Development and retention of Generation Y employees : a conceptual framework

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework of development, commitment, and retention of Generation Y employees. Design/methodology/approach: Based on a review of existing literature and using social exchange and social constructivist approach, this study presents a conceptual framework with mentoring, strategic leadership, social media, and knowledge sharing as its key constructs to retain Generation Y employees. Findings: Mentoring, strategic leadership, social media, and knowledge sharing have a great potential to foster competency development. Competency development is critical to evoke affective commitment of Generation Y employees, which in turn results in intention to stay forth. Research limitations/implications: The proposed conceptual framework should be empirically validated in the future research. Practical implications: Organisations should incorporate mentoring, strategic leadership, social media, and knowledge sharing into their talent management strategy for Generation Y employees. Competency development then in turn evokes commitment of Generation Y employees, leading to intention to stay forth. The framework suggests an approach for generation-specific retention strategy. Originality/value: This is one of the first studies to propose a holistic framework to retain Generation Y employees. This paper adds a new dimension to the talent management literature by focusing on young generation employees.