Digital human resource management: A conceptual clarification

Abstract

The concept of digital human resource management and related concepts such as the digitization of human resource management, the digitalization of human resource management, the digital transformation of human resource management, and the digital disruption of human resource management are gaining prominence in scholarly discussion. Frequently, however, the use of these concepts is implicit, heterogeneous, and proliferating. These concepts, thus, lack the “conceptual clarity” necessary in research. Therefore, this article aims at a conceptual clarification of digital human resource management and of related concepts of the digitization of human resource management, the digitalization of human resource management, the digital transformation of human resource management, and the digital disruption of human resource management. To do so, the article references general literature on digital organizations to develop a terminology and typology of digital human resource management. The terminology offers precise and parsimonious definitions of the concepts and relationships between them, offering a basic understanding. The typology offers precise and parsimonious ideal-types, which order and classify phenomena related to digital human resource management, in turn expanding knowledge about these phenomena. Together, the terminology and typology clarify the concept of digital human resource management and related concepts, uncover digital human resource management as an evolutionary advancement of previous conceptualizations of technology-based human resource management, and provide a conceptual basis for future work on digital human resource management.