Volume 23 Issue 2 Article 1 August 2021 Evolving the Narrative of Managing Young Talent in SMEs Evolving the Narrative of Managing Young Talent in SMEs Katarina Katja Mihelič University of Ljubljana, School of Economics and Business Alison Pearce Northumbria University, Newcastle Business School Nada Zupan University of Ljubljana, School of Economics and Business, nada.zupan@ef.uni-lj.si Follow this and additional works at: https://www.ebrjournal.net/home Part of the Business Commons Recommended Citation Recommended Citation Mihelič , K. K., Pearce, A., & Zupan, N. (2021). Evolving the Narrative of Managing Young Talent in SMEs. Economic and Business Review, 23(2). https://doi.org/10.15458/2335-4216.1006 This Editorial is brought to you for free and open access by Economic and Business Review. It has been accepted for inclusion in Economic and Business Review by an authorized editor of Economic and Business Review. EDITORIAL Evolving the Narrative of Managing Young Talent in SMEs Katarina Katja Mihelic a, *, Alison Pearce b , Nada Zupan a a University of Ljubljana, School of Economics and Business, Slovenia b Northumbria University, Newcastle Business School, UK Introduction T he topic of talent management (TM) has receivedincreasing attention since the 1980s when the phrase ‘war for talent’ was coined (Cappelli & Keller, 2017). Scholars and practi- tioners alike have devoted time to exploring and developing policies that facilitate talent acquisi- tion, engagement and retention (Collings, 2014). Despite this, retention of talent and availability of key skills are still cited as major human resource managementchallenges(Hewitt-Associates,2008; Scullion,Vaiman,Collings&Thunnissen,2016)in the global TM arena (Collings, Mellahi & Cascio, 2019). Keeping young employees in particular engaged and interested in staying with a com- panythusremainsapervasiveissueformanagers across organisations of various sizes and in- dustries, in national as well as international set- tings. This thematic issue on managing young talent in SMEs draws inspiration from the inter- national research project Global Entrepreneurial Talent Management (GETM3), funded through the European Union's Horizon 2020 platform. This collaborative research network brings together scholars in multiple disciplines with in- dustry practitioners in various countries and adopts a multi stakeholder approach to TM, considering employers', young talent and higher educational institutions' (HEIs) perspective on TM. As entrepreneurialism is one of the key te- nets of EU competitiveness and development (European Commission, 2013), special attention within GETM3 is drawn to an investigation into how HEIs can contribute to the development of entrepreneurial competences. The need to explore TM in different settings and from different perspectives has been a strong consensus in TM research. For example, Gallardo- Gallardo, Thunnissen & Scullion (2020) call upon researchers to address the context in which TM takes place, including the business context (e.g. globalization, technology, socio-economic and de- mographic changes) and organisational character- istics (e.g. type of industry, size, strategy). RecognizingthatextantTMresearchhasbeenmore about solidifying conceptual models and theoretical perspectives than exploring TM practices as they occur in various types of organisations, Thunnissen (2016) proposes to research TM practices by answering questions of not only what they are but also for whom and for what purpose. In addition, TM research predominantly adopts the managerial and performative perspective rather than incorpo- rating individual level research (Sparrow, 2019). This thematic issue aims to contribute to TM knowledge by focusing on SMEs and young talent i.e. Millennials or Generation Y, who have been entering the labour market in the last decade, add- ing to workplace diversity and TM complexity. While there is a rich body of literature in the area of TM conceptualization (Collings & Mellahi, 2009; GallardoeGallardo et al., 2015), its architecture (Sparrow & Makram, 2015) and TM in large, most often multinational corporations (Bj€ orkman et al., 2017; Collings et al., 2019), TM in SMEs is under- researched and deserves more attention in the Eu- ropeanaswellasglobalcontext(Festingetal.,2017). SMEs constitute a major proportion of employers and contribute significantly to the global economy * Corresponding author. E-mail address: katja.mihelic@ef.uni-lj.si (K.K. Mihelic). https://doi.org/10.15458/85451.1006 2335-4216/© 2021 School of Economics and Business University of Ljubljana. This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). (Harney & Alkhalaf, 2021; Krishnan & Scullion, 2017): over 99% of the companies in the OECD and G20 are classified as SMEs (OECD, 2015). The number of employees istypically used to classify an enterprise as an SME, but this depends on the na- tional context and the SME classification used. In Europe,themarkofalargeenterpriseis250ormore employees, while in the USA it can be 500 or more (Krishnan & Scullion, 2017). According to EU criteria, there are three types of entity: 1) micro firms (fewer than 10 employees), small businesses (10e49 employees) and medium-sized enterprises (50e249) (Harney, 2015). While TM practices contribute considerably to their success (Krishnan & Scullion, 2017), SMEs often face a lack of resources for HR, have no or insufficiently formalized TM processes and their strategy depends heavily on the philosophy of the owner(Festingetal.,2017).Indeed,ahighdegreeof informality in HR policies is common for SMEs (Valverde, Scullion & Ryan, 2013) despite the fact that a strategic TM system can develop entrepre- neurial behaviour in employees (Chen, Lee & Ahl- strom, 2021). SMEs facemoredifficultyin recruiting than larger companies (Wilkinson, 1999). For example, due to scarce resources, only the most convenient recruitment methods might be used so that insufficient qualified talent is targeted (Festing et al., 2017). Further, an SME's values and norms must be clearly communicated at the recruitment stage to ensure the required person and the orga- nisation fit. SMEs also face the challenge of retain- ingtalented employees, particularlytheyoung,who do not prioritise organizational commitment and loyalty and are used to job-hopping (Ferri-Reed, 2014). The aim of this issue is to advance the current understanding of TM in SMEs through the lens of three different stakeholders, namely SMEs as em- ployers, young talents as employees of SMEs, and HEIs as developers of employable talent for SMEs. With the intention of extending the existing body of theoretical knowledge on one hand and informing practice on the other, the five articles comprising this issue consider TM from these different per- spectives and offer various recommendations. In capturing diverse views, we highlight the contem- porary characteristics of the employment relation- ship. The collection of articles in this issue draws fromempiricalandtheoreticalresearchcoveringthe current state of HRM in SMEs, entrepreneurial ca- reers, psychological contract expectations, socializ- ation processes and entrepreneurial education. Articles offer novel insights into employer- employee-higher education relationships and provide evidence-based recommendations for HR practitionersandleadersinSMEs.Thepracticesand examples offered herein could serve as a spring- board to inspire practical and innovative tools that form part of SMEs’ own TM toolkit. The papers in this issue Recognizing the importance of understanding SMEsasthecontextforTM,thefirstarticlebyHarney adoptsamacro(organizational)levelperspectiveon TMasapartofwiderhumanresourcemanagement (HRM) systems. Itusefully presentsacriticalreview ofHRMinSMEs,appealingfordefinitionalclarityon both counts. Specifically, this article evaluates four key theoretical frames of reference in HRM: univer- salism, best fit and cultural and ecological theories, especially when applied to younger workers. The paper demonstrates differing interpretations of the conceptualization, role and value of HRM in the context of SMEs and points the way for future researchintoTMinSMEs. The second article, authored by Mihelic, Bailey, Brückner, Postuła andZupan, combines both macro and individual level analysis into TM exploration in SMEs. It adopts a multi perspective to investigate the psychological contracts between young pro- fessionals and their employers in European SMEs from four countries: Ireland, Poland, Slovenia and the UK. Through a qualitative research design, au- thors identify the contemporary expectations of employers as well as young employees in terms of competence,performance-enhancingbehaviour,job characteristics and support systems, helping both sides to understand the other better, updating our knowledge of this important area and advancing it further into the SME domain. Inthethirdarticle,MeglichandThomasdealwith a particular TM practice, namely the onboarding process of new employees. They explore the topic from a fresh perspective, focusing on the phenom- enon of hazing, which comprises purposeful de- mands placed on new employees beyond the scope oftheirjob.Atwo-studydesignusingsamplesofUS employees shows the types of workplace hazing demands, the prevalence of hazing and the conse- quences of hazing in terms of strain, turnover and work engagement. This can have particular rele- vance for SMEs, where job roles are typically less well-defined. Thelasttwoarticlesdelveintoentrepreneurialism as a key component of SME's success. That by Balas Rant,Dziewanowska,PetrylaiteandPearceexplores European young talent's motivational drives for pursuing an entrepreneurial career, including in ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS REVIEW 2021;23:68e71 69 SME. Through an analysis of in-depth individual interviews conducted in three countries, personal, socialandinstitutionalfactorsarerevealedtoattract and deter young people in their career choices at micro, mezzo and macro levels. Finally, a three-year, multidisciplinary investiga- tion into the suitability of entrepreneurial education for SMEs by Valencia, Humble, Doyle, and Skoumpopolou explores the current state of entre- preneurial education against the backdrop of the European Commission's strategic plan for growth which identifies entrepreneurship as an essential educational focus to rejuvenate the SME sector. Authors investigate the best practices for entrepre- neurial education based on a wide range of data gathered through knowledge-exchange events held in five countries. The paper identifies optimum conditions for HEI/SME collaboration and outlines future challenges and opportunities for universities. Conclusions Asdemonstratedbythefivearticlesinthisthematic issue, TM in SMEs is a multi-faceted phenomenon whichcallsforadeeperunderstandingofcontextand different stakeholders’ interests and objectives. As muchasparticularTMpracticesinSMEsmatter,itis equallyimportantwhatkindoftalenttheyareableto attractinthefirstplace.Thismeansnotonlyinterms of competences (including entrepreneurialism) but also regarding their expectations, especially when it comes to talented young professionals who nowa- days have multiple employment options. After acquisition,properonboardingandmanagingyoung talent, taking into account their needs and expecta- tions becomes of paramount importance. Acknowl- edgingtheTMchallengesfacedbySMEs,weneeda better knowledge of how employers, current and future youngemployees (talent) andeducationalin- stitutions can work together to enhance the oppor- tunity of each party to thrive in the increasingly competitiveanduncertainworld.Wehopethatarti- cles in this issue help you better understand TM in SMEsandcraftyourpoliciesandactionsaccordingly. In preparing this thematic issue, we gratefully acknowledge the support of our colleagues and friends. We are indebted to Matic Bradac for administrative assistance and managing all the stages of the review process. We thank Tomaz Ulcakar for his continuous support during the editorial process. We are grateful to Professor Tjasa Redek, the Editor of EBR at the time, for the op- portunity to serve as guest editors. Finally, we would liketoacknowledge the authors of allarticles for their work during the pandemic lockdowns and efforts invested in conceptualizing, researching and writing up articles that advance our current under- standing of talent management. We hope that, whether a scholar or practitioner, youwillfindthecontentsofthisissueinsightfuland inspiring for your future HR endeavours. Katarina K. Mihelic, Alison Pearce and Nada Zupan Guest Editors Conflict of interest statement The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. References Bj€ orkman,I.,Ehrnrooth,M.,M€ akel€ a,K.,Smale,A.,&Sumelius,J. (2017). Talent management in multinational corporations. In David G. Collings, Kamel Mellahi, & Wayne F. Cascio (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of talent management (pp. 461e477). Ox- ford: Oxford University Press. Cappelli, P., & Keller, J. (2017). The historical context of talent management. In David G. Collings, Kamel Mellahi, & Wayne F. 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