Talent management (TM) is underdeveloped and TM recognition is unclear in the context of Chinese private‐owned enterprises (POEs). As talent definition is the basis of TM practices, the purpose of this paper is to explore talent definition and TM recognition in the context of Chinese real estate POEs, in order to explore how Chinese cultural context and POEs' characteristics influence talent definition and TM recognition.
In total, 27 semi‐structured interviews were conducted in three case study companies.
Based on qualitative analysis, the paper finds talent definition is influenced by the important Chinese cultural factor “guanxi” and is quite different from existing Western TM literature. TM recognition is also influenced by the Chinese POEs' operation characteristics.
The paper finds a new talent definition criterion, “guanxi”, and identifies TM recognition in the context of Chinese POEs. The paper thus contributes to TM literature in China.
