The strongest relation found in this study, is that workers and
managers who have a strategic HR preference are more likely to have a positive
attitude towards E-HRM systems. When workers or managers prefer HR in the
employee champion role, however, we find a more negative attitude towards E-HRM.
These findings are in line with the first and second hypotheses. A positive relation
between a preference for HR in the administrative expert role and the attitude towards
E-HRM was also expected, but this was not found. The correlation matrix does show a
significant correlation between these two variables, but in the multiple regression
analysis the effect is no longer present. It is probably repressed by the variable on
strategic preference. All in all, the results fit well with the existing literature. Gardner
et al. (2003) provided earlier evidence from HR professionals and executives on the
association between strategic HR and E-HRM adoption. The current study
corroborates their findings in line management and shop-floor employees. It is
important to note that our results are comparable on this point for shop-floor
employees and managers. So, preferences as to HR roles do tend to influence
acceptance of E-HRM not only in HR professionals, but also in non-HR professionals.
The multiple regression results for the administrative expert role seem to divert from
this pattern, but we assume that this happens for statistical reasons, not for conceptual
reasons. Taking this alternative explanation into account, further confirmation of the
first and second hypotheses can be found in this study. This leads to an important
question as to the validity of the model as proposed by Ulrich (1997), when using it to
measure HR role preferences as opposed to actual HR roles. In this research context, it
may be more valid to reduce the original model with four roles to one with only two
roles. One side of this two-role model might best be described as the HR professional in
a strategic, change and performance-oriented role supporting the organization. The
other side puts the HR professional in the role of employee champion, somehow operating as an interface between parties on both sides of the employment relationship.
This two-dimensional model reminds one of the basic ambiguity that is present in the
HR function about “whose side one is on”: the employee or the organization (Legge,
1978; Guest and King, 2004).
IT experiences
In our third hypothesis a positive relation was expected between reported ease of use,
usability, user support and output quality of an IT system and the attitude towards
E-HRM. We find that shop-floor employees and managers, who evaluate currently used
IT systems as more useful than others, have a significantly more positive attitude
towards E-HRM. This result is clearly significant in the total sample and in the
shop-floor sub-sample. But, although this result is not significant in managers, the
corresponding standardized beta coefficient (0.19) is not insubstantial. Experienced IT
system usability seems to be important for all types of employees.
For user support, the results are clearly different for shop-floor employees and
managers. The user support factor appears to be especially predictive of E-HRM
system acceptance among managers.
Experiences with IT systems do have, as stated in the third hypothesis, an
important impact on the attitude towards E-HRM systems. However, based on the
multiple regression equation results, the ease of use does not appear to have a
significant influence on the attitude towards E-HRM systems in the current study. This
is contradictory to most of the research literature on user acceptance (Legris et al.,
2003). However, as the bivariate correlation coefficient between ease of use and attitude
towards E-HRM was significant, the absence of a significant finding in the multiple
regression equation is probably again due to a repression effect: other IT experiences in
the equation probably capture most of the variance from the ease of use variable.
Overall, moderate confirmation for H3 (based on the TAM model) was found in this
study. The major limitation seems to be the statistical redundancy of the factors
discerned in the original model. The dimensionality of models in the area of research on
IT user acceptance is the object of several recent studies. Venkatesh et al. (2003)
provide an overview and integration of this literature.