The effect of leadership style on talent retention during Merger and Acquisition integration: evidence from China

Leadership and talent retention are critical HR-related components in post-merger and acquisition (M&A) integration, but the extent to which these factors interact with each other and eventually contribute to the success of post-M&A integration is under-explored. The present study investigates the effect of leadership styles on talent retention strategies and on the effectiveness of post-M&A integration in a Chinese context. Based on in-depth examination of an M&A case study, we propose that an authoritative, coaching, task-focused and relationship-focused approach has a positive influence on talent retention and effective post-M&A integration in a Chinese context. As far as talent retention strategies are concerned, authoritative leaders use communication, whereas leaders adopting a coaching style use an incentive structure to positively influence talent retention. Furthermore, task-focused leaders use position and performance in order to identify and retain talented employees. By contrast, relationship-focused leaders emphasize the guanxi network, communication and an incentive structure in their strategies of talent retention.