Search results

This quantitative study seeks to explore HR professionals' perceptions regarding the adoption of technological applications under the fourth industrial revolution on 25 critical human resource management (HRM) challenges. Additionally, the authors compare data for potential cross-cultural differences.

A total sample of 251 HR professionals from 11 countries was divided into four different cultural clusters. They were asked about their attitudes to the most important HRM challenges when managing industrial relations. A 25-item structured Likert five-point scale questionnaire was used to explore the human vs technology relation and examine if there were any significant differences between clusters for each of the challenges.

The results suggest that most HR professionals believe that the use of technology instead of people cannot solve entirely human-centered and emotional based challenges, as those seem to be less exposed to machinery. Moreover, their views on only two of the 25 challenges present significant differences between cultural clusters, regarding making decisions solely on personal interest and managing confidential information after terminating employment.

This paper constitutes the first attempt of addressing the impact of the fourth industrial revolution on HRM challenges at a cross-cultural level. It is plausible that globalization and the fourth industrial revolution affect the perceptions of HR professionals worldwide. The study shows that respondents' perceptions about the “human vs technology” dilemma point toward the same direction, irrespective of their cultural background: that of enhancing human worker's role in business in the age of rapid technological advancements. In addition, the way our sample was drawn, taking into account the top Global Competitiveness Index 4.0 countries, makes our results robust and reliable.

This paper examines the beliefs of human resource professionals (HRPs) regarding the impact of Industry 4.0 on organizations in terms of readiness for human resources management (HRM) transformation, the challenges of a potential new legal and financial framework, the new means on performance management and automation, and finally the decision-making process in the era of human-machine cooperation.

The authors analyzed a sample of 251 HRPs from 11 different countries divided into 4 cultural clusters to explore their attitude to incorporate new practices to the HR field because of technological development. The paper explores HRPs' beliefs in a legal and financial context, performance management issues, and the impact of automation on the decision-making process. Furthermore, the authors perform a cross-cultural comparison analysis to examine potential significant differences between cultural clusters.

HRPs are aware of how technology adoption is affecting work environment and they highlight the importance of human resources (HR) for businesses, despite the global trend of extensive machinery exploitation. Interestingly, our results suggest that overall globalization, common knowledge, and internationalized practices lead to homogeneity for most issues under study.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, there has not been any comprehensive study exploring and analyzing the effects of Industry 4.0 on HRPs perceptions in the context of a dynamic HR environment influenced by technological transformation. The study shows that HRPs' present similar perspectives for most issues addressed, irrespective of cultural characteristics of HRPs. Hence, this paper generates some important insights in an attempt to build a framework for enhancing HR in this new era.

In the digital era individuals are overwhelmed by huge amount of readily available information. The information provided at the time of COVID-19 crisis is increasingly available. The purpose of this paper was to investigate individuals’ perceived feelings due to the plethora of information during COVID-19 pandemic in Greece in Spring 2020.

This study was conducted through a Web-based questionnaire survey posted on the Google Forms platform. The questionnaire consisted of closed-ended, seven-point Likert-scale questions. The data collected were subjected to a principal component analysis. The retained principal components (PCs) were subjected to statistical analysis between genders and among age groups and professional status with the nonparametric criteria Mann–Whitney U and Kruskal–Wallis.

Responses by 776 individuals were obtained. Seventeen original variables from the questionnaire were summarized into three PCs that explained the 71.7% of total variance: “affective disorders,” “uncertainty issues and inaccurate information worries” and “satisfaction and optimism.” Participants partly agree that the received amount of information on the disease caused them feelings of uncertainty about the future and worries about relatives’ lives, but also satisfaction with developments in the country. Females seem to experience stronger perceived feelings of “affective disorders” (p < 0.001) and reported higher degree of agreement about “uncertainty issues and inaccurate information worries.”

The recorded feelings caused by the volume of available information may have forced people accept the necessary precautionary behavioral changes that had contributed to the Greek success in preventing spread of the disease in Spring 2020.