Purpose This paper examines antecedents to perceived injustice in exclusive talent identification practices. Design/methodology/approach 31 in-depth interviews with individuals working in for-profit organizations in France were conducted and analyzed. Interviewees represented a variety of sectors such as transportation, aerospace, energy and telecommunications. Findings The use of exclusivity in talent identification influences perceived organizational justice through ambiguous advancement policies, support from hidden networks, lack of diversity in the talent identification process, frequent gender discrimination, and premature labeling of talent. These practices suggest breaches in procedural, distributive and interactional justice by allocating advantages to some employees over others. Exclusivity yielded frustration, jealousy and potential retaliatory behavior against those individuals deemed to be unfairly identified as talent. Practical implications The challenge of ensuring fair and equitable talent identification is a growing issue for organizations. For managers, it requires paying close attention to how some forms of exclusivity in talent identification may create unfair treatment of employees. Originality/value While organizational justice research focuses on the background and practices that promote justice, our research finds its originality in examining the sentiments of injustice that remain contextual, subjective and comparative.