Identification of Factors Influencing the Success of Talent Management in Public Organizations Based on the Civil Service Management Law and the Managerial Experiences of the Islamic Republic of Iran: A Thematic Analysis

Abstract

This study aimed to identify and explain the factors influencing successful talent management in public-sector organizations, with particular emphasis on the requirements of the Civil Service Management Law and the managerial experiences of the Islamic Republic of Iran. This developmental study adopted a qualitative, interpretive–inductive design using thematic analysis. The participants comprised academic experts, faculty members, and specialists with expertise in human resource and talent management who were selected through purposive–judgmental sampling. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews together with the review of relevant documents and sources, and data saturation was reached after 15 interviews. The data were analyzed according to Braun and Clarke’s six-phase thematic analysis procedure, including familiarization with the data, generation of initial codes, searching for themes, reviewing themes, defining and naming themes, and producing the report. Coding stability was also examined through recoding after a 15-day interval, yielding a test–retest reliability coefficient of 79%. The analysis indicated that successful talent management in public organizations emerges from the interaction of three interdependent levels: intra-organizational, extra-organizational, and individual factors. At the intra-organizational level, talent identification, recruitment, selection, development, deployment, and retention interact with leadership, organizational culture, succession management, organizational justice, performance appraisal, employee empowerment, and organizational strategy. At the extra-organizational level, labor laws and regulations, political and cultural conditions, labor-market characteristics, technological growth and digitalization, and changes in the competitive environment shape the effectiveness of talent-management practices. At the individual level, achievement motivation, commitment, adaptability, creativity, discipline, work orientation, and personal and behavioral characteristics determine the extent to which talent can be translated into superior performance. Overall, the resulting framework conceptualizes successful talent management as a multilevel outcome of the dynamic interaction among the individual, the organization, and the institutional environment. Effective talent management in the public sector requires an integrated multilevel approach in which human resource processes are aligned with meritocracy, organizational justice, strategic priorities, statutory requirements, and technological transformation. The proposed framework provides a context-sensitive basis for designing, implementing, and evaluating talent-management policies in Iranian public organizations.