High potential identification policies: an empirical study among Belgian companies

This paper describes elements of the policies employed for identifying high potentials in their organizational context. A set of systematic research questions has been used to conceive a structured questionnaire to empirically investigate the kind of high potential competencies that companies expect when identifying high potentials and how this identification takes place. These elements of a high potential policy have been related to a number of organizational variables in 86 Belgian companies. Our empirical results indicate that the extent to which attention is paid to high potentials is linked to certain organizational characteristics (size and degree of internationalization). Moreover, the use of well‐defined competencies is not widely spread. We found ample confirmation for the identification of high potentials being a rather hierarchical process. Performance appraisals and a specific potential assessment procedure are the most popular sources of information during the identification process.