The impact of national culture on the use and outcome of E-HRM
In an era striving for excellence, human resource management (HRM) has become a crucial
source of competitiveness. An important development in improving the effectiveness of HR
in organizations is the incorporation of information technology systems for the purposes of
collecting, organizing, and disseminating HR-related information to users and decision
makers (Lin, 1998). However, at this point, the factors that contribute to the successful
implementation and use of information technology systems in the human resource area
remain to be identified and examined (e.g. Leidner & Kayworth, 2006).
E-HRM, defined as “the (planning, implementation, and) application of information
systems (IS) for both networking and supporting actors in their shared performance of HR
activities (Strohmeier, 2007), has recently received much attention in the literature.E-HRM
has been proposed to have three main outcomes: improved HR efficiency; more effective HR
service delivery; and, transformation of the HR function into one that is more strategic (Parry,
2011). This third goal, in particular, has been the subject of much debate in the literature (e.g.
Parry & Tyson, 2011). One reason behind disagreement about the outcomes of e-HRM might
be differences in the context in which e-HRM is undertaken. Within the wider field of HRM,
the influence of context upon HRM practices is widely discussed (Parry & Tyson, 2013).
However, few authors have investigated the role of context in determining the outcomes of eHRM.
This study focuses specifically on the impact of national context on the use and impact
of e-HRM. Theoretically, our study is based on the contingency approach advocated by a
number of scholars (e.g. Johns, 2006). These scholars have argued for a contingent impact of
HRM practices on organizational outcomes.In order to fully understand the effects of HR
activities on organizational outcomes, it is essential to understand the context in which the
organization exists. One key contextual variable that can affect the impact of key HR
THE IMPACT OF NAIONAL CULTURE ON THE USE AND OUTCOMES OF E-HRM
activities is the societal culture in which the firm is embedded (Peretz & Fried, 2012).More
specifically, recent work has suggested that national context might influence the uptake of eHRM practices (e.g. Burbach & Royle, 2013). To date however, research has not examined
the impact of national culture on the outcomes of e-HRM.
Within the theoretical framework offered by Hofstede (1991) and the GLOBE project
on culture (House et al., 2004), national culture has a strong impact on organizations that can
override other organizationaland environmental influences (e.g. House et al., 2004). In this
study, we focus on the impact of four widely-studied dimensions of national
culture(uncertainty avoidance (UA), power distance (PD), collectivism-individualism and
future orientation (FO)) on the use and level of sophistication of e-HRM and also its impact
on the relationship between e-HRM and efficiency (whether fewer HR practitioners are
needed); effectiveness (turnover and absenteeism) and the strategic involvement of the HR
function. We propose that consistency versus inconsistency between the national values and
e-HRM practices will contribute to the organizational outcomes.
Data for the study were obtained from two independent sources: for organizational
level variables we usedthe 2009-10 Cranet survey (see Parry, Stavrou and Morley, 2011 for
details). The 14 countries included in this paper were Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary,
Slovakia, Sweden, United Kingdom, Russia, Switzerland, Israel, Japan, Philippines, Australia
and Taiwan. The measures used in this study were: e-HRM use; e-HRM sophistication;
efficiency; absenteeism; turnover and the strategic position of the HR function.For national
level variables we used measures from the GLOBE database (House et al., 2004) on national
culture for UA, PD, collectivism-individualism and FO. These measures will be described in
detail in the full paper.
Because of the nested nature of the data (organizations within cultures) we used HLM
(hierarchical linear modelling)analysis to examine the relationship between national-level
THE IMPACT OF NAIONAL CULTURE ON THE USE AND OUTCOMES OF E-HRM
cultural values and organizational-level e-HRM variables and outcomes. First we examined
the relationship between national culture values and the use and sophistication of e-HRM.
Our findings showed that PD was positively related to both e-HRM use and sophistication,
collectivism was negatively related to e-HRM use, and UA was positively related to e-HRM
sophistication.
Second, we explored the moderating effect of national culture values on the
relationship between e-HRM and efficiency, effectiveness (turnover and absenteeism) and the
strategic position of the HR function. The results showed that FO moderated the effect of eHRM use on efficiency, absenteeism and strategy position of the HR function, and the impact
of e-HRM sophistication on the strategic position of the HR function. PD moderated the
impact of e-HRM on absenteeism. Finally, collectivism and UA moderated the effect of eHRM use on absenteeism and efficiency.
Exploring the moderating effects, the relationship between e-HRM use and between
efficiency, effectiveness and strategy, was stronger in the case of low PD and UA and high
FO and individualistic countries, and the relationship between e-HRM sophistication and
strategy existed only in high FO countries.
To summarize, the effects of e-HRM on efficiency, effectiveness and strategy are not
universal butdependent on the national context in which the organization operates. The
results support culture-based theories in that management is influenced not only by
organizational culture, but also by the culture of the larger society surrounding the
organization (e.g. Hofstede, 1991; House et al., 2004).
These findings have important implications for the use of e-HRM across different
national contexts as they suggest that the outcomes of e-HRM might not be the same in
different countries. This means that employers should consider the culture of the national
context in which they are operating when considering the implementation of e-HRM systems.
THE IMPACT OF NAIONAL CULTURE ON THE USE AND OUTCOMES OF E-HRM
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