Virtual Human Resource Management Practices and Employee Performance in Hybrid Work Environments: A Systematic Review of the Mediating Roles of Digital Communication and Work Engagement

The rapid diffusion of digital technologies and the institutionalization of hybrid work arrangements have prompted widespread organizational investment in Virtual Human Resource Management (VHRM) – e-recruitment, virtual onboarding, e-learning, digital performance management, and virtual employee support systems. Practitioner discourse routinely asserts that these practices enhance employee performance, often through improved digital communication and stronger work engagement. This article systematically reviews the peer-reviewed evidence underlying that assertion. Following a PRISMA-informed protocol, the review synthesises findings from studies published between 1989 and 2025, interpreted through the Technology Acceptance Model and Social Exchange Theory. The synthesis finds that the evidentiary picture is considerably more qualified than practitioner discourse suggests. Marler and Fisher's (2013) evidence-based review of forty e-HRM studies found no empirical evidence that e-HRM predicts strategic HRM outcomes, characterising the field as theoretically and empirically immature; more recent studies report mixed, context-dependent associations between digital HR practices and engagement, with at least one study finding only a weak correlation between digital innovation adoption and employee engagement. Evidence on hybrid work itself is more rigorous but similarly qualified: a large randomized controlled trial at a multinational technology firm found that hybrid work-from-home arrangements improved retention and job satisfaction without damaging performance – a more modest finding than the performance-enhancement claims common in practitioner literature. The review concludes that digital communication and work engagement plausibly function as mechanisms linking VHRM to performance, consistent with theory, but that rigorous, sector-specific empirical confirmation of this mediated pathway remains limited. Implications for HR practice, theory, and a future empirical research agenda are discussed.