On the Untapped Value of e-HRM – a Literature Review

The “war for talent” is still on. Annually conducted surveys have indicated for years that one third of all organizations are unable to fill vacant job positions with suitable candidates. Responding to these and other challenges, human resource management (HRM) is expected to transform itself. General opinion holds that the HRM transformation has just begun and that the potential of IT in HRM is not yet fully exploited. Examining the value potential of IT in HRM, existing IS research predominately studies the impact of IT on HRM. We contribute by examining the reverse impact in three steps. First, we use Thompson's theory of organizations in action to examine the expected impact of the HRM transformation on IT ("to-be" situation). Second, we use Kohli and Grover's IT value typology and review 20 years of the publication history ("as-is" situation). Finally, we relate expectations to actual review findings. We find that the HRM transformation should lead to a major shift in technology type used in organizations. However, this shift is not recognized yet, which is why our literature review reveals considerable unaddressed value potential of IT in HRM. We finish the paper by outlining IS research avenues in the context of HRM.