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The purpose of this paper is to ask why some organizations might be better than others at continuous innovation in the field of e‐enablement of human resource (e‐HR).

To answer this question, the notion of absorptive capacity (ACAP) is applied to explain some of the problems faced in moving from face‐to‐face HR to a technology‐mediated model.

Dynamic ACAP models are adapted to produce a more realistic, iterative framework in which realized capacities for e‐HR innovations contribute to, and constrain, potential capacities for further innovations.

The model is used to offer some research propositions for academics operating in this newly emerging field of human resource management (HRM).

Some theory‐driven advice are also offered for HR practitioners.

The specific contribution is to introduce the concept of ACAP to HRM scholars and practitioners interested in the field of e‐HR and Web 2.0 social media.

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the perceptions of the importance of the internet to human resource management (HRM) and to understand the existing human resource (HR) practices and needs of the internet to support HRM functions.

A structured questionnaire survey was used to collect data from selected public companies quoted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Questionnaires were returned by 147 respondents and used for the analysis. The overall response rate was 29 percent, which was higher than expected.

The findings indicated that the most frequently cited internet‐supported HRM function in the existing literature is recruitment and selection. The results showed that there are no significant organization size differences or significant differences in internet connectivity as far as the perceived importance of the internet to HR practitioners is concerned. Specifically, helping managers to stay informed is the most important reason for adopting the internet for HR practitioners.

This study has proved that internet‐based HR offers enormous opportunities to improve organization performance. This paper introduces the reader to the potential use of the internet to support HRM.

The purpose of this paper is to explain how and why HR practitioners perceive the need to develop international HRM practices to support short-term assignments, international business travel and virtual assignments for internationally operating organizations.

The authors interviewed 29 HR practitioners from multinationals located in the Netherlands.

Alternative international assignments seem not to belong to the traditional expatriate jobs, nor to regular domestic jobs and show a liminal character. However, over the last few years we have gradually seen a more mature classification of the Short-term Assignment, International Business Traveler and Virtual Assignment categories and more active use of these categories in policymaking by organizations; this reflects a transition of these three categories from a liminal position to a more institutionalized position.

For this research, only international HRM practitioners were interviewed. Future studies should include a broader group of stakeholders.

International HRM departments should take a more proactive role regarding alternative forms of international assignees. Furthermore, HR professionals may develop training and coaching and consider rewards and benefits that could provide allowances for specific working conditions that are part of international work.

This study is among the first to relate the framework of institutional logic and liminality to explain the why of HR support for alternative international assignees.

Three decades of academic and professional discourse on HR technologies (HRTs) have produced continued disagreement over construct definitions and research streams that are highly fragmented. These realities suggest that greater consistency in meanings is sorely needed if we are to integrate and upgrade knowledge in this area. This chapter draws on the findings of a systematic research review to properly define the content domains of human resource information systems (HRIS), virtual human resources (virtual HR), electronic human resource management (e-HRM), and business-to-employee (B2E) systems. An integrative synthesis was performed on 242 system-level writings that appeared in the literature from 1983 to 2017. The weight of the evidence strongly supports treating HRIS, virtual HR, e-HRM, and B2E systems as independent, complimentary constructs. While the first three comprise a firm’s HRT system, the fourth construct is more appropriately positioned in the business-collaborative system. The sample was further evaluated with an analytic framework to detect patterns of practice in research designs. This revealed that much more attention has been focused on system actions and outcomes than on attitudes and system characteristics. Different units of analysis were well represented aside from trans-organizational studies. Finally, a case is made for better contextualizing HRT research by recognizing differences in assimilation stage, functional penetration, and collective proficiency. These factors are rarely mentioned, let alone studied, raising additional concerns about measurement error. Detailed suggestions are offered on ways to incorporate them. Together, these materials should promote more sophisticated and generalizable assessments of technology, improving our ability to understand its impacts.

In the postpandemic era, organizations have planned a combination of on-site and virtual work to portray the “New Normal”. The authors aim to analyze the effect of virtual team (VT)-building strategies on virtual team performance and HR performance in the “New Normal” context. This study aims to explore the drivers and barriers to VT performance and its contribution to HR performance.

The study utilized the grounded theory approach. Semistructured interviews with 114 VT leaders of national and multinational companies in India were conducted and NVivo 8.0 software was used to analyze data.

VT-building strategies contribute to VT collaboration and subsequently to VT performance. It was found that VT-building strategies catalyze VT collaboration which is impacted by the drivers and barriers of VTs, affecting VT performance and HR performance.

The primary contribution of this work is the development of a framework that delivers important insights to VT leaders, talent managers, HR professionals and academicians.

This study uniquely examines the VT-building strategies and VT performance through the “New Normal” paradigm lens. This study proposes a conceptual model for VT performance and HR performance. It also provides the team-building strategies, drivers and barriers for VT performance. This work offers the roadmap to achieve VT performance and HR performance. This research also contributes to the human resource management literature by discussing the VT performance and HR performance in the “New Normal” paradigm. It provides insights to VT leaders, talent managers, HR professionals and academicians.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the organizational redesign opportunities currently offered by web-based technological innovations contribute to rebuilding and strengthening the employee-HR department relationship, rendering personnel management policy criteria more transparent, increasing perceived fairness and thus helping to instil trust in the HR department, albeit in a diverse virtual context.

The authors designed a survey involving 526 Gen Y employees and tested the hypotheses using structural equation modelling analyses.

The results confirm a positive relationship between relational e-HRM system adoption, procedural justice and trust in the HR department.

The results provide evidence that technology can support the development of institutional trust in virtual environments and thus contribute to the growing e-HRM literature, to the more consolidated strategic HRM research domain and to the debate on trust in technology-mediated relationships.

The paper provides valuable and at times unexpected results on the new potential role of the HR department in the current fluid and insecure labour market, thereby forming the basis for defining some useful guidelines to design and implement the e-HRM architecture.

The paper focuses on understanding how relational e-HRM could impact on the direct employee-HR department relationship, from the Gen Y employees perspective, that is almost neglected in the growing literature. Moreover it suggests some unexpected insights on the role of technology innovativeness in moderating the impact of e-HRM on trust in the HR department.

Building on our earlier model of the links between HR strategy, e-HR goals, architectures, and outcomes, we illustrate the relationship between some of these elements with data from three global organizations. In doing so, we aim to help academics and practitioners understand this increasingly important area of HR theory and practice.

Given the growing popularity of virtual human resources development (VHRD) in organizations and among human resource development (HRD) professionals, it is highly essential to deeply examine the nature and scope of the affective dimensions of the VHRD approach. Over the past decade, VHRD has become an important part of the HRD process.

The present study used an integrative literature review to investigate the nature of VHRD in the literature, present a descriptive analysis of the literature and categorize the existing VHRD research.

The results indicated three major themes, namely, VHRD and socialization, VHRD and learning and VHRD and the psychological characteristics of the work environment. In addition, a new conceptual model was developed based on the findings.

This study has reviewed the main concepts of VHRD. The potential actions which HRD researchers can take to address the identified challenges are discussed.

This integrative literature review could provide a roadmap for future research. Based on this model, the VHRD position is within the organizational context and different tools and processes in constant interaction are introduced. Finally, a general view of the VHRD approach was provided, which can help human resources experts deal with a wide range of technologies in the organization.

Faced with declining revenues and significant business losses in the early 1990s, IBM reviewed its products, services, infrastructure, operations and functions. As part of this process, HR processes, policies and practices were either reformed or eliminated. Bob Gonzales, vice‐president of HR operations and formerly founding director of IBM’s national human‐resources service center (NHRSC), which emerged as a far‐reaching development in re‐engineering HR, recalls: “We had this bold vision of an ongoing journey which, by transforming HR, could also revitalize the business. It was strategic change of the highest order.”

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on how organisations can leverage digital transformation by discussing the importance of having a zero-trust approach when it comes to security. This is something that is imperative, and so this paper aims to provide advice on how organisations can keep their networks and systems safe from cyberattacks and opportunistic cybercriminals.

This paper is a thought leadership piece and draws on Tata Consultancy Services (TCS’) COVID-19 Business Impact Survey, which surveys nearly 300 executives on how they are planning and managing the near and long-term impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. Those surveyed represented mostly large companies across 11 countries in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Moreover, 63% of these companies had an annual revenue of over $5bn.

The findings from the survey revealed that most organisations lack digital capabilities, and the coronavirus pandemic is exposing these weaknesses. It found that companies with essential digital capabilities (“leaders”) have held up better during the pandemic than those without (“followers). Moreover, the survey demonstrated that there is a significant lack of clarity on how to strategically move on multiple digital fronts cost-effectively.

As TCS is a global leader in information technology services, consulting and business solutions, this paper provides value to senior business and technology leaders in organisations that hold influence over the company’s security strategies. By focussing on zero trust, this paper recommends how such leaders can rethink and reassess their business strategy to thrive in a post-pandemic world.