Author(s)

YiTing Liu¹, Shuai Zhang^2*

Affiliation(s)

¹Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TY, United Kingdom.

²Greenwich Business School, University of Greenwich, London SE10 9LS, United Kingdom.

Corresponding Author

Shuai Zhang

ABSTRACT

Challenges in ethical HRM practises are emerging due to the introduction of new technologies like automation, artificial intelligence, machine learning, Big Data, robotics and etc. HRM has transformed due to digital technologies like artificial intelligence which has the threat of leading to inequality. It is essential to discuss ethical HRM in the current era of digitalisation, because the HRM process itself has become data-based and digitalised which uses employee data for key processes like recruitment, selection, appraisal etc. This research will explore: what are the challenges presented to HRM to stay ethical in the era of digitalisation and how they can be overcome? There five identified findings, including the negative impact on the well-being of employees, the threat to autonomy and fairness, the threat to data protection and data privacy issues, ethical issues in gig economy and a lack of human touch and resistance from employees. Ethical issue of bias and discrimination might arise from the algorithms used in digital HRM tools and there is threat for data privacy and need for protecting sensitive employee data. Digital era business model, gig economy and its workers face many unethical issues which can be eliminated mainly by adherence to regulations and rules laid down by governments.

KEYWORDS

HRM; Ethics; Digitalisation; AI

CITE THIS PAPER

YiTing Liu, Shuai Zhang. Ethical HRM in the era of digitalization- Key challenges in the evolving roles of HRM. World Journal of Management Science. 2025, 3(1): 10-19. DOI: https://doi.org/10.61784/wms3053.

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