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Article
Publication date: 29 October 2020

Gary W. Florkowski

Drawing on the HR technology (HRT) and information systems (IS) literatures, this study seeks to identify macro-level factors that influence the performance of HRT systems. A…

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing on the HR technology (HRT) and information systems (IS) literatures, this study seeks to identify macro-level factors that influence the performance of HRT systems. A second objective is to assess the relative contribution that HRT goal realization makes to organizational satisfaction with HR services.

Design/methodology/approach

This investigation draws on a web-based survey of 169 US and Canadian firms targeting HR executives as key informants. Structural equation modeling (SEM) tested the roles that organizational support, capabilities and aspects of the environment play in technology goal attainment and collective satisfaction with HR services. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) evaluated the properties of several key scales and supported their usage. Moderated regression analysis further assessed whether HRT age influenced certain relationships.

Findings

As predicted, system goal realization was positively related to the level of support from an HRT champion and an HR innovation climate, while being negatively related to HRT mimetic isomorphism. HR service satisfaction, in turn, was positively related to HRT goal realization, the HR innovation climate and HR environmental munificence. It also was determined that HRT champions had a stronger positive impact on goal realization for younger technology portfolios. This too was expected.

Research limitations/implications

External validity would be strengthened by not only increasing sample sizes for the USA and Canada, but also targeting more nations for data collection. The model's explanatory power may also be enhanced by improving the measurement of several predictors (e.g. top management support, absorptive capacity), as well incorporating constructs that focus on users (e.g. group potency, collective efficacy).

Practical implications

These findings underscore the need to proactively screen and structure the surrounding environment to facilitate portfolio success. Greater emphasis must be placed on (1) identifying and empowering HRT champions, (2) fostering an innovation climate in the HR function and (3) conditioning HRT purchases on “mindful” adoption. Doing so should not only increase the prospects of realizing goals, but also elevate satisfaction with HR services.

Originality/value

This is the first study to formally assess the effects that organizational and environmental context have on overall HRT systems performance. Prior research has focused on linking the local conditions of individual users to their perceptions and usage of HR technologies.

Details

Personnel Review, vol. 50 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0048-3486

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 November 2006

Gary W. Florkowski and Miguel R. Olivas‐Luján

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the diffusion patterns of eight information technologies that are transforming HR service‐delivery in North America and Europe: HR…

4472

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the diffusion patterns of eight information technologies that are transforming HR service‐delivery in North America and Europe: HR functional applications, integrated HR suites, IVR systems, HR intranets, employee and manager self‐service applications, HR extranets, and HR portals. Little is known about the diffusion process for these innovations within or across countries despite mounting professional and academic interest in their proliferation.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper shows that external‐, internal‐, and mixed‐influence models were applied to the HRIT‐adoption decisions of a cross‐sectional sample of US, Canadian, UK and Irish firms. Parameter estimation was guided by nonlinear regression procedures with starting values for p and q set at levels similar to those reported in prior IT‐diffusion studies. Senior HR executives provided the underlying data by means of a dynamically branching, web‐based survey.

Findings

The paper finds that overall diffusion was best characterized as an outgrowth of internal influences, fueled primarily by contacts among members in the social system of potential adopters. Similar results were obtained when controls were introduced for national setting, targeted end‐user, and technology type.

Research limitations/implications

The paper shows that future investigations would benefit from higher response rates outside of North America and the utilization of smaller time intervals to identify when each application was acquired.

Practical implications

In the paper the modest correlation between the number of acquired ITs and HR‐transaction automation supports the general call for more formalized HR‐technology strategies at the firm‐level to coordinate purchasing and implementation decisions.

Originality/value

In addition to reviewing the extant literature on HR information systems, this paper presents the first empirical study of the diffusion process for HR software applications within and across countries.

Details

Personnel Review, vol. 35 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0048-3486

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 July 2019

Gary Walter Florkowski

Drawing on the job demands-resources and IS literatures, the purpose of this paper is to identify organizational factors that mitigate technostress in the HR department; and to…

1873

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing on the job demands-resources and IS literatures, the purpose of this paper is to identify organizational factors that mitigate technostress in the HR department; and to evaluate how technostress and techno-insecurity affect technology’s impact on job satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach

This research draws on a web-based survey of 169 US and Canadian firms targeting HR executives as key informants. An HR-context-specific, technostress model was tested with structural equation modeling. Exploratory factor analysis evaluated the structural properties of all multi-item scales and supported their usage. Moderated regression analysis further assessed whether the age and scope of technology portfolios affected certain relationships.

Findings

As predicted, department work stress was less likely to increase when there was HR technology (HRT) governance involvement and top management support for this class of technologies. Heightened techno-insecurity had the opposite effect, another anticipated outcome. HR’s IT-knowledge actually increased technostress, a counterintuitive result. In turn, HRTs were less likely to improve job satisfaction when technostress and techno-insecurity were high. Top management HRT support and an HR innovation climate better enabled portfolios to enhance satisfaction. Moderating influences were detected as well. As hypothesized, techno-insecurity had a stronger negative effect on job-satisfaction impact for younger portfolios, while innovation climate had a weaker relationship with techno-insecurity where portfolios were limited in scope.

Research limitations/implications

External validity would be strengthened by not only increasing sample sizes for the USA and Canada, but also targeting more nations for data collection. In addition, incorporating more user-oriented constructs in the present model (e.g. group potency, collective efficacy) may enhance its explanatory power.

Practical implications

These findings underscore the need to consider HR-staff attitudes in technology rollouts. To the extent HR technologies generate technostress, they at a minimum are impediments to department satisfaction, which may have important ramifications for usage and service. The results further establish that initiatives can be taken to offset this problem, both in terms of the ways portfolios are internally supported and how they are managed.

Originality/value

This is the first study to formally assess how collective work-attitudes in the HR department are affected by HR technologies. Prior research has focused on user-reactions to HRT features or their wider influence on stakeholder perceptions. It is also the first investigation to empirically test potential technostress inhibitors in HR settings.

Details

Employee Relations: The International Journal, vol. 41 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 May 2023

Gary Walter Florkowski

Drawing on the international business and IHRM literature, this study investigated the effects that employment regulation and its nature of enforcement have on foreign investment…

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing on the international business and IHRM literature, this study investigated the effects that employment regulation and its nature of enforcement have on foreign investment in emerging markets.

Design/methodology/approach

Panel regressions with time fixed effects were conducted for the period 2002–2017 using regulatory, human capital, and economic data for 34 developing nations. Robustness checks also were performed by varying the measures for key predictors along with the modes of analysis (i.e., Pooled OLS with clustered standard errors, generalized estimating equations (GEE), and instrumental variable (IV) regression with the generalized method of moments (GMM) approach).

Findings

Although the totality of restrictions did not have an impact, FDI inflows were negatively related to the process strength of enforcement. This suggests investors place greater emphasis on de facto exposure than on de jure enactments, favoring nations less willing or able to push for compliance. In addition, while GDP growth had a positive impact on inward investment, the opposite was found for licensing restrictions and labor productivity. The remaining controls failed to display consistent relationships with foreign investment.

Research limitations/implications

Data constraints precluded the inclusion of additional economies and years before 2001. It also was not possible to directly evaluate the influence of labor costs without a standardized measure for developing nations. This entered at best indirectly in GDP per capita, which was tested.

Practical implications

These findings have important implications for social responsibility, suggesting more aggressive monitoring is needed of investment criteria and government relations. At a minimum, social auditing and reporting should better document overt commitments to rights-adherence and compliance-partnering. CSR stakeholders can work in tandem, tracking enforcement more closely and lobbying governments to discourage policies of lax enforcement.

Originality/value

This is the first study to assess how legal stock and its manner of enforcement influence FDI inflows. Improving on earlier studies, employment law was measured with a broad legal scale that was annually adjusted. Enforcement was evaluated in two different forms, both as process strength and administrative capacity – the former drawing investors' attention.

Details

Employee Relations: The International Journal, vol. 45 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 November 2006

Michael J. Morley, Patrick Gunnigle, Michelle O'Sullivan and David G. Collings

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue, which brings together five papers exploring the changing anatomy of HRM at organisational level.

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Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue, which brings together five papers exploring the changing anatomy of HRM at organisational level. Design/methodology/approach – This overarching paper briefly contextualises the theme and introduces the five selected empirical papers. Findings – The findings in this paper vary according to the core theme of each of the five contributions. The first paper highlights whether the mix of distributed HR activities between the HR department and internal/external agents may be understood to be less a product of contextual influences and more a matter of corporate choice. The second paper establishes that role dissonance is a very real issue for middle managers with HR responsibilities. The third paper unearths the complexities and challenges involved in changing existing HRM procedures and practices in a post‐merger scenario. The fourth paper provides an understanding of the management of human resource supply chains and outlines five, empirically derived, generic models of HR outsourcing. The final paper finds that human resource IT diffusion and take‐up is primarily fuelled by interpersonal communication and network interactions among potential adopters. Originality/value – Combined, the papers offer insights on the changing anatomy of the HRM function against the backdrop of a dynamic contemporary organisational landscape and showcase cross‐national research on the theme.

Details

Personnel Review, vol. 35 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0048-3486

Keywords

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