Abstract:
The present study is primarily aimed to develop and retain talented employees of Gen Y cohort.
This study initially examined the talent development literature to identify the enablers of Gen Y
competency development otherwise termed as talent development. In this vein, four enablers
were identified namely: mentoring, strategic leadership, knowledge sharing, and social media.
Based on social exchange approach, social constructivist theory, and theory of reasoned action
a conceptual framework was proposed, representing the hypothesized relationships.
Primary data were collected using a cross-sectional survey from 315 Indian Gen Y employees
(born in the years from 1980-2000) working in 38 IT organizations located in Delhi/NCR and
Bengaluru regions. Data were analyzed by using SPSS and AMOS software packages. A selfdeveloped
scale was used to measure study variables. It is followed by exploratory factor
analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to obtain the factor structure. The
hypothesized relationship of the conceptual framework was tested through structural equation
modeling (SEM).
Findings reveal that mentoring, knowledge sharing, and social media have a positive
relationship with Gen Y employees’ competency development. Competency development, in
turn, has a positive effect on affective commitment and employee engagement. In addition,
affective commitment and employee engagement were also found to be positively related to
intention to stay forth. However, strategic leadership was not found to be significantly related
to competency development. Overall the study findings demonstrate that competency
development is important to evoke Gen Y employees’ intention to stay. Also, competency
development results in an engaged and emotionally committed Gen Y workforce. Therefore,
organizations must focus on talent developmental initiatives to spur positive work attitudes of
Gen Y employees. Further, the study findings provide organizations the strategies to engage
and retain Gen Y employees.
