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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.

The purpose of the present study was to describe the high potential identification practices of Canadian organizations and to assess elements of these practices as they relate to managers' perceptions of organizational justice.

The study reviewed the literature on high potential identification practices and organizational justice to develop a survey for managers attending a leadership conference. Distributive and procedural justice was regressed against the elements of these programs (e.g. the extent of manager input into the program, the openness of communications) to determine the impact of program elements on justice outcomes.

The paper reveals that approximately one‐third (38 percent) of companies reported having a high potential identification program. High potential was most often defined in specific organizational terms based on competencies. Typically, information used to identify these individuals was based on: personal experience with the person, performance appraisals and past performance or results. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses (n=123) indicated that high potential identification programs containing manager input, open communication and formal program evaluation significantly predicted procedural justice. None of the predictions for distributive justice were significant.

This study is the first to empirically investigate the impact of high potential identification practices on managers' perceptions of organizational justice in North America. Manager's justice perceptions reflect an important criterion to evaluate high potential identification programs. The current study found that manager's perceptions of procedural justice were higher when they had more input into the development of the program, when the communication strategy was more open, and the program was evaluated. Despite these important elements, many organizations do not incorporate them into their programs, which have implications for their success.