Human Resources and Artificial Intelligence—What Ties Will the Future Bring?

Dear Colleagues,

In view of recent and not so recent developments on artificial intelligence (AI) we may be sure it is here to stay, in the organizational context at least, as well as beyond. How technology, with Artificial Intelligence (AI), has swept through companies and HR departments has triggered a significant change in the processes and decision-making.

How will human resources (HR) be affected? Are we all under threat? Our jobs, our livelihood? Or may we learn and leverage artificial intelligence to further ourselves and our quality of life?

AI is being used in recruitment, in marketing, in strategy. Chatbots (e.g., ChatGPT) are one form of usage, for example for content marketing. But there are many more forms and uses for AI.

Can human resources intermingle with AI and create distinct understandings and new organizational culture-types?

The future will tell. What we seek is glimpses of that no so distant future and where we might be heading, in the longer term.

Is this really the end of civilization as we know it?

The changes bring with them the need to understand the perception of candidates when placed in a scenario where all or part of a decision that influences their future in an organization is now made by technologies based on or supported by AI (Al-Alawi et al., 2021). Some studies have identified the use of AI as an asset in recruitment and selection (R&S) processes (Pan et al., 2022).

In theory, candidates will benefit due to the more remarkable ability of machines to identify the talent needed in the organization, conducting the process with transparency, fairness, and less bias and prejudice than traditional methods (Jain et al., 2021; Lee, 2011; van Esch et al., 2018). On the other hand, other scholars have been reluctant about the preponderance of this technology and its interference in the person-to-person relationship (Delecraz et al., 2022), the way it will irreversibly affect the R&S market (Hmoud and Laszlo, 2019), and the ethical issues latent in this whole topic (Tambe et al., 2019).

Please submit your articles on AI and HR so we may be better prepared for what is to come – and for what is already a part of our daily work lives.

Articles in the following areas will be accepted:

• AI and HR recruitment and selection
• AI and the future of employment
• AI and leadership
• AI and organizational culture
• AI and the future of humankind
• AI and future applications
• AI and the health sector
• AI and smart manufacturing
• AI and smart cities
• AI and the future of education
• AI and smart tourism

(Though not only restricted to these areas)

A search on the Scopus database with the terms "artificial intelligence" AND "human resource" AND future revealed 427 documents.

An interesting and relevant review is provided by the following reference:

Zhai, Y., Zhang, L., Yu, M. (2024). AI in Human Resource Management: Literature Review and Research Implications. Journal of the Knowledge Economy, https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-023-01631-z. 

Other interesting references: 

Al-Alawi, A. I., Naureen, M., Alalawi, E. I., & Naser Al-Hadad, A. A. (2021). The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Recruitment Process Decision-Making. 2021 International Conference on Decision Aid Sciences and Application, DASA 2021, 197–203. https://doi.org/10.1109/DASA53625.2021.9682320.

Benbya, H., Strich, F., Tamm, T. (2024). Navigating Generative Artificial Intelligence Promises and Perils for Knowledge and Creative Work. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 25(1), pp. 23–36, 13.

Delaim, K., Al Mubarak, M., Binsaddig, R. (2024). Artificial Intelligence Application to Reduce Cost and Increase Efficiency in the Medical and Educational Sectors. Studies in Systems, Decision and Control,487, pp.151-162.

Delecraz, S., Eltarr, L., Becuwe, M., Bouxin, H., Boutin, N., & Oullier, O. (2022). Responsible Artificial Intelligence in Human Resources Technology: An innovative inclusive and fair by design matching algorithm for job recruitment purposes. Journal of Responsible Technology, 11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrt.2022.100041.

Hmoud, B., & Laszlo, V. (2019). Will Artificial Intelligence Take Over Humanresources Recruitment and Selection? Network Intelligence Studies, VII(13), 21–30. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
337931190_WILL_ARTIFICIAL_INTELLIGENCE_TAKE_OVER_HUMANRESOURCES_RECRUITMENT_AND_SELECTION.

Jain, E., Chopra, T., & Sharma, S. K. (2023). Reinventing Human Resource Management in the Era of Artificial Intelligence. Proceedings of the International Conference on Application of AI and Statistical Decision Making for the Business World, ICASDMBW 2022, 16-17 December 2022, Rukmini Devi Institute of Advanced Studies, Delhi, India. https://doi.org/10.4108/eai.16-12-2022.2326241.

Lee, I. (2011). Modeling the benefit of e-recruiting process integration. Decision Support Systems, 51(1), 230–239. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2010.12.011.

Pan, Y., Froese, F., Liu, N., Hu, Y., & Ye, M. (2022). The adoption of artificial intelligence in employee recruitment: The influence of contextual factors. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 33(6), 1125–1147. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2021.1879206.

Tambe, P., Cappelli, P., & Yakubovich, V. (2019). Artificial intelligence in human resources management: Challenges and A path forward. California Management Review, 61(4), 15–42. https://doi.org/10.1177/0008125619867910

van Esch, P., & Mente, M. (2018). Marketing video-enabled social media as part of your e-recruitment strategy: Stop trying to be trendy. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 44, 266–273. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2018.06.016. 

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 300–500 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the guest editors (amoreira@ispa.pt) or to Administrative Sciences editorial office (admsci@mdpi.com). Abstracts will be reviewed by the guest editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the special issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer-review.

Prof. Dr. Ana Maria da Palma Moreira
Dr. Manuel Au-Yong-Oliveira
Guest Editors

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• organizational culture
• leadership
• recruitment
• development
• adaptation
• capabilities