention	5	20	Egypt	3

Note(s): R: rank; TO: Total occurrences.

Figure 5. Clusters of TM-related research in higher education through bibliographic coupling. Visualisation: VoS viewer.

Thunnissen, M. (2016). Talent management: For what, how and how well? An empirical exploration of talent management in practice. Employee Relations, 38(1), 57–72. https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-08-2015-0159

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van den Brink, M., Fruytier, B., & Thunnissen, M. (2012). Talent management in academia: Performance systems and HRM policies. Human Resource Management Journal, 23(2), 180–195. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-8583.2012.00196.x

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McCracken, M., Currie, D., & Harrison, J. (2016). Understanding graduate recruitment, development and retention for the enhancement of talent management: Sharpening ‘the edge’ of graduate talent. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 27(22), 2727–2752. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2015.1102159

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Thunnissen, M., & Van Arensbergen, P. (2015). A multi-dimensional approach to talent: An empirical analysis of the definition of talent in Dutch academia. Personnel Review, 44(2), 182–199. https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-10-2013-0190

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Ramírez-Montoya, M. S., Loaiza-Aguirre, M. I., Zúñiga-Ojeda, A., & Portuguez-Castro, M. (2021). Characterization of the teaching profile within the framework of education 4.0. Future Internet, 13(4), 91. https://doi.org/10.3390/fi13040091

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Mousa, M., & Ayoubi, R. M. (2019). Talent management practices: Perceptions of academics in Egyptian public business schools. Journal of Management Development, 38(10), 833–846. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-01-2019-0030

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Conrad, H., & Meyer-Ohle, H. (2019). Overcoming the ethnocentric firm?–Foreign fresh university graduate employment in Japan as a new international human resource development method. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 30(17), 2525–2543. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2017.1330275

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Satiani, B., Williams, T. E., Brod, H., Way, D. P., & Ellison, E. C. (2013). A review of trends in attrition rates for surgical faculty: A case for a sustainable retention strategy to cope with demographic and economic realities. Journal of the American College of Surgeons, 216(5), 944–953. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2012.12.052

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Shi, Y., & Handfield, R. (2012). Talent management issues for multinational logistics companies in China: Observations from the field. International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications, 15(3), 163–179. https://doi.org/10.1080/13675567.2012.709488

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Data availability statement

The original dataset from which the results of this article were analysed and delineated are available on Scopus.com.