Lifting the veil on HRIS adoption: the role of vendors and consultants in the diffusion of HR innovations
Information Technology & People
ISSN: 0959-3845
Article publication date: 30 November 2021
Issue publication date: 7 December 2022
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyze the adoption process of human resource information systems (HRIS) from a supply-side perspective emphasizing the practices of HRIS vendors and consultants. It aims to counterbalance the existing literature on HRIS, which has overwhelmingly studied HRIS adoption from the customer organization's viewpoint, hence systematically downplaying the active role of vendors and consultants in adoption processes.
Design/methodology/approach
The research has been conducted on the HRIS market of the Benelux (Belgium–The Netherlands–Luxemburg) from a constructionist and exploratory perspective. The structure and dynamics underlying the market are gradually unveiled through open interviews with HRIS vendors and consulting firms (n = 22).
Findings
The paper reveals how the social shaping of HR innovations takes place and identifies nine types of pressures exerted by HRIS vendors and consultants on customer organizations: assessing, advising, advertising, case-building, demonstrating, configuring, accompanying, sustaining and supporting. Taken together, these pressures demonstrate the systematic presence and active role of external actors throughout the adoption process of HRIS within firms.
Research limitations/implications
It is suggested that further supply-side studies of innovation diffusion processes of HRIS should be conducted to complement the existing, demand-side literature. In this view, emphasis should be set on technology providers and their ongoing interactions with customer firms.
Originality/value
The analytical precedence given to supply-side actors allows to conceptualize HRIS adoption as the dynamic result of negotiations between three groups of actors (HRIS vendors, HRIS consultants and customer firms), hence resulting in a more comprehensive and holistic view of HRIS adoption processes.
Keywords
Citation
Jemine, G. and Guillaume, K. (2022), "Lifting the veil on HRIS adoption: the role of vendors and consultants in the diffusion of HR innovations", Information Technology & People, Vol. 35 No. 7, pp. 2418-2440. https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-02-2021-0114
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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