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This study aims to provide a systematic literature review (SLR) of extant research on talent management (TM) in hospitality and tourism (H&T). The objectives are first, to offer an empirical mapping analysis of TM research in H&T; second, to identify and discuss key research topics; and third, to recommend avenues for future research.

The authors conducted a SLR of TM literature in the context of H&T by analysing peer-reviewed papers published between January 2000 and October 2020. Following the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis process, three independent coders undertook a content analysis of 74 papers for the SLR.

The authors found that TM in H&T offers contextualised evidence consistent on five key research topics: TM practices; conceptualisation of talent and TM; TM antecedents and outcomes; key TM stakeholders; and talent education and graduate careers. The analysis indicated that most studies are qualitative, focussed on Europe and North America and that primarily examine hotels. The small number of TM studies in H&T along with the lack of strong theoretical groundings show that the field is at the early stages of the growing stage, yet the sharp increase demonstrates an exponential growth in interest.

This study highlights the importance of TM and indicates that businesses in the sector need to reconsider the definition of talent, their approaches to TM and the bundling of TM practices to improve their effectiveness. It also calls for partnerships among the industry’s key stakeholders and a revisiting of agendas for educators.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that offers a holistic examination of research on a wide range of TM topics within various H&T sectors over the past 20 years. It clarifies the conceptualisation of talent and TM in this field and provides insights, as well as context-specific evidence on the management of H&T talent. This study is the first to argue that the research stream is moving towards a growth stage and offers recommendations on advancing the field.

This paper aims to further the understanding about the relationship between work–life conflict and possible barriers to career progression due to the perception of anticipated work–life conflict, considering the unbounded nature of academic work through features such as its intensity, flexibility and perception of organizational support.

The model was tested using survey data from academics in a public university in the south of Spain. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses.

The results reveal that current work–life conflict, job intensity and perception of support have a direct effect on the anticipation of work–life conflict in the event of progression in academic careers. The flexibility that academics enjoy is not sufficient to prevent the expected conflict. Academics' age is relevant, but gender or having childcare responsibilities have no significant effect of the anticipation of conflict.

This study addresses the gap in the literature on anticipated work–life conflict, expanding the focus to nonfamily commitments in unbounded jobs such as academic posts. The authors are not aware of any other study that focuses on the anticipation of work–life conflict in the case of career advancement among current employees with professional experience or accurate knowledge of what job they will be doing instead of students. Work–life balance should not be restricted to women with caring responsibilities, as conflict is no longer only related to gender roles.

This paper not only explores existing work–life conflict but also empirically analyzes anticipated work–life conflict in unbounded careers such as academia. It represents a significant contribution in an underresearched field and may lead to future research in other settings.

This paper has been produced as part of a research project that seeks to generate knowledge about the process of implementation of Activity Based Management (ABM). Implementation is identified as important by Robin Cooper, (Cooper, 1996) thus “the focus of research must broaden to include studies of the problems associated with implementing new cost management techniques”. The project is informed by the research literature addressing cooperation between practitioners and academics, (for example Kaplan, 1994; Scapens 1980, 1994; Spicer, 1992). Our aim in this paper is to meet the objective attributed to Ken Merchant (Drysdale, 1996) “it is the role of the researcher to go to managers and determine what their problems are, and to help managers articulate these”. It also takes account of the preceding research into activity based techniques, including recent work funded by CIMA (Friedman & Lyne, 1995; Innes and Mitchell, 1995). Friedman & Lyne found that the consequences of implementing these techniques were significant for management accountants, and had far reaching organisational consequences.

This study was designed to provide insights into how barriers to small‐ to medium‐sized enterprises’ (SMEs’) participation can be addressed by training providers by examining evidence from a training programme offered over a period of 21 months. Previous research findings identifying influences on SME participation in training have been used as an analytical framework to examine an experience of training design and delivery in practice. Discussion and analysis of project data within the framework above identifies support for some of the relationships between SME participation and these influences. SMEs have taken up the training, participation grew over time, and positive feedback was received. More respondents reported an intention to participate in future training than had taken part in prior training. It therefore seems that the approach taken has been successful in overcoming barriers to SME participation. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the findings for learning approaches that promote SME take up.

Purpose – The chapter provides a review of the debates about the discipline of public administration and public management as art, craft, and science. Thus, the chapter includes a conceptualization of public administration and a discussion of public administration and public management research, scholarship, and practice. The review of the discipline includes a historical perspective and contemporary debates of public administration, new public management (NPM), public sector management, and governance in order to discuss the future trajectories and trends of the discipline.

Design/Methodology/Approach – A range of historical, seminal, and recently published scholarly works are reviewed and discussed, including also an analysis based on primary and secondary research of journal databases, conference proceedings, academic schools, and websites relevant to the discipline.

Findings – The study of government in various guises – whether public administration, public management, governance, public policy – will continue to develop, evolve, and fascinate scholars and practitioners. There will be a continued interest and study of the business of government with three possible trends: (1) a narrow focus on technocratic, managerial approaches in an attempt to provide solutions for more effective and efficient government; (2) a multidisciplinary approach to addressing complex social problems or “wicked policy” problems across narrow specialized interests for “greater principles” of society; and (3) methodological pluralism in the study of government, which may add to the depth or fragmentation of the discipline.

Research limitations/Implications – The research is limited to a review with some primary and secondary research. It provides scholars and practitioners with the conceptualization of public administration, public management and governance. The chapter provides a critical perspective of the state of research and scholarship with an argument that academics need to move beyond parochial debates within the discipline and provide practitioners with empirically based solutions to increasingly complex social and “wicked policy” problems.

Practical implications – This chapter provides scholars, students, and practitioners with (1) a conceptual understanding of public administration, public management, NPM and governance; (2) a historical and contemporary perspective of the discipline; and (3) a critical perspective of research and scholarship that will provide a debate on the state of discipline.

Originality/Value – The chapter is a synthesis and review of the discipline in terms of research and scholarship drawing upon international perspectives to provide a critical debate for scholars and practitioners.

Reform of local political management continues to be part of the international agenda for change as governments seek to create the conditions for better performance in local government. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of changes in political management upon the performance of local government, with England as a case study, and the implications for local government reform elsewhere.

Using statistical data derived from the system of comprehensive performance assessment (CPA), the analysis uses Kendall's tau to correlate CPA score per local authority against the respective political governance arrangement of each local authority in England.

As the correlation coefficient did not reach the level of statistical significance, the principal finding is that the relationship between different political governance arrangements and local authorities' performance is not demonstrated. The implications of this for governments' reforms of political management are discussed.

The data are based upon English sources and point to the importance of conducting comparable analysis in other societies that have undergone similar changes in local political management.

In instituting reforms of local governance, governments rarely pay serious attention to measurable outcomes and the paper suggests the value in so doing.

The specific relationship between local political management and performance has not previously been measured in precisely this way.

The management of human resources is of crucial importance in enabling the delivery of efficient and effective services. The purpose of this paper is to explore one issue relevant to Human Resource Management, that is, the management of hospital doctors in the NHS. The present‐day UK National Health Service faces countless challenges at both the macro and operational level.

The paper examines the implications for the NHS in general, and the medical profession in particular, of the continued dominance of the medical profession over the career management of hospital doctors.

The paper argues that HRM must play a pivotal role in the management of clinicians to ensure the effective and efficient delivery of NHS reforms. The challenges to HRM and the medical profession that are inherent in this process are outlined.

It is argued that the potential long‐term gains to be derived from the development of closer working relationships between human resource managers and medical managers are crucial for the delivery of an effective health service.

A new and innovative way of looking at the management of doctors and their careers within a changing NHS.

There is a central theme to this collection of essays and reflections, which is that we are in a period of profound and significant change. And whilst some elements of this period of change derive from the instability of the financial and banking sectors, there is a more important set of changes taking place. We think that these changes open the possibility of imagining an alternative to the market-based relationships of the past 30 years. We have characterised these relationships as ones which reflect the dominant ideology of neo-liberalism and that within advanced capitalist economies these relationships have determined social, welfare and public policy decisions. And a key part of this has been the dominance of a different discourse on the nature of civil society, the relationship between the individual, the market and the state, and that, as a consequence, the role of public agencies and institutions as a crude welfare safety net has been undermined over time. The crash of 2008, we suggest, had a profoundly destabilising impact on this social/political settlement. It appears to have accelerated the rush towards market-led solutions and the retreat of the ‘public’ from within public conversation.

There is an important intellectual and conceptual challenge for many of us working across the broad field of public sector management. Part of this challenge stems from the observation that there are three connected but separate profound policy and political changes taking place. Firstly, there is the impact of neo-liberalism as an ideological project and as a model(s) of managing national economies and social and welfare policy. We recognise that there are competing definitions of neo-liberalism and that we need to be careful about over-generalising its effect and its coherence. But, it does seem to us that by taking a longer term view we can see how the language and ideas of the primacy of markets and, in particular, markets in social and welfare policy have become dominant. This is not to say that in some places there is no resistance to these ideas and we can observe in the European Union how for a long time there was very explicit resistance to the ideas of the New Right. But the desire to weaken the role of the state as funder and provider of welfare services and the emergence of a counterview that markets and the privatisation of the welfare sector is the most appropriate choice is a demonstration of an ideological shift.