The influence of leadership on strategic flexibility and business performance: the mediating role of talent management
ISSN: 0025-1747
Article publication date: 27 May 2022
Issue publication date: 30 August 2022
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to determine whether leadership affects strategic flexibility and business performance taking into consideration the mediating role of talent management in these relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
The proposed framework is tested by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and finally structural equation modeling (SEM), using the survey data from 462 Greek firms. The mediation effect of talent management was tested by the Sobel test.
Findings
The results show that leadership drives firms to strategic flexibility and business performance, but the introduction of talent management fully mediates these relationships. Strategic flexibility also affects business performance positively.
Research limitations/implications
This study explores a formal style of leadership; many leadership styles remain unexplored. The field of talent management is in urgent need of more empirical research to explain its importance and how talent management is handled in the 21st-century.
Practical implications
This study proves that managers should invest more in talent management; outstanding talent can be leveraged to implement the best operational practices while managers' motivation for talent management contributes to a deeper anchoring of strategic flexibility and performance efforts in firms.
Originality/value
The current state of knowledge of both theory and practice for critical organizational factors such as strategic flexibility and talent management will be extended.
Keywords
Citation
Kafetzopoulos, D., Psomas, E. and Bouranta, N. (2022), "The influence of leadership on strategic flexibility and business performance: the mediating role of talent management", Management Decision, Vol. 60 No. 9, pp. 2532-2551. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-10-2021-1310
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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