An integration model for identifying the determinants of the adoption and implementation level of HRIS applications and Its effectiveness in business organisations in Jordan

Abstract

This thesis investigates the influence of firms’ internal and external environmental factors upon their adoption of HRIS behaviour (i.e., the variation between adopters and non-adopters) and the level of implementation of HRIS applications and its effectiveness. An integrated conceptual framework was developed for the factors that determine the organisation’s adoption and the level of practice of HRIS applications. This framework integrates ideas and elements from the Diffusion of innovation Theory (DOI) and technology organization environment (TOE) model, the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and the IT studies in the area of HRM. Data were collected through structured-directed interviews with 236 respondents. The survey units were the shareholding companies in Jordan, and the key single respondents approach was employed. The findings of the study support that internal and external environmental factors are related not only to adoption of HRIS behaviour (i.e., the difference between adopters and non-adopters), but also to the level of implementing of HRIS applications. In comparison to each environmental dimension acting alone, the integration approach of the two internal and external dimensions gives better explanation not only of the prediction of the level of implementing of HRIS applications, but also of the prediction of adoption behaviour. Therefore, a better understanding of adoption of HRIS behaviour and the level of implementing of HRIS applications requires that firms’ environmental factors be viewed as whole (i.e., the interaction of the internal and external dimension) rather than being isolated fragments (i.e., only a single dimension). The current research contributes to the existing body of knowledge by enhancing current understanding of the organisational adoption of HRIS, which is an under-researched area in Jordan as a developing country. By employing analytical tools based on Rogers’s Innovation Diffusion Theory , UTAUT, TOE , and the findings of empirical studies of IT adoption, evidence confirms that the adoption of HRIS in the business organisations depends largely on interaction of internal and external environmental factors and the findings support the need for an integrated view of the adoption phenomenon. In that respect, this study also attempts to make an important theoretical contribution towards articulating differences in the determinants of adoption and the level of implementations of HRIS applications and its effectiveness.