Encyclopedia of Electronic HRM

Tanya Bondarouk, Sandra Fisher, Tanya Bondarouk, Sandra Fisher

• Publisher: De Gruyter Oldenbourg
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9783110991666
• eBook ISBN: 9783110629989
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Gestione delle risorse umane
• Index: Business

The Encyclopedia of Electronic HRM is a comprehensive research-based reference resource with entries on core e-HRM areas, key concepts, and leading technologies. From electronic selection to HR analytics, from e-HRM implementation to HRIS cultural differences - each entry reflects the views of an expert in the field. Each entry provides a list of references and recommended further reading to enable the reader to gain a deeper awareness and understanding of each topic. The book formalizes the best knowledge in the field. It will inform and connect the different topics and scholars from the multiple disciplines who conduct research on e-HRM.

Who should read this book? Academic Researchers, including doctoral students, will appreciate the insightful (and occasionally provocative) guidance on future research opportunities. Practitioners will be able to quickly see the research evidence on e-HRM practices and tools, helping them make the business case for adopting technology. Students can use the individual entries as a quick but thorough introduction to a topic, particularly in master's level courses.

Part 1: Basics of e-HRM

Strategic Electronic Human Resource Management

Julio Canedo

University of Houston Downtown, Management, One, Main St, 77002, Houston, TX, USA

The field of Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) is developing compared to other well-established areas of management research (e.g., organizational strategy, organizational behavior, information systems). The idea of human resource management (HRM) as a potential source of competitive advantage and, as a consequence, a strategic organizational player was introduced to scholarly research in the 1990s (see, for example, Wright & Snell, 1991; Wright & McMahan, 1992; Snell, Youndt, & Wright, 1996). The study of electronic forms of HRM (e-HRM) is an even more recent development (see Bondarouk, Parry, & Furtmueller, 2017; Stone, Deadrick, Lukaszewski, & Johnson, 2015), and includes e-recruiting, e-selection, e-training, e-learning, and e-performance management. Given Strategic e-HRM (SeHRM) is in its infancy, it has received limited attention from scholars and even more limited empirical evidence (e.g., Marler & Fisher, 2013). This entry (1) defines SeHRM, (2) examines relevant findings in the topic, and (3) discusses its future.

Definitions

Electronic Human Resource Management (e-HRM): “an umbrella term covering all possible integration mechanisms and contents between HRM and Information Technologies aiming at creating value within and across organizations for targeted employees and management.” (Bondarouk & Ruël, 2009, p. 507).

Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS): information systems “used to acquire, store, manipulate, analyze, retrieve, and distribute information regarding an organization’s human resources to support HRM and managerial decisions” (Kavanagh, Thite, & Johnson, 2015, p. 17).

Strategic Electronic Human Resource Management (SeHRM): synergic e-HRM and HRIS intended to align the contributions of all incumbents to organizational strategies.

Conceptualization

The idea of e-HRM as a potential strategic organizational contributor has been in the literature for about a decade. Marler (2009) argued that e-HRM has the capability to be strategic, but that very rarely is it to create competitive advantage. She proposed a model in which e-HRM can deliver three different outcomes by playing three different roles:

1. Cost savings, if the HR function is not considered strategic. Role: Administrative expert.
2. Strategic alignment, if the HR function is considered strategic, but not a source of competitive advantage. Role: Strategic partner.
3. The development of human capital and dynamic capabilities, if the HR function is considered strategic and a source of competitive advantage. Role: Capability builder.

One problem with SHRM lies in its own conception. This entry includes a definition, but the term is so slippery that many others can be found. This elusiveness is, in part, due to the wide scope, levels, variables, and lenses that can be used in analyzing the phenomenon. In a recent publication, Lengnick-Hall, Lengnick-Hall, and McIver (2019) highlighted two characteristics of SHRM that set it apart from traditional HRM. They argue that HRM practices are strategic when they are aligned with the strategic intent and interrelated with one another as opposed to isolated. A number of factors determine the meaning of SHRM; each of these factors can take on a number attributes (Lengnick-Hall et al., 2019):

1. Focus: Corporate or business unit.
2. Level: HR philosophy, HR policies, HR programs, HR practices, or HR climate.
3. Fit and flexibility: External/vertical fit, internal/horizontal fit, resource flexibility, or coordination flexibility.
4. International scope.
5. Theoretical foundation: Resource-based view (Barney, 1991), human capital theory (Becker, 1964), or social exchange theory (Emerson, 1976).

What We Have Learned

Marler and Fisher (2013) reviewed 40 studies published from 1999 to 2011 to assess the relations between e-HRM and SHRM. They found no empirical evidence that e-HRM predicts strategic outcomes and concluded that there is a need for theoretical and empirical research in this area. Later, these researchers stated that the value that e-HRM adds to organizations continues to be unclear, not meaning that e-HRM does not add value, but recognizing that we have not produced evidence-based research to support this assertion (Marler & Fisher, 2016).

After reviewing four decades of empirical research in e-HRM, Bondarouk et al. (2017), identified three factors affecting the adoption of e-HRM: Technology, organization, and people. In addition, they classified consequences as operational, relational, and transformational. In this review, Bondarouk et al. (2017) found that the goals of e-HRM have changed from efficiency to strategy and that research has shifted its focus from operational to relational and transformational. Before we move to produce empirical research, they argue, we need more theory development. In particular, they recommend a multi-functional, multi-level approach.

The ultimate goal of SeHRM is to align individual contributions to the organization’s strategic intent. In practice, this can be most easily thought of as the implementation of comprehensive e-HRM systems (i.e., HRIS solutions similar to SAP Successfactors or BambooHR). Very limited empirical research supports a positive relation between the adoption of HRIS and organizational performance (e.g., Qaisar, Shahzad, & Arif, 2018). We know implementation of e-HRM systems can lead to outcomes that many organizations would consider strategic: reduction in costs, improved communication, information and knowledge sharing, efficiency, flexibility, employee participation, enhancement of decision making, increases in organizational citizenship behaviors, trust, readiness, alignment, attainment of strategic organizational goals, retention, performance, etc. (Bondarouk & Brewster, 2016; Burbach, 2019). There are, however, a number of potentially negative consequences of poor implementations: work stress, disappointment with technological properties, frustration, lack of trust, isolation, loss of intellectual capital (due to people being let go), resistance to change, privacy concerns, financial losses, etc. (Bondarouk & Brewster, 2016; Burbach, 2019).

The absence of business drivers in the decision making process, of course, prevents strategic impact and causes e-HRM initiatives to focus on preventing dissatisfaction (Schalk, Timmerman, & van den Heuvel, 2012). The phenomenon is so complex that characteristics that, in other circumstances, would be considered superfluous, like aesthetics (interface design) can cause undesired results in the implementation of e-HRM systems (Johnson, Lukaszewski, & Stone, 2017). In addition, some factors affecting the adoption of e-HRM are beyond organizational control. For example, global, legal, political, and economic forces, regulations, headquarters’ influence, availability of resources, the presence of unions, and demands from the community (Bondarouk & Brewster, 2016; Bondarouk, Schilling, & Ruël, 2016).

The Future

In an increasingly online working environment where automation, artificial intelligence, alternative work arrangements, the internet of things, big data, and other technological trends, the digital employee experience will only continue to grow (Canedo, Graen, Grace, & Johnson, 2017; Lengnick-Hall et al., 2019). This warrants a growing use of HRIS and e-HRM experiences. Organizations will continue to adopt and adapt technologies to give their incumbents online services and allow them to use these technologies to deliver their work. Researchers and practitioners need to engage in studying and understanding these phenomena to disentangle their strategic contribution. The main questions remain:

1. Do e-HRM services contribute to the organization’s strategic intent?
2. Are there some e-HRM services that have greater strategic contribution compared to others?
3. How can organizations ensure they will have strategic achievements by implementing e-HRM initiatives?
4. Can e-HRM be the source of competitive advantage?

As usual, differences exist in the interests and motivators between researchers and practitioners (academia and organizations). Having in front of us a topic as elusive and novel as the strategic impact of e-HRM, we c...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Sandra L. Fisher and Tanya Bondarouk Introduction
• Part 1: Basics of e-HRM
• Part 2: Context of e-HRM
• Part 3: Organizational Issues in e-HRM
• Part 4: Theoretical Viewpoints
• Part 5: Social Issues of e-HRM
• Part 6: Functional Areas of e-HRM
• Part 7: Serving Different Audiences
• Part 8: Technical Issues in e-HRM
• Index