Implications of the “Digital Era” for HRM: A New Paradigm, or Perhaps Not

Dear Colleagues,

In a period in which ideas and messages about a new Economic Era based on digitization proliferate, we propose a reflection. Are we really in a new Era?

In a limited analysis of article titles, it is possible to observe the high number of publications that seek to be the bearers of this “good news”, its implications for management and in particular for human resources management (HRM). We believe that this is still a debate that remains to be fully discussed and where academia, due to its methods, its philosophical positions, and its capacity for reflection, still has some relevant contributions to make both to the industry and to academia itself.

Consulting only two definitions 11 years apart: (1) a Digital Era means the achievement of Digital Maturity, which comes from the digital transformation and its implications, which have revolutionized the way we communicate, work and perceive the world around us, covering all the sectors of activity (Matt, Hess and Benlian, 2015). Or, according to the earlier definition, (2) a Digital Era is “Characterized by technology which increases the speed and breadth of knowledge turnover within the economy and society” (Shepherd, 2004, p. 1). Both of these definitions point to a disruption in the way management is conceived, planned and executed. 

We are pleased to invite you to address the digital transformation that has changed the direction of companies, namely in their positioning in relation to competitors, as well as in the way managers make their decisions (Matt, Hess and Benlian, 2015; Morakanyane, Grace and Reilly, 2017). For some companies, this means changing their business models by redefining their boundaries through digitalization, transforming multinational operations into global ones, through digital technology associated with integrated information (Westerman, Bonnet and Mcafee, 2014). To remain competitive, companies feel the need to implement new tools and approaches that would allow them to be faster in responding to changes and stimuli from the environment (Morakanyane, Grace and Reilly, 2017).

However, there are questions that seem to remain unanswered: Are management analysis and intervention tools still valid in this context? Is the role and importance of HRM managers still the same in the digital reality? Does the concept of organization and market still apply in the same way?

This Special Issue aims to expand our understanding of a major challenge for HRM, which is to identify the appropriate technologies and how to combine them with human capabilities to ensure optimal levels of efficiency and effectiveness (Wilson and Daugherty, 2018). In the near future, the proper use of the “digital” will dictate the success of managers and, therefore, of organizations and markets (Brynjlfsson and McAfee, 2017).

Considering the above-mentioned challenges, a motivating question for debate arises: what implications does the digital transformation have for HRM?

This call for papers invites researchers, regardless of methodological, ontological or philosophical options, to contribute to the debate on the implications of the “Digitization Era” for HRM. Works that advocate an optimistic position, as well as those that do not, are welcome. Theoretically well-founded work and rigorous methodological analysis are required in order to make a solid contribution to the debate.

For this Special Issue, both original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Commitment in the digital era;
• Emotional salary in the digital era;
• Artificial intelligence-based HRM;
• Remote work–life balance;
• Remote workplace happiness;
• Reshaped motivation;
• Digital sources of satisfaction;
• The impact of digital disruption on careers;
• HRM and social media;
• HRM and technostress;
• HRM and industry 4.0;
• HRM and metaverse.

References

Matt, C., Hess, T., & Benlian, A. (2015). Digital transformation strategies. Business & information systems engineering, 57(5), 339-343.

McAfee, A., & Brynjolfsson, E. (2017). Machine, platform, crowd: Harnessing our digital future. WW Norton & Company.

Morakanyane, R., Grace, A. A., & O'Reilly, P. (2017). Conceptualizing Digital Transformation in Business Organizations: A Systematic Review of Literature. Bled eConference, 21.

Shepherd, J. (2004). What is the digital era?. In Social and economic transformation in the digital era (pp. 1-18). IGI Global.

Westerman, G., Bonnet, D., & McAfee, A. (2014). The nine elements of digital transformation. MIT Sloan Management Review, 55(3), 1-6.

Wilson, H. J., & Daugherty, P. R. (2018). Collaborative intelligence: Humans and AI are joining forces. Harvard Business Review, 96(4), 114-123.

Prof. Dr. Carla Maria Marques Curado
Prof. Dr. Paulo Lopes Henriques
Prof. Dr. Lucía Muñoz-Pascual
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Merits is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• human resources management
• artificial intelligence
• remote work life balance
• remote workplace happiness
• digital careers
• technostress
• social media
• big data
• Industry 4.0
• metaverse