Digital Transformation Affecting Human Resource Activities: A Mixed-Methods Approach

Digital transformation currently affects all parts of society. We believe it is important to investigate what impact a company’s digital transformation has on its HRM and its activities. Thus, we apply a mixed-methods approach to observe this technology-induced shift. We analyze the annual reports of German DAX companies from the last ten years using a text mining method and a qualitative content analysis. After discussing the results in interviews with HR managers, we present our main findings: As suggested by our literature review, we cannot establish a uniform correlation between digitization and HR activities as the technology usage varies greatly between HR activities. Strong external influences affect the developments at personnel, organizational and market levels. Further research—also in international settings—is necessary.