Determinants of the assimilation of information technologies in human resource service delivery in Canada and the United States of America

Abstract

The use of information technology (IT) in the delivery of human resource (HR) services -a traditionally laborious, paper-intensive operation--is spearheading a revolution in the way personnel services are delivered. Based on a thorough review of practitioner and academic research literatures, this dissertation studies the determinants of assimilation for the following HR information technologies (HRITs): (1) HR functional applications; (2) Integrated HR software suites; (3) interactive (or automated) voice response systems; (4) HR intranets; (5) Employee self-service applications; (6) Manager self-service applications; (7) HR extranets; and (8) HR portals. The assimilation of HRITs is operationalized through a multidimensional variable, HR technology intensity (HRTI), that includes information on the assimilation stage of the technologies used in the firm, as well as on the penetration with which they are being used. Using a diffusion of innovations perspective, four sets of factors are hypothesized to influence HRTI: environmental factors (more specifically, environmental turbulence), organizational factors (Top management support and uniqueness of HR practices), user department factors (HR innovation climate, HR IT-absorptive capacity and HR-technology champion), and IS department factors (HR IS resource availability and HR-IS relationship). The latter are theorized to mediate the relationship between the user department factors and HRTI when the Locus of Responsibility for HR-Technology includes at least partially the IS function -a moderated mediation functional form (James & Brett, 1984). Data from 155 HR executives from firms in Canada and the United States were collected using an Internet-based survey, yielding a response rate of 21.3%. No consequential differences were found among country subsamples. Hierarchical regression analyses offered support for the hypotheses concerning the relationship between HRTI and Top Management Support (an Organizational Factor), and HR Innovation Climate (a User Department Factor). Moderated mediation analyses also substantiated the hypothesis linking HR Innovation Climate and HRTI by way of HR-IS Relationship when the Locus of Responsibility for HR-Technology includes the IS function. Finally, an alternate dependent variable (the Sum of Percentage Penetration of IT for HR) offers converging support for the analyses linking predictor and independent variables. Implications, limitations of this investigation, and suggestions for future research conclude this dissertation.