Bridging expectations: exploring employee and employer attitudes towards HR digitalization

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to reveal workers' and employers' attitudes and expectations when introducing new technologies for human resource (HR) management needs using ample primary data collected in Bulgaria. Our findings unequivocally showed that employees demonstrate, in general, trust in the latest technologies and Artificial Intelligence in the field of human resources. The paramount trust is in these systems' career development decisions, followed by rewards and incentives. Despite the demonstrated initial trust in the capacity of these new technologies in several crucial HR processes, such as recruitment and career development, when it comes to the overall evaluation of work performance, employees prefer human decisions based on the collected from the system information. At the same time, employers have two significant challenges in implementing new technologies and AI in HRM – high costs and concerns with the cyber security of personal sensitive data. However, the decision to further AI integration in HRM remains purely financial for most employers.