Examining Antecedents of AI-integrated Digital HRM Adoption in Indian SMEs

The study aims to assess the relative prominence of antecedents responsible for the adoption of digital AI-integrated human resource management (HRM) in small, and medium enterprises (SMEs). The present study has employed the technological–organizational and environment (TOE) framework to identify and categorize the antecedents and their sub-antecedents through an extensive literature review. Further, the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process was employed with a sample of 140 human resource professionals to prioritize the antecedents and their sub-antecedents. In a first for HRM in the context of findings, the sub-antecedents prioritized were the technical interface of software and application, data integrity, competitiveness and relative advantage in the market. Despite government efforts to build a digitally skilled workforce, regulatory compliance for IT security at the SME level remains a gap. The study advocates that policymakers at the government level ensure regulatory compliance for each SME unit to ensure IT-based security. This study has contributed to a theoretical understanding of adopting disruptive technologies for HRM in SMEs. While existing literature emphasizes technology antecedents, the present study underscores the criticality of previously underexplored key sub-antecedents.