Organizational Adoption Factors of HR Analytics: A Practitioner’s Perspective

Human resource analytics (HRA) has helped organizations to efficiently deal with the challenges and obstacles of adopting and implementing it, thereby reaping its benefits. Such organizations lead by example, encouraging businesses in other organizations to move from intuition-based decision-making to data-based decision-making. HRA is an essential initiative every organization must take in the wake of digital transformation in a competitive business environment. This article aims to deepen our understanding of HRA, the driving forces for its adoption, its impact on business outcomes and the success factors and barriers encountered in adopting it. The study is based on the first two stages of the Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) Theory and follows a triangulation method of conducting a systematic literature review, deductive thematic analysis and interviews. The driving forces for the adoption of HRA include an increased interest in an evidence-based decision-making culture, a competitive landscape and complexity in managing human resources. Understanding business and stakeholder requirements, managerial buy-in and data hygiene are some of the major factors that can be attributed to the success of the adoption of HRA. Limited support from the top management, dearth of clean data, paucity of required analytical skills, inadequate budget, employee resistance towards adoption, issues of data security and the lack of advanced tools and technologies were found to be impediments, but when these were addressed, business outcomes greatly improved. This study proposes a concept map that aids the successful adoption and implementation of HRA and adds to the empirical evidence available in the literature.