The Relationship between Internal Environmental Factors and the Level of Adoption of Human Resource Information System (HRIS) Applications in Manufacturing Sector Organizations in Colombo District, Sri Lanka,

Abstract

The current study attempts to examine the relationship between internal environmental factors and the level of adoption of Human Resource Information System (HRIS) application in manufacturing sector organizations in Colombo District in Sri Lanka. The study was quantitative and a cross-sectional survey design was followed. This study was evaluated how internal environment factors of an organization influence and impact on level of organizational adoption of HRIS for human resources management functions such as Recruitment and Selection, Record keeping, Communication, Training and Development, Career Development and Worker Compensation etc. Study Conceptual framework integrates ideas and elements from the Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DOI) and Technology Organization Environment (TOE) model. Data was collected through a standard questionnaire developed by Al - Dmour (2014) which addressed to HR Professionals. Manufacturing sector organizations in Colombo District, Sri Lanka was the population of this study. Convenience sampling technique was applied to select the sample, and the final sample consisted of 40 organizations from manufacturing companies located in Colombo District. Correlation, regression analysis and factor analysis were used to test research hypothesis. It was found that internal environmental factors significantly related to the level of adoption of HRIS applications, which in turn has an impact on the level of adoption of HRIS application. Even though Management Expectation, Organizations Dynamic Capabilities, Organizations Structure and CEO’s Socio Demographic Characteristics, which were considered as internal factors, found as not significant while Management Commitment and Corporate Culture Significantly correlated to the level of adoption of HRIS application, overall findings of the study confirmed that internal environmental factors are related to the level of adoption of HRIS applications. Moreover the results indicate that the extent of HRIS applications being practiced is considered to be poor in Sri Lanka .Finally the study makes a major theoretical contribution by addressing the factors which related to the level of adoption of HRIS application. This study confirms that the adoption of HRIS in the business organizations depends on interaction of internal environmental factors and the findings of the current study shows the need for a comprehensive view of the adoption phenomenon. Therefore, this study also attempts to make an important theoretical contribution towards investigating and clearly identifying the relationship between the organizational internal environmental factors and its adoption level and the level of implementation of HRIS applications.