Machines/humans agentic impacts on recruitment and selection practices across organizational contexts

Purpose The research examines the influence of artificial intelligence (AI) and Gen AI on recruitment and selection practices, emphasizing the need to adapt established processes across different contexts and organizations to remain competitive in the dynamic business environment. It employs open systems theory and a conjoined agency perspective to analyze how human and technological actors interact and modify agentic actions and protocols relevant to specific contexts. Design/methodology/approach Through a qualitative interviewing design, data were gathered from 31 recruiting and selection specialists across multiple organizational contexts, and thematically analyzed using Gioia’s qualitative research framework. Findings The study explores the impact of AI adoption on recruitment, highlighting that its adoption is slower in certain contexts. It proposes three new recruiting and selection structures for organizations of different sizes, sectors, industries and settings, based on the theoretical understanding of technology–human ensembles. Research limitations/implications The study highlights the interconnectedness of technological development, human behavior, capacities and structured settings in recruitment and selection, demonstrating the variation in agentic focus based on an organization’s internal and external circumstances. Originality/value The research moves beyond psychological theories used in AI–human resource management research. It explores the use of AI/Gen AI-based technologies and their enabling elements, using emerging technology–human agentic models to understand how organizational resources, settings and technology adoption influence recruitment and selection.