From brain drain to brain gain: the agenda for talent management in overcoming talent migration from emerging markets

Abstract

Within the macro talent management (MTM) framework, exogenous challenges caused by the complexity of the external environment are being actively discussed. Considering these challenges, among which is talent mobility, the paper investigates the factors that determine migration intentions of talents and discusses the role of firm-level talent management (TM) practices in addressing those factors, reversing brain drain, and managing talent flows. Using primary data from 557 talented graduates from leading Russian universities we found that the influence of industry- and individual-level factors, which determine their intentions to move abroad, may be mitigated by talent attraction, talent development and talent retention practices. The findings imply the moderating role of TM in managing country-level talent migration. Our study contributes to and extends the TM literature by providing evidence from the individual-level perspective, which firm-level TM initiatives may serve as a mechanism for human capital accumulation and retention, and for improving the national-level MTM system.

Keywords:

• Migration
• brain drain
• talent management
• graduates
• high potential
• emerging markets

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, Marina Latukha. The data are not publicly available due to restrictions as their containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.