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.