International Journal of Policy Studies Vol.6, No.

2, 2015

e-HRM to HRM Effectiveness Towards

Organizational Performance in the Public Sector:
The Case of Lao PDR1

Veomanee Meunluang
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lao PDR

Reginald Ugaddan
Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea

Abstract This study mainly explores the relationship of e-HRM acceptance on organizational
performance as mediated by strategic HRM in the public sector of Lao PDR. Recent studies on
e-HRM applications suggests that it is pushing HRM system towards strategic transformation in
which HR related decisions are supported by adequate, descriptive, and prognostic information. This
research, however, attempts to catch up with practice for a long term goal of e-HRM adoption and its
role on strategic HRM and organizational performance. To address this issue, this study examines the
relationship of various elements of e-HRM acceptance (i.e., facilitating conditions, clarity of e-HRM
goals, job relevance, ease of use, service quality, and HR professional improvement) on establishing
an effective strategic HRM and the organizational performance. Using the survey data collected among
employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Lao PDR, the study tests a mediation model employing
structural equation modeling. Results suggest that clarity of e-HRM goals, HR professional
improvement, and the perceived ease of use of e-HRM are important predictors of strategic HRM.
The mediation analysis also suggests that strategic HRM partially mediates the relationship of
facilitating conditions and organizational performance, while fully mediating on the association
between clarity of goals, HR professional improvement and organizational performance. Finally, the
article points out the study’s theoretical, empirical, and practical implications and directions for future
research.
Key Words: E-HRM, Strategic HRM, HR professionals, Organizational Performance

INTRODUCTION

The growth in the 21st century is undeniably due to the incessant development in science
and technology. The treads of changes influenced the way of life, socio-economic condition
of the society, and the way things done in the private and public sector organizations. As
stated by Berman and colleagues (2015), leaders in the public sector organization needs to be
24 Veomanee Meunluang & Reginald Ugaddan

vigilant and watchful of the emerging developments, possible shifts of paradigms, and changes in
the environmental contexts of public HRM (Park & Ugaddan, 2015). These are important
because they may suggest and require critical adjustments on existing policies, practices, or
governance strategies. For instance, the HRM strategies may not endure status quo and remain
on the traditional and existing system. Park and Ugaddan (2015) posited that, “even in the most
advanced nations, public HR strategies and practices are developed to stand the shocks of
unstable external and internal environmental climate” (p. 55). This may imply that in a
developing country, strategic and innovative approaches are needed to stand the inevitable
challenges of the environmental context of HRM in the public organizations.
Several studies in the field of HRM emphasized creativity and innovation. Scholars and
practitioners suggest that e-HRM, a new wave of HRM technology (Hooi, 2006)--can increase
and/or create value of HRM in achieving competitive advantage (Parry, 2011). The e-HRM
technology is a remarkable development for the HRM system (Cedarcrestone, 2005). It is
capable of supporting and innovating HR functions to effectively address the HR needs of the
public organizations through internet-based channels (Ruel et al., 2004); and expected to
provide strategic and efficient ways of doing things for HR professionals (Gardner et al., 2003;
Shrivastava & Shaw, 2003). Specifically, practitioners regarded e-HRM to be capable of
streamlining core HR process, reduce costs, and improve efficiency. Thus, it is a powerful driving
force towards enhancing organizational effectiveness and sustainability.
In the context of a developing country like Lao PDR, HRM issues and problems are
prevalent, for example, low quality of HR services to civil servants, dubious payroll records,
unreliable staff records, lack of needed skills (e.g., IT related skills, HR software expertise),
duplicate work and non-workflow (see also Ruël et al., 2004; Maatman 2006). It is alarming
because these organizational predicaments causes a big turnover of talented public
servants--quitting their jobs and choose private sector as the preferred sector to work--and
greatly affecting employees morale and motivation. These are organizational dilemmas that
hinder achievement of organizational goals and effective delivery of public service. Thus, a
profound study that may capture the critical elements of introducing innovation on HRM
systems, especially the adoption of e-HRM, can help us understand and determine the
mechanisms for effective and strategic system towards a high organizational performance.
Primarily, this study examines the salient factor through which e-HRM technology might
influence the organizational performance, explicitly the strategic HRM effectiveness. The
e-HRM acceptance can be associated with the IT infrastructure involvement of internet use
(i.e., facilitating conditions), clarity of e-HRM goals, job relevance, observed predictor of the
certain HR system usage (i.e., perceived ease of use), observed variable of real time HR service
e-HRM to HRM Effectiveness Towards Organizational Performance in the Public Sector 25

delivery (i.e., service quality), and HR professional improvement in relation with job
motivation and job satisfaction. Accordingly, this study seeks to answer the following research
questions: (1) How are e-HRM acceptance elements associated with strategic HRM and
organizational performance? (2) Do strategic HRM mediate the relationship of e-HRM
acceptance and organizational performance? To address these questions, first, we discussed
the various elements of e-HRM acceptability, strategic HRM, and organizational performance
through a thorough review of literature, and then proposed hypotheses for each relationship.
Second, we present the research methods focusing on the research setting, data collection
method, and measures used in the study. Third, we present the results of the analysis-structural
equation modeling (SEM) and bootstrapping mediation analysis. Last, we discuss the findings
and conclude the study elaborating on the theoretical and practical implications of the study; and
present the limitations and directions for future research. Figure 1 depicts the conceptual model
of the study.

Figure 1. Conceptual Model

Elements of e-HRM Acceptance

Facilitating Conditions

Clarity of e-HRM Goals

Job Relevance
Strategic HRM Organizational
Ease of Use Effectiveness Performance

Service Quality

HR Professional
Improvement

Control Variables: Age, Gender, Position,

Working period and level of education.
26 Veomanee Meunluang & Reginald Ugaddan

LITERATURE REVIEW

Strategic HRM Effectiveness

Strategic HRM effectiveness refers to the way of implementing e-HRM innovation as a tool
to strengthen the effective HR organization and build HR department as a strategic partner for
civil servants. Huselid et al. (1997, p. 172) introduced the concept of the technical and
strategic effectiveness of HRM, guided by the idea that HRM seeks approval for its activities in
“socially constructed environments”. Huselid et al. (1997) noted that strategic HRM involves the
development and implementation of full agreement, policies in line with organizational strategy.
They also found that strategic effectiveness was significantly related with organizational
performance. In order to contribute to the strategic HRM effectiveness, organization should meet
the conditions of e-HRM establishment and e-HRM processes have the desired impact on
employees’ skills, behavior, and attitudes. Previous research also found that individual
assessment of e-HRM applications influences strategic HRM effectiveness. They examined the
contribution of e-HRM applications, namely e-recruitment, e-selection, e-training and
e-payroll to heighten HRM effectiveness (Ruel, Bandarouk, & Velde; 2009). We specify
e-HRM as the contribution to improve our traditional HRM system to be strategic and
transformative in order to achieve good governance and sustainability. We focus on strategic
HRM for several issues including the fit between human resource management practices and
organizational strategic goals such as cost reduction, integrate HR functions into a single portal,
improve HR professionals in terms of service delivery and qualified public servants’ retention
(Wright & McMahan, 1999). Alcázar, Fernandez, and Gardey (2005) characterized strategic
HRM as sets of organizational practices, policies, and various mechanisms for an organization to
manage human capital for short and long term goals.

Organizational Performance

The word performance is widely used in all fields of management. In the context of this study,
human resource management (HRM) is described as those actions and/or decisions that may
likely be associated with organizational performance. Organizational performance is vital in
strategic management. It refers primarily on the capability of an organization in achieving its
vision, mission, and goals (Mitchell, ‎2002). Assessing organizational performance is a vital
aspect of strategic management in terms of human resources. Executives must know how well
their organizations are performing to figure out what strategic changes, if any, to make.
e-HRM to HRM Effectiveness Towards Organizational Performance in the Public Sector 27

Performance is a very complex concept, however, and a lot of attention needs to be paid to how
it is assessed. Essentially, this is what we are speaking about when we refer to organizational
performance and achievement of successful outcomes. Human resource management has a
significant effect on the organizational performance, whether public employees are working to
maximum capacity and they are highly motivated (Esra, 2010). For the public organization’s
purpose of organizational performance development is to support people work together and to
build a great or an effective pubic organization. Good organizational performance management is
fundamentally about good management (Richard et al., 2009). Furthermore, the management of
organizational performance should integrate the performance management with the management
of individual performance.

Elements of e-HRM Acceptance

A causal analysis of e-HRM acceptance and its direct association with strategic HRM and its
direct and indirect relationship with organizational performance is discussed in this section.
Based on various arguments on the role of e-HRM acceptance discussed below, we
hypothesized that; the extent of e-HRM acceptance in the organization could directly as well
as indirectly affect organizational performance as mediated by strategic HRM. Each of the
hypothesized relationships is described here.

Facilitating Conditions of e-HRM

The adoption and use of information technology (IT) have been associated with a variety of
benefits such as improved productivity, increased effectiveness and improved decision
making (Kim & Malhotra, 2005). However, IT cannot realize its potential or yield any
advantage without the skill, knowledge, and ability on IT and if it cannot be utilized at all (see Lin
et al., 1993). There is an ongoing interest in the investigation of environmental elements within
an organization that can assist or impede the adoption and/or use of technology. Previous
research has shown that an environment which facilitates the use of computers by providing
assistance to technology users can reduce the potential obstacles to technology use (Heilman et
al., 2002).
Facilitating conditions as described by Venkatesh et al. (2003) as “the degree to which an
individual believes that an organizational and technical infrastructure exists to support the use of
the system” (p. 453). In this study, the facilitating conditions include the necessary support from
the HR and IT department to provide education and help to the employees. It also include
28 Veomanee Meunluang & Reginald Ugaddan

technical infrastructure that provides a highly available and responsive system to the users.
Furthermore, facilitating conditions also has been shown to affect the use of e-government as
well on public accessible computers (Rensel et al., 2006) and perceived trust in wireless mobile
environments and the intention to adopt mobile technology (Lu et al., 2005).
New technological opportunities are a bridge that could help the two sides of the
networking relationship. For public organizations, e-HRM solutions are a capable of
supporting organizational flexibility and knowledge sharing (Strohmeier, 2007). This factor
refers to the frequent use of ICT to support organizational innovations (Kim & Heras, 2012).
Public sector employees are allowed to apply information technology via internet expansion to
encourage job productivity, such as facilitating communication through email and other
electronic means. In the present organizational conditions, we cannot deny that
state-of-the-art technological devices greatly influences the way of life as well as how things
were done in the public sector organizations. The facilitating conditions, such as
organizational orientation towards technological use to innovate HRM practices,
organizational support, and proactive behavior towards e-HRM can largely influence the
transformation of strategic HRM effectiveness and enhance organizational performance.
Thus, we hypothesize:

Hypotheses 1: Facilitating conditions of e-HRM will be directly and positively related with (a) strategic
HRM and (b) organizational performance.

Hypotheses 2: Strategic HRM mediates the relationship between facilitating conditions of e-HRM and
organizational performance.

Clarity of e-HRM Goals

The goals of E-HRM technology implementation of a specific organization have an

influence on the use of technology. For a large size organization has defined the goals that aim
to provide HR services to the end-users, otherwise they claimed that it might lead to
unintended use of the technology (Parry & Tyson, 2011). Ruël (2001) elaborated on the clarity
of spirit of office technology means that the spirit of the technology value should lead to the
right user behavior of end-users on the appropriation of the e-HRM technology. However, the
e-HRM goals could be considered as the framework that should lead to the intended use of the
technology by end-users. It is therefore important that these e-HRM goals are known and
understood by the end-users of the technology. It is expected that when end-user understand
the e-HRM goals and the intended effects of the e-HRM technology, it will positively affect the
e-HRM to HRM Effectiveness Towards Organizational Performance in the Public Sector 29

use of the e-HRM technology which is expected to lead to the intended use of the technology.
Goal clarity of e-HRM in relation with the organization goals can make things possible
within the ambit of technological adoption. For instance, recruitment process in the
organizations that seeks to inform and obtain applications from diverse and/or targeted job
market can be initiated in a technological platform (Cober et al.; 2004). Some organizations
strive to free HR professionals to a more strategic tasks (Huselid, 2004) and facilitate more
optional career paths to apply for job vacancies. With this, HR professionals will be able to use
time for strategic aspects of HRM. Other organizations strive for a better financial performance
(Buckley et al., 2004). It’s interesting to note that a typical argument in the e-HRM
implementation aims at decreasing process and administration costs. Therefore, it can
simultaneously influence the strategic direction of HRM as well as the organizational
performance. In this regard, we hypothesized:

Hypotheses 3: Goal clarity of e-HRM will be directly and positively related with (a) strategic HRM and (b)
organizational performance.

Hypotheses 4: Strategic HRM mediates the relationship between goal clarity of e-HRM and
organizational performance.

Job Relevance

E-HRM is not an HRM developmental stage, but rather a choice approach to enhance HRM.
Snell, Pedigo and Krawiec (1995) suggest that to determine IT as the backbone of HR
department, which moves along e-HRM, information technology might influence the structural
integration within HRM systems in three ways—operational, relational, transformational HRM
(see also Ruël et al., 2004; Strohmeier, 2007). The e-HRM can potentially influence HRM
functions both with regards the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization (Shashank,
2010). Efficiency can be related on reducing process times for paperwork, data accuracy, and
headcount staff in public organizations. Effectiveness can be observed from enhancing the
capacities of leaders and civil servants to make things better and timely decision (Edward,
2005). Therefore, e-HRM “enables the human resource functions gain the opportunity in
creating new avenues in contributing to organizational effectiveness” (Lengnick-Hall & Moritz,
2003, p.366).
As a popular notion, e-HRM technology could be relevant in the organization if it
incorporates HRM functions that are practiced and germane in the organization. We argue
that the applicability of e-HRM functions would be able to influence its utilization, hence will
30 Veomanee Meunluang & Reginald Ugaddan

consequently influence the strategic HRM effectiveness and the organizational performance.

Hypotheses 5: Job relevance of e-HRM will be directly and positively related with (a) strategic HRM and
(b) organizational performance.

Hypotheses 6: Strategic HRM mediates the relationship between job relevance of e-HRM and
organizational performance.

Perceived Ease of Use

Davis (1989) stated that the ease of use denotes the degree to which a person believes that
using a particular system would be free of effort. In general, e-HRM users can distinctly
approach ease of use of e-HRM applications, both in a short and long time perspective. Moore
and Benbasat (1991) suggested that the degree to which an innovation is perceived as being
difficult to use may affect the adoption and /or use of such innovation. The nature of public
organization employees are diverse and have varying learning and coping mechanism. It was
initially thought that people can get along with the system in a short period of time and they
would easily learn to use the system, but actually officials may still take a long time such as in
three years to achieve widespread adoption. If an e-HRM technology is in place, there is a
need integrate HRD interventions such as training and development, communicate the proper
use of the technology, and implement mastery and regular utilization of the new system. The
ease of usage of e-HRM depends on time and practice. Operational e-HRM systems were the
quickest in terms ease of use.
From the job relevance perspective, ease of use stems from the civil servants capability to
access HR system anytime and anywhere (Hawking, Stein and Foster 2004; Ruel et al. 2007).
Lepak and Snell (1998) suggested that the use of e-HRM can streamline transactional HR
processes and increase efficiency. We expect that public organization may use a sophisticated
e-HRM system that offers managers and public servants self-service HR mechanisms to
improve quality of service. Also, the ease of use of e-HRM could possibly hasten performance
of basic administrative tasks (Larsen & Brewster 2003; Whittaker & Marchington, 2003). We
argue that the perceived ease of use of e-HRM could influence the effectiveness of strategic
HRM as well as the organizational performance. Hence, the following hypotheses are
investigated:

Hypotheses 7: Perceived ease of use of e-HRM will be directly and positively related with (a) strategic
HRM and (b) organizational performance.
e-HRM to HRM Effectiveness Towards Organizational Performance in the Public Sector 31

Hypotheses 6: Strategic HRM mediates the relationship between perceived ease of use of e-HRM and
organizational performance.

Service Quality

The e-HRM system is a unique type of information system (IS) and is an important
component on the success of information system implementation. The self-service and
accessible nature of e-HRM can be the most affordable, efficient, and effective way to provide
specific HR activities (Parry, 2011). Delone and Mclean (1992) identified six major factors in
information system success, namely: the quality characteristics of the IS (system quality), the
quality of the output of the IS (information quality), consumption of the output of the IS (Use),
the IS user’s response to the IS (user satisfaction), the effect of the IS on the behavior of the
user (individual impact), and the effect of the IS on organizational performance.
Alshibly (2014) proposed an e-HRM success model which includes the following components;
information quality, system quality, service quality, use, user satisfaction, and perceived net
benefit. Service quality, which includes measures of the overall support related to e-HRM and
delivered by the service provider. In the service quality of e-HRM, success encompasses
responsiveness, reliability, empathy, and competence (Pitt et al., 1995). User satisfaction is the
affective attitude to an e-HRM of an employee who interacts directly with it (Doll & Torkzadeh,
1988). User satisfaction is considered one of the most important measures when investigating
overall IS success.
Service quality refers to how well public organization achieves the goals of e-HRM
implementation with regards IT infrastructure of HR system (Ruel et al., 2007). When public
organization has designed e-HRM, there is a need to prepare and improve the core
communication system of the organization (Alshibly, 2014). Parry and Tyson (2011) point out
that organization can perceive the service quality of HR system when there are pieces of
evidence that demonstrate user’s satisfaction to the time constraint, security protection of
data, and reliable personnel data record. Hence, we propose:

Hypotheses 8: Service quality of e-HRM will be directly and positively related with (a) strategic HRM and
(b) organizational performance.

Hypotheses 9: Strategic HRM mediates the relationship between service quality of use of e-HRM and
organizational performance.
32 Veomanee Meunluang & Reginald Ugaddan

HR Professional Improvement

The primordial aim e-HRM is to transform, innovate, and aid the HR professionals to
achieve organizational goals through technological support. The professional improvement
refers to the competency to do HR jobs by utilizing the advantage of technology assistant for
e-HRM innovation to drive effective HR department, especially in terms of service delivery to
civil servants (Bondarouk et al., 2002). The HR professionals can now avail a more effective
and efficient personnel information system, career development plans, and other HRM functions
under the auspices of state-of-the-art strategies. Lengnick-Hall and Moritz (2003) identified
three different levels of e-HRM depending on focus that helped HR professionals to perform
tasks in one way or the other. First, the communication process is fast and effective through an
information dissemination or publication process that utilizes web-based channels. Second,
e-HRM involves the automation of transactions, workflow, and departing from the paper-based
work system. This stage calls for a business process reengineering of the HRM functions. Last,
the transformation stage that denotes the innovation of HR functions—moving out from the
traditional ways of doing HRM duties.
Moreover, we emphasize to explore the certain value of e-HRM whether it can help the HR
professionals to achieve their long term goals of the transformational HR system. HR
professionals should take e-HRM into an account or not to support their works such as
accurate personnel data record for HR service improvement (Seddon et al., 1992). We argue
that bringing practical results to solve specific HR problems in our public sector, can possibly
increase work’s competency of HR professionals. Thus, we propose:

Hypotheses 10: HR professional improvement will be directly and positively related with (a) strategic
HRM and (b) organizational performance.

Hypotheses 11: Strategic HRM mediates the relationship between HR professional improvement and
organizational performance.

METHODS

Setting of the Study

This study was conducted with the employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Lao PDR,
including the subsidiaries of permanent representatives of Lao Embassies and Consulates in
e-HRM to HRM Effectiveness Towards Organizational Performance in the Public Sector 33

abroad—sixteen departments and thirty-eight subsidiaries with more or less 900 employees in
total. The samples in this study mostly consisted of rank-and-file employees and some who are
engaged in the human resource management functions from different offices, for example
from the Permanent Secretary Office, Inspection Department, Finance Department, and
Institute of Foreign Affairs.

Data Collection

The data were collected via an e-mail and web-based survey. Data collection employs a
simple random sampling method and unit of analysis is the government officials and
employees in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). Survey questionnaires are distributed
with the permission of the office to 300 public servants in MOFA. A total of 288 respondents
completed the survey. See Table 1 for the demographic characteristics of the respondents.

Measures

We performed exploratory factor analysis (EFA) through SPSS V.20 determine the
distinctiveness and reliability of factors used in the study. The results shows that Cronbach’s α
value ranged from .895 to .937 (see Appendix 1). Subsequently, we performed confirmatory
factor analysis (CFA) using AMOS to examine whether the variables in the model adequately
supported by the data. The model fit indices reveals that the model is well-supported by the data
— SRMR=.04, TLI=.930, CFI=.938, & RMSEA=.054. See Appendix 2 for the summarized the
measures employed in the study.
The survey items employed to characterize and measure the concepts in this study. See
Appendix 2 for the detailed information of the operationalization and representative indices
of each concept. All survey items use a 5-point Likert scale (Strongly Agree – Strong Disagree),
unless otherwise provided. There are five items for each variable to test the respondents’
attitudes on the consequences of e-HRM innovation to construct strategic HRM effectiveness
towards organizational performance.
34 Veomanee Meunluang & Reginald Ugaddan

Table 1. Demographic Characteristics of the Respondents

N Rate (%)
Gender Male 184 64%

Female 104 36%

Age 20-25 years 39 13.50%

26-30 years 94 32.60%

31-35 years 80 27.70%

36-40 years 41 14.20%

41-45 years 17 5.90%

46 or above 17 5.90%
Job Position Academic Staff 234 81.25%

D. Head of Division 31 10.76%

Head of Division 13 4.50%

D. Director General 6 2.08%

Director General 4 1.38%

Education level Higher Diploma 17 5.90%

Bachelor degree 199 69.09%

Master degree 65 22.56%

Doctorate (PHD) 3 1.04%

Others 4 1.38%
Work Experience 1-3 years 105 36.45%

4-6 years 51 17.70%

7-9 years 46 15.90%

10-12 years 31 10.70%

13-15 years 17 5.90%
16-19 years 15 5.20%
20 or above 23 7.98%
e-HRM to HRM Effectiveness Towards Organizational Performance in the Public Sector 35

RESULTS

Correlation Analysis

Table 2 shows the mean, standard deviations, and overall correlations among variables. The
strongest positive correlation was found among independent variables between clarity of
e-HRM goals and job relevance of (0.528, p<.01). This indicates that the employees intend to
emphasize on a set of clarity of e-HRM goals as a strong factor to determine the important HR
function on e-HRM adoption under the fundamental need of public organization. Facilitating
conditions have a strong positive relationship with clarity of e-HRM Goals (0.461, p<.01). As a
result of public servants see that sustainable technology infrastructure development and
frequent utilization of internet accessibility are critical to the e-HRM goals consideration. Ease
of use and Job relevance has a positive correlation (0.459, p<0.01), this means that from the
presented e-HRM application of e-recruitment, e-payroll, e-training, etc. related to the Job
relevance of HR functions. Some of e-HRM tools can facilitate or benefit HR department,
especially in line with administrative job to approach in a real time with accurate information
obtained. The following highest correlation is among HR professional improvement and
facilitating conditions (0.374, p0.01) which means that HR professionals need technology
support as a facilitating condition with internet accessibility and specific HR software such as
payroll software, statistic software, etc. in order to deal with a large number of government
officials in a public sector organization in a broad and effective HR department.
Also, job relevance has a positive correlation with facilitating conditions (0.267, p<0.01).
Strategic HRM effectiveness is positively correlated with facilitating conditions (0.165, p<0.01)
and job relevance (0.220, p<0.01). Lastly, organizational performance correlates to facilitating
conditions (0.255, p<0.01), clarity of e-HRM goals (0.190, p<0.01), and HR professional
improvement (0.241, p<0.01).

SEM Results

The SEM tests the hypothesized relationships proposed in the model by determining the
fitness of the model and account for the parameter estimates in each of the drawn linkages.
The structural equation modeling (SEM) performed in AMOS allows the fitting of the model by
either adjusting the hypothesized model and/or employ modification indices (MI) (see
Arbuckle, 2005). The model computes a model fit index composed of several indicators of fit:
RMSEA <.052, CFI>.937, and NFI >.930 suggesting a well-fitting model (Joreskog & Sorbom,
36 Veomanee Meunluang & Reginald Ugaddan

1993). See Figure 2 for the SEM model.

The results of SEM analysis are shown in Table 3. The Path coefficient indicates HR
professional improvement (0.326; p<0.001.) and clarity of e-HRM Goals (0.195; p<0.001.) are
positively and significantly related with strategic HRM effectiveness. Also, the strategic HRM
effectiveness is highly and positively related with organizational performance development by
(0.351; p<0.001). The results also shows that facilitating conditions is positively and
significantly related with organizational performance (0.154; p<0.05). Noticeably, the
association of ease of use on strategic HRM is negative and significant (-0.141; p<0.05). All
other relationships showed non-significant results.
Furthermore, Education of public servants also has a negative effect on organizational
performance development (-0.020; C.R.=-0.295) including employee’s position has a negative
impact on organizational performance (0.068; C.R.=1.201), and two of these variables aren’t
statistically significant at the level of p<0.05.
The detailed report of the estimates for each of the parameter is presented in Table 3.

Table 2. Means, standard deviations and correlations variables

Variables Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 8 8 8
Gender - - 1

Job Position 3.19 .69 -.118* 1

Education Level 4.57 1.26 .039 .221** 1

Facilitating Conditions 3.94 .62 -.102 .078 -.011 1

Clarity of Goals 3.54 .68 -.045 .004 .008 .461** 1

Job Relevance 3.77 .66 .029 -.047 -.019 .267** .528** 1

Ease of Use 3.63 .75 .091 -.094 .051 .204** .242** .459** 1

Service Quality 3.67 .62 .092 .058 -.086 .017 .016 -.013 .018 1
HR Prof. Improvement 3.50 .75 -.033 .073 -.044 .374** .274** -.245** .347** .092 1

SHRM 3.71 .66 -.014 .053 .010 .165** .300** .220** .059 -.075 .328** 1
Org’l Performance 3.78 .72 .093 .086 -.011 .255** .190** .101 .036 -.003 .241** .372** 1
* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (two-tailed).
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed).
*** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed).
e-HRM to HRM Effectiveness Towards Organizational Performance in the Public Sector 37

Figure 2. Results of Structural Equation Model (SEM)

Overall Fit Indexes of the Structural Equation Model (SEM) Summary

Model GFI AGFI SRMR RFI NFI TLI CFI RMSEA
Suggested Cut-off
>.90 >.85 <.05 >.90 >.90 >.90 >.90 <.08
Values
Proposed Model
.824 .794 .040 .853 .868 .930 .937 .052
Score
38 Veomanee Meunluang & Reginald Ugaddan

Table 3. Results of Structural Equation Model (SEM)

Independent and Dependent Variables Direction Estimate S.E C.R. P
HR Professional Strategic HRM
→ + .326 .058 5.655 ***
Improvement Effectiveness
Strategic HRM
Ease of Use → + -.141 .060 -2.361 .018
Effectiveness
Strategic HRM
Facilitating Conditions → - -.075 .067 -1.112 .266
effectiveness
Strategic HRM
Service Quality → - -.087 .057 -1.533 .125
effectiveness
Strategic HRM
Clarity of e-HRM Goals → + .195 .061 3.202 .001
effectiveness
Strategic HRM
Job Relevance → - .109 .080 1.367 .172
effectiveness
Organizational
Position → - .068 .057 1.201 .230
Performance
Strategic HRM Organizational
→ + .351 .085 4.132 ***
effectiveness Performance
Organizational
Education → - -.020 .069 -.295 .768
Performance
Organizational
Gender → + .235 .089 2.637 .008
Performance
HR Professional Organizational
→ - .098 .072 1.358 .174
Improvement Performance
Organizational
Job Relevance → - -.107 .095 -1.120 .263
Performance
Organizational
Clarity of e-HRM Goals → - .088 .073 1.205 .228
Performance
Organizational
Service Quality → - -.028 .068 -.410 .682
Performance
Organizational
Facilitating Conditions → + .154 .080 1.923 .054
Performance
Organizational
Ease of Use → - -.007 .071 -.104 .917
Performance
*p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001

Bootstrapping Mediation Analysis

To assess whether Strategic HRM effectiveness mediates the effects of a set of e-HRM
acceptance elements—facilitating conditions, clarity of e-HRM goals, job relevance, ease of
use, service quality, and HR professional improvement on outcome variable of organizational
performance development. In this analysis, we employed the bootstrapping method with bias
e-HRM to HRM Effectiveness Towards Organizational Performance in the Public Sector 39

corrected confidence estimates (Ugaddan, 2014), utilized 5000 bootstrap samples based, and
applied 95% level of confidence for all confidence intervals in output. The results of the
mediation analyses verified the mediating role of strategic HRM effectiveness on the relationship
between independent variables align with e-HRM components assessment and dependent
variable of organizational performance: facilitating conditions (ß=0.23, CI=-.01 to 0.12; partial
mediation); clarity of e-HRM goals (ß=0.09, CI=0.06 to 0.16; full mediation); Job relevance
(ß= -0.02, CI= 0.04 to 0.14; No mediation); Ease of use (ß= -0.01, CI= -0.01 to 0.06; No
mediation); Service quality (ß= 0.02, CI= -0.09 to 0.02; No mediation); and HR professional
improvement (ß=0.01, CI=-0.06 to 0.16; full mediation). To sum up, strategic HRM
effectiveness mediates the relationship between three independent variables on the assessment
of e-HRM acceptance associated with facilitating conditions, clarity of e-HRM goals; HR
professional improvement and organizational performance (see Table 4 below).

Table 4. Verification of Mediating Effects (Bootstrapping Analysis)

Path BootLLCI-
β p-value Mediation
X Mediator Y BootULCI
Facilitating Strategic HRM Organizational
.23 .01 to .12 .000 Partial
Conditions Effectiveness Performance
Clarity of e-HRM Strategic HRM Organizational
.09 .06 to .16 .001 Full
Goals Effectiveness Performance
Strategic HRM Organizational
Job Relevance .02 -.04 to .14 .086 No
Effectiveness Performance
Strategic HRM Organizational
Ease of Use .01 -.01 to .06 .546 No
Effectiveness Performance
Strategic HRM Organizational
Service Quality .02 -.09 to .02 .959 No
Effectiveness Performance
HR Professional Strategic HRM Organizational
.01 .06 to .16 .000 Full
Improvement effectiveness Performance

Discussion

As this research strongly introduced the impact of e-HRM innovation as a means to enhance
a long term effectiveness of HRM functions, this study identified the critical predictors of
strategic HRM and organizational delving on e-HRM acceptance in the public sector. As a
result of hypothesis verification of structural equation modeling (SEM), three substantial
hypotheses were constituted and supported in this study. The majority of results and
implications of hypothesis verification performed are presented in this section.
First, the empirical results suggest that HR professional improvement has a positive and
40 Veomanee Meunluang & Reginald Ugaddan

significant relationship with strategic HRM effectiveness towards organizational performance

development, hence confirms Hypothesis 10. The finding proves that there is a consistency with
the previous studies conducted by CITD (2007) and Ruël, Bondarouk, and Looise (2004) on the
new technology of e-HRM innovation acceptance. However, the result indicates that strategic
HRM effectiveness will be enacted if HR professionals receive the advantage of technology to
support their work. HR professionals will obtain job motivation and job satisfaction when they can
do the HR job well without bias and pressure among working environment. The development time
spent on HR activities by HR professionals is more important than end users for public servants,
who oppose the past research investigated by Lepak and Snell (1998).
Second, the empirical finding implies that clarity of e-HRM goals is positively and
significantly associated with strategic HRM effectiveness, hence confirms Hypothesis 3. This
finding is consistent with previous studies of Ruël and colleagues (2004) on e-HRM: Innovation
or Irritation. Efficiency and productivity are the ideal goals of e-HRM adoption. This criterion
should determine the setting of the right and appropriate e-HRM goals. As Maatman (2006)
found that clarity of e-HRM goals is crucial in determining the effectiveness of e-HRM. Indeed,
from the previous qualitative research they also found that introduction of e-HRM goal affects
HR professional reduction (Parry & Tyson, 2006). However, our findings do not support the
argument that an e-HRM goal allows human resource reduction. We thought that cost reduction
should be emphasized on other transactional tasks. This is a surprising finding because
cost-saving goal is not achieved and emphasized but rather the reduction of manpower in the
organization (Hendrickson 2003; Ruel et al. 2006; Martin et al. 2008).
Third, the results of the analyses indicate that on the assessment of e-HRM associated with
facilitating conditions, job relevance, ease of use, and service quality have a negative effect
and no significant relationship with a strategic HRM effectiveness factor. These findings are
consistent with the research finding of Ruel, Bondarouk, and Velde (2007), differed by Parry
(2011), and Wahyudi and Park (2014). Dispute of these findings are not consistent with previous
studies. For example, Strohmeier (2007) found that research on e-HRM so far has shown that it
alleviates the administrative burden and improves the accuracy of results and quality of HR
activities. It leads to better information responsiveness and more information autonomy.
Bondarouk and Ruel (2009) also confirmed that e-HRM usage produces a higher service quality
consisting of a decrease in informational errors, improvement in tracking and control of HR
actions, service delivery improvement, and an increase in transaction speed.
The mediation analysis shows that strategic HRM mediates the relationship between
facilitating conditions and organizational performance confirming Hypothesis 2. As a
consequence, facilitating conditions of the internet and email use can’t support so much on
e-HRM to HRM Effectiveness Towards Organizational Performance in the Public Sector 41

public servant’s tasks, but strategic HRM effectiveness can make it possible through
organizational performance if organizations maintain those kinds of technology. Also, the
mediation analysis proved that strategic HRM mediates clarity of e-HRM goals and
organizational performance, hence confirming Hypothesis 4. Also, the relationship between
HR professional improvement and organizational performance is mediated by the strategic
HRM confirming Hypothesis 11.
This research affirmed that e-HRM to strategic HRM effectiveness creation towards
organizational performance is substantially influenced by the human resource management
strength (HRMS). What findings that we found really demonstrating that what the most
important transformation and improvement of our public organization required are. Strategic
HRM effectiveness will be created through organizational performance development by HR
professional improvement and appropriate goal setting of e-HRM usage. The public sector
should explore the new innovation for work motivation and support the positive change with
generating consistent policy.

CONCLUSION

From the public sector organization perspective, the serious issues and challenges of HR
functions are related and are mainly skewed on administrative job, for example, no accuracy
and transparency in the payroll system, personnel data files record, poor job motivation and
satisfaction, duplicating works, and non-work flow within the organization. The empirical
findings of this study proved that, the e-HRM associated with clarity of e-HRM goals and HR
professional improvement have positive and significant impacts on strategic HRM
effectiveness. Additionally, the assessment of e-HRM associated with facilitating conditions
positively and significantly affect on organizational performance. However, out of three
variables were found as observed predictors of facilitating conditions, job relevance, and
service quality which have negative and no significant effects on strategic HRM effectiveness
creation. Furthermore, five factors, specifically clarity of e-HRM goals, job relevance, and ease
of use, service quality, and HR professional improvement among independent variables also
have no positive and significant effects on organizational performance. Somehow, previous
studies both support and not support these findings. From the structural equation modeling
(SEM) test, we confirm that strategic HRM effectiveness positively and significantly affect on
organizational performance. As a consequence, the study strongly suggests that public sector
organizations must endeavor to integrate various mechanisms that may strengthen the HR
42 Veomanee Meunluang & Reginald Ugaddan

professionalism that may enhance the strategic HRM effectiveness. This is plain and simple—it
suggests an adoption of HRD interventions such as training and development, proper orientation
and communication approaches that can bring skills, knowledge and abilities at a high level.
Trained and capable HR professionals can bring significant changes to bring strategic and
innovative development for HRM in the public organizations—such as adoption of e-HRM.

Theoretical Implications

In this study, there are several theoretical implications for e-HRM research dimension, since
many scholars made efforts to contribute to the existing theories. From the very beginning as we
noted earlier, the public sector organizations is confronted with the various issues in human
resource management. The results of this research strongly support HR professional improvement
through e-HRM usage aligned with clarity of e-HRM goals setting to build HRM more strategic in
order to deal with human capital. Apparently, this research provides unambiguous evidence
through the assessment of e-HRM associated with facilitating conditions, job relevance, and
service quality which have no positive and significant effects on strategic HRM factor. Importantly,
facilitating conditions are always available for a direct organizational performance and indirect
effect across the mediating effect of strategic HRM effectiveness towards organizational
performance. In comparison, although those factors have been supported since the virtual
circumstance is a foundation, there is no evidence that links ease of use and service quality can
predict employee’s perceptions of strategic HRM effectiveness. These demonstrates that clarity of
e-HRM goal setting and HR professional improvement have positive and significant effects on the
strategic HRM effectiveness; and the facilitating condition’s role on organizational performance.
These apparent issues imply that before e-HRM will be implemented, it is fundamental to
determine and clarity of e-HRM goals—and that such goals should be in congruence with the
people and organization. Specifically, the strategic and main goal of e-HRM should aim to tackle
the virtual HR issue of HR professional improvement as a strategic HRM effectiveness creation and
improve organizational performance.
The result indicates that a wide spread of internet and technology usage involved facilitating
conditions, an explicit goal setting of e-HRM, and HR professional improvement perspective
enable to bring HRM more strategic towards organizational performance in the virtual e-HRM
initiative.
e-HRM to HRM Effectiveness Towards Organizational Performance in the Public Sector 43

Policy Implication and Recommendation

This study has some implications for practice and it provides an insight to the current public
organization. It is important to find out the right strategy in order to maintain the maximize
benefit and enhance well-being of the public sector employees. This study, through the analysis
of the relationship of research variables found that technical strategies such as facilitating
conditions, ease of use, job relevance, service quality of e-HRM assessment, are weak in the
public organizations. Furthermore, this research adequately gives distinct results of e-HRM
usage that HR professionals tend to be more supported by e-HRM usage rather than end user’s
purpose. As a public organization needs to convince the privacy issue and HR system will be
secured from cybercrime, laws and regulations must be in place to ensure protection against
computer hackers. In was also found that the HR department will become a strategic partner
among another department; since civil servants recommend that e-HRM may provide
transparency, accountability, and maintains benefits for all by HR professionals.

Limitations and Further Research

This study has a few limitations that should be considered when making the crucial
decision. This research aimed at providing empirical evidence to test the hypotheses that
e-HRM as a means to enact strategic HRM effectiveness towards organizational performance
through quantitative research. First of all, respondents were mainly taken from the MOFA—
which is not the representative of the whole Lao civil servants in the public sector. This may
bring an issue as to the reliability—interpreting the results to a greater context. There is a
limitation to the data and collection process. These issues might lead to potential shortages,
which relate to the reliability and accuracy of the estimates. As we employed a tool of online
survey via KwikSurveys, so it might have bias in the survey distribution. Moreover, more than
two-third of respondents was dominated by males, which can be determined as the bias issue
of non-diversity in respondents’ attitudes, and thus be very cautious in generalizing the
results.
Thus, future studies may take into a larger sample size representing various agencies in the
public sector. Further research is also needed to analyze on the theory concerning the stage
approach to a specific e-HRM application on job relevance, such as e-Recruitment,
e-Selection, and e-payroll system in practical and technical e-HRM implementation.
Moreover, researchers can show the real effects of a virtual e-HRM tool for a long term
perspective, and how do they influence HR professional improvement in a wide range of
44 Veomanee Meunluang & Reginald Ugaddan

effective HR department and public organization.

NOTE

[1] This research article is an abridged and developed version from the master's thesis of
Veomanee in fulfillment of her Master's Degree in Public Administration (e-Government &
e-Policy) in the Graduate School of Governance, Sungkyunkwan, University.

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Appendix 1. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)

Factor
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Strategic HRM effectiveness 3 .942
Strategic HRM effectiveness 2 .901
Strategic HRM effectiveness 1 .774
SHRME (Cronbach’s Alpha: 0.917)
Strategic HRM effectiveness 4 .750
Strategic HRM effectiveness 5 .729
Strategic HRM effectiveness 6 .700
HR professional improvement 5 .937
HR professional improvement 4 .937
HR professional improvement 3 .925 HRPI (Cronbach's Alpha: 0.937)
HR professional improvement 2 .844
HR professional improvement 1 .684
Organizational Performance 2 .917
Organizational Performance 4 .908
Organizational Performance 5 .901 OrgP (Cronbach's Alpha: 0.924)
Organizational Performance 3 .795
Organizational Performance 6 .626
Job Relevance 3 .910
Job Relevance 4 .824
Job Relevance 5 .805 JR (Cronbach's Alpha: 0.905)
Job Relevance 2 .733
Job Relevance 1 .699
Clarity of e-HRM Goals 3 .904
Clarity of e-HRM Goals 4 .898
Clarity of e-HRM Goals 2 .792 CG (Cronbach's Alpha: 0.906)
Clarity of e-HRM Goals 5 .754
Clarity of e-HRM Goals 1 .647
Service Quality 3 .922
Service Quality 1 .871
Service Quality 2 SQ (Cronbach's Alpha: 0.937) .835
Service Quality 4 .638
Service Quality 5 .630
Transformational Leadership 4 .906
Transformational Leadership 5 .894
TL (Cronbach's Alpha: 0.917)
Transformational Leadership 3 .813
Transformational Leadership 2 .768
Facilitating Conditions 3 .949
Facilitating Conditions 1 .902
FC (Cronbach's Alpha: 0.895)
Facilitating Conditions 4 .776
Facilitating Conditions 2 .607
Ease of Use 4 .940
Ease of Use 5 EU (Cronbach's Alpha: 0.902) .811
Ease of Use 3 .808
a. Extraction Method: Maximum Likelihood, Rotation Method: Promax with Kaiser Normalization. Rotation
converged in 7 iterations.
e-HRM to HRM Effectiveness Towards Organizational Performance in the Public Sector 49

Appendix 2. Measurements
Number Level of
Independent of Items/ Measurement
Concept Operationalization References
Variables Question 1-5 (Strongly
Numbers disagree-agree)
•Computer and Internet use
•Technology advantages (5 Items) Heilman et
Facilitating
•Email and Fax use Question 1, Likert scale al., 2002 &
Conditions
•Automation support work Items 1-5 Esra, 2010
•HRM software need
Clarity of Integration of HR functions (5 Items) Likert scale Ruel et al.,
e-HRM Cost reduction of paperless Question 2, 2004 &
goals HR professionals reduction Items 6-10 parry, 2011;
HR service quality provision
Meaningful technology
assistance
Job •Applying job via HR web-based (5 Items) Likert scale Snell, Pedigo
relevance •E-recruitment and e-selection Question 3, & Krawiec;
•E-document Items 11-15 1995
•Payroll Software support
•E-HRM with long term HRM
Ease of use Database accessibility for HR (5 Items) Likert scale Davis, 1989;
staffs Question 4, Hendrickson,
Assessment
Automatic payroll index update Items 16-20 2003
of E-HRM
Personnel files record approach
acceptance
Linkage a unified statistical
system
HR Syst .access anytime &
anywhere
Service •E-HRM with org development (5 Items) Likert scale
Quality goal Question 5, Parry &
•Good HR services provider Items 21-25 Tyson, 2011;
•Problem-solving in real time Ruel et
•Show transparency and al.,2007
partiality
•Diplomatic support with HR
system
HR •Increase HR job’s competency (5 Items) Likert scale Bandarouk,
professional •IT knowledge and skills training Question 6, 2002;
improvement •Perceive MoFa principle and Items 26-30 Ghazzawil et
policies al., 2014
•Duplicate work eradication
•Job motivation and Satisfaction
Effective HR Strategic E-HRM technology support (6 Items) Likert scale Fernandez &
organization HRM HRM Question 7, Gardey,
effectiveness Building strategic partner of HR Items 31-36 2005; Wright
Good governance of civil service &McMahan,
Talented and qualified staff 1999
retention
50 Veomanee Meunluang & Reginald Ugaddan

Contribution of online service

policy
HR professional improvement
Organization Organizationa •Job satisfaction and anti-bias (6 Items) Likert scale James, 2012;
change l performance •Job incentives with morale Question 8, Mitchell,
•Trust in transparent Items 37-42 2002; Esra,
organization 2010
•Transform communication
culture
•Teamwork’s competency and
solidarity development
Benefifor all and staff wellbeing

Veomanee Meunluang works at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lao PDR and earned her MPA
(e-Government & e-Policy) in the Graduate School of Governance, Sungkyunkwan University
(veomofa@hotmail.com).

Reginald Ugaddan is a Researcher in the Research Center for Public Human Resource
Development, Sungkyunkwan University (rgu1216@skku.edu).

Received: December 5, 2015

Accepted with one revision: December 18, 2015