Organizational adoption of e‐HRM in Europe: An empirical exploration of major adoption factors

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine which factors influence the cross‐national organizational adoption of electronic human resource management (e‐HRM) in Europe. Design/methodology/approach: Major general and contextual influence factors are derived and tested based on a large‐scale survey with a sample of 2,336 organizations in 23 European countries using logistic regression. Findings: The findings first reveal that e‐HRM is a common practice throughout Europe since two‐thirds of all organizations have already adopted e‐HRM. Major general determinants of e‐HRM adoption are size, work organization, and configuration of HRM. In addition, there are major cross‐national differences in e‐HRM adoption, unexpectedly revealing Eastern post‐communist countries to lead e‐HRM adoption. Research limitations/implications: Abundance of general and scarcity of contextual factors imply that there should be further important factors of adoption not considered in this paper. Owing to its cross‐sectional character, the paper is not able to reveal findings of convergence or divergence of adoption over time. Practical implications: HR professionals should be informed about the advanced state of e‐HRM adoption, while some general insights are offered which kind of organizations should take an adoption of e‐HRM into consideration. Originality/value: This paper is a large‐scale sample‐based evaluation of cross‐national influence factors that drive organizational adoption of e‐HRM in Europe.