Global Trends in Employee Retention Research: A Bibliometric and Network Analysis

Employee retention has become a critical focus in recent years, as the costs associated with employee turnover and the recruitment of new hires often exceed those of retaining existing staff. Furthermore, high turnover rates can jeopardize an organization’s stability and growth. Numerous studies in scientific literature have explored the topic of employee retention, either by analyzing the factors driving employee departure or by proposing strategies to enhance retention efforts. Additionally, research has examined employee retention in relation to various factors such as compensation, leadership, employee voice, communication, career development, training, job flexibility, and job satisfaction. Nevertheless, a series of bibliometric papers have been identified in the scientific literature that deal with the employee retention subject, but on specific issues such as isolating the scientific papers for a specific country, employment area or more specific themes under the employee retention umbrella. In this context, the present study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the field of employee retention through a bibliometric analysis. The objective is to identify key research themes, commonly used n-grams in literature, prolific authors and journals, and patterns of international collaboration. To achieve this, a dataset was compiled using specific keywords. The analysis reveals an annual growth rate of 11.9%, underscoring the increasing interest of researchers in this area. The findings of this study are valuable for researchers seeking to contribute to the field, as they highlight key trends and elements specific to employee retention research.