The Challenges of Algorithm-Based HR Decision-Making for Personal Integrity

By Ulrich Leicht‐Deobald, Thorsten Busch, C. Schank, Antoinette Weibel, Simon Schafheitle, Isabelle Wildhaber, G. Kasper. Journal of Business Ethics, 2019

298 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Organizations increasingly rely on algorithm-based HR decision-making to monitor their employees. This trend is reinforced by the technology industry claiming that its decision-making tools are efficient and objective, downplaying their potential biases. In our manuscript, we identify an important challenge arising from the efficiency-driven logic of algorithm-based HR decision-making, namely that it may shift the delicate balance between employees’ personal integrity and compliance more in the direction of compliance. We suggest that critical data literacy, ethical awareness, the use of participatory design methods, and private regulatory regimes within civil society can help overcome these challenges. Our paper contributes to literature on workplace monitoring, critical data studies, personal integrity, and literature at the intersection between HR management and corporate responsibility.

Subfields: Economics and Econometrics, Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management, Safety Research

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/66a9df2562131a87b81408b7660f9dc9ea546e73

How researchers see this paper

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In Economics and Econometrics

1. Angèle Christin

In Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management

1. Katherine C. Kellogg
2. Angèle Christin
3. Melissa A. Valentine

In Safety Research

1. Will Sutherland
2. Katherine C. Kellogg
3. Angèle Christin
4. Mohammad Hossein Jarrahi
5. Melissa A. Valentine
6. Louisa H.Y. Tsi
7. Cecilia Ka Yuk Chan

Citations in the corpus

• Algorithmic management in a work context (2021, background): “For instance, algorithms can assist Human Resources (HR) to filter job applicants (Leicht-Deobald et al., 2019), fire inadequately fast warehouse workers, and improve work morale through fine-grained people analytics (Gal et al., 2020).”
• Algorithms at Work: The New Contested Terrain of Control (2020, background): “As a result, workers reported feeling powerless (Leicht-Deobald et al., 2019).”