Introduction

As it is with most management innovations, the literature on organisational talent management (TM) takes a largely mainstream, managerialist approach to explaining how and why organisations pursue TM and to understanding the effects that TM has on people and organisations. The field, however, rests on a number of core assumptions that are seldom questioned. Firstly, that the talented exist as a separate and identifiable organisational community. Secondly, that talented people can be identified with some reliability. Thirdly, that talent is scarce. Fourthly, that harnessing talent in the pursuit of excellence supports competitive advantage (Collings, Mellahi, & Cascio, 2019; Meyers, 2019).