The diffusion of human‐resource information‐technology innovations in US and non‐US firms

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the diffusion patterns of eight information technologies that are transforming HR service‐delivery in North America and Europe: HR functional applications, integrated HR suites, IVR systems, HR intranets, employee and manager self‐service applications, HR extranets, and HR portals. Little is known about the diffusion process for these innovations within or across countries despite mounting professional and academic interest in their proliferation.Design/methodology/approach – The paper shows that external‐, internal‐, and mixed‐influence models were applied to the HRIT‐adoption decisions of a cross‐sectional sample of US, Canadian, UK and Irish firms. Parameter estimation was guided by nonlinear regression procedures with starting values for p and q set at levels similar to those reported in prior IT‐diffusion studies. Senior HR executives provided the underlying data by means of a dynamically branching, web‐based survey.Findings – The paper finds that ov...

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