Talent management and organizational citizenship behavior. Exploring the role of organizational support and age-related differences

Purpose Talent management (TM) may play a crucial role in creating strategic success in an organization because of its effects on employees' attitudes and behavior. Though considerable research has been conducted on managing talents, we still know very little about the process through which TM practices can foster employees' organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB). The study presented here aims to determine the impact of TM practices on individual- and organization-directed OCB (OCBI and OCBO, respectively), with the mediating role of perceived organizational support (POS) and the moderating role of age-related differences. Design/methodology/approach The author surveyed 730 talent pool members and 100 managers from 33 companies, each of which has its own well-developed TM program. Multilevel structural equation modeling was performed to test the hypotheses. Findings The research results demonstrate that TM practices do not have a direct impact on OCBI and OCBO of talent pool members but rather exert an indirect influence through POS. Additionally, the study found that the age of talent pool members moderates the relationship between POS and OCBI, such that this relationship is stronger among older generations of employees. Originality/value The present study is one of the very few studies to investigate the psychological mechanism that helps to explain the effect of TM practices on talent pool members' OCB. It also sheds light on the conditioning of this relationship by testing the moderating role of age-related differences.