Recruitment and Retention Across Cultures

Abstract

The flow of human capital into and out of organizations is a crucial aspect of organizational functioning. Recruitment is the primary mechanism for attracting human capital to the organization, whereas retention involves keeping desired employees in the fold once they are employed. Although extensive research explores and informs recruitment and retention, the bulk of the theory and research in major organizational psychology and organizational behavior journals adopts a US-centric perspective. This narrow perspective may be misleading, particularly in an increasingly globalized work context. We systematically analyze studies on the flow of people into and out of organizations in a variety of cultural contexts and especially in organizations managing talent across national borders. In so doing, we seek to create a coherent platform for future research by identifying key themes in the literature and using these themes to summarize what we know and indicate where we need to go in studying recruitment and retention across cultures.