Impact of e-HRM systems on quality of competency assessment in Indian public sector organisations

Abstract

As public sector organisations are migrating from traditional to web-based competency assessment methods globally, it becomes crucial to know about the perspective of employees towards the quality of competency assessment enhancement after implementation of e-HRM. This research aims to capture the same. The methodology used in the study includes case-based exploration of three large public sector organisations with onward journey transitioning from paper-based competency assessment to e-HRM systems-based competency assessment for enhanced quality. A study is conducted in a group of 506 employees in two different phases' viz. pre-web portal phase and post-web portal phase. The findings indicate that the web-based portal for e-HRM had no significant effect on the employee perceptions of overall quality of competency assessment programs (CAPs) but resulted in improved perceptions of transparency and directness in the sample organisations. The study makes an important contribution towards a shift in the assessment of system-based interventions for performance improvement of public sector employees in India. The paper has significant implications for similar transitions in competency assessments in developing or developed countries' public system management.