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e-HRM Research and Practice: Facing the Challenges Ahead

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Book cover Handbook of Strategic e-Business Management

Part of the book series: Progress in IS ((PROIS))

Abstract

The history of e-HRM research extends back about 4 decades. In that time, researchers have provided a rich foundation for a better understanding of issues such as e-HRM implementation, e-HRM usage, and e-HRM outcomes. The past decade in particular saw an impressive growth of publications, but more work is still needed because the field of the intersection of HRM and information technology is dynamic: HRM strategies, policies, practices and instruments as well as information technologies progress. In this chapter, we identify and describe the challenges that lie ahead for e-HRM research based on five earlier publications in the period 2009–2012. We reflect on them and modify them based on recent research outcomes. We conclude that, given the sizeable challenges identified, e-HRM research is far from ‘dead’; it is more alive than ever. Furthermore, the number of e-HRM researchers from the HRM field as well as from the IT field needs to grow in order to meet the research challenges that lie ahead.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Windesheim University of Applied Science, Zwolle, The Netherlands

    Huub Ruël

  2. University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands

    Tanya Bondarouk

Authors
  1. Huub Ruël
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  2. Tanya Bondarouk
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Huub Ruël .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Business Administration, University of Granada, Granada, Spain

    Francisco J. Martínez-López

Appendix

Appendix

An integrative IT-organization perspective on e-HRM with recent studies

Phenomena

Research questions for e-HRM/HRIS resulting from this phenomena

Recent research dealing with this

The automation of tasks and processes and HRIS

• How do employees and line managers respond to this transfer of HR-related activities?

Ruël et al. (2004)

Broderick and Boudreau (1991)

• How do organizations cope with the new division of HR-related tasks between employees themselves, line managers, IS department, and HR staff?

Heikkilä and Smale (2011), Voermans and Van Veldhoven (2007)

The costs of IT: expansion and control

• To what extent are HRIS implementations a consequence of a period of expansion?

Buckley et al. (2004)

• What happens to HRIS implementations in periods of control?

• Who are the main sponsors of HRIS investments and how do different types of sponsors affect HRIS implementation?

• How does HRIS use affect productivity or the return on investment of HRISs?

New forms of managerial control

• How do managers use the new possibilities for managerial control?

Beulen (2009), Agarwal et al. (2006)

• How can an organizational culture be matched with specific control habits and the control mechanisms and tool available?

• What kind of coping strategies do subordinates employ with HRIS-based managerial tools?

• To what extent are organizations more self-aware by using more and more HRIS tools?

Compression of competitive time

• To what extent do HRISs contribute to organizational flexibility?

Withers and Ebrahimpour (2000), Kovach et al. (2002)

• How can HRISs facilitate a flexible business strategy?

• How can HRISs be used to create a competitive advantage?

• How is competence-based management being impacted by HRISs?

Outsourcing

• What are the consequences of outsourcing for HRIS effectiveness?

Dibbern et al. (2004)

• To what extent do managers and employees trust outsourced HR services?

• How can internal, outsourced HR services and the deployment of HRIS applications be balanced?

Convergence of info-com

• How does convergence of HRISs impact HR professionals’ roles and activities?

Bell et al. (2006)

Martinsons and Chong (1999)

• What organizational needs trigger further convergence of IT for HR purposes?

• How does the use of HRISs by managers and employees influence convergence of HRISs?

Organizational knowledge as a competitive pressure

• How can HRISs support organizational knowledge development, sharing, and maintenance?

Ruta (2009), Hustad and Munkvold (2005)

• What are the mechanisms through which HRISs facilitate or inhibit organizational knowledge development?

• How do employees integrate HRIS-supported strategic alignment?

• What roles should HR professionals, employees, and managers fulfil in an HRIS-supported aligned company?

Organizational change orientation

• What are the conditions for successful HRIS-supported organizational change?

Svoboda and Schröder (2001), Wilson-Evered and Härtel (2009)

• How can different types of organizational change be supported with HRISs?

• How can HRISs help to overcome resistance to organizational change?

Integration of the IT function with other business functions

• How can the IT function be successfully integrated with the HR function?

Tansley and Newell (2007)

• Which HR roles should IT professionals understand?

• Which IT roles should HR professionals understand?

• How can IT and HR professionals communicate effectively in order to design new HRIS functionalities?

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Ruël, H., Bondarouk, T. (2014). e-HRM Research and Practice: Facing the Challenges Ahead. In: Martínez-López, F. (eds) Handbook of Strategic e-Business Management. Progress in IS. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39747-9_26

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