Technological optimistic voices assume that, from a technical perspective, the IT possibilities for HRM are endless: in principal all HR processes can be supported by IT. E-HRM is the relatively new term for this IT supported HRM, especially through the use of web technology. This paper aims at demystifying e-HRM by answering the following questions: what actually is e-HRM?, what are the goals of starting with e-HRM?, what types can be distinguished? and what are the outcomes of e-HRM? Based upon the literature, an e-HRM research model is developed and, guided by this model, five organizations have been studied that have already been on the 'e-HR road' for a number of years. We conclude that the goals of e-HRM are mainly to improve HR's administrative efficiency/to achieve cost reduction. Next to this goals, international companies seem to use the introduction of e-HRM to standardize/harmonize HR policies and processes. Further, there is a 'gap' between e-HRM in a technical sense and e-HRM in a practical sense in the five companies involved in our study. Finally, e-HRM hardly helped to improve employee competences, but resulted in cost reduction and a reduction of the administrative burden.

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This introduction has become a reflection on a two-year debate during the e-HRM and HRIS conferences and therefore echoes the latest discussions about e-HRM research and its role within organizations from both HR-and IT-centred studies. We view e-HRM as an umbrella term covering the integration of HRM and IT, aimed at creating value for targeted employees and managers. This editorial discusses key issues and new challenges in e-HRM research.

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Recognizing the importance for companies of having high-quality employment relationships with employees, previous studies have sought to explain the variability in employees' perceptions of HRM service value. However, most of these studies view employees as inactive in employment relationships and, therefore, do not consider whether employees' own attributes affect their perceptions of HRM service value. In accepting the alternative notion that consumers create value "in use, " the current study regards employees as active consumers of HRM practices, and so examines the extent and way in which employees' HRM competences (i.e., knowledge, skills, and abilities) explain the variability in HRM service value. Based on data collected from 2,002 employees in 19 companies in the Netherlands, a positive relationship has been found between employees' HRM competences and their perception of HRM service value, albeit one that is mediated by the perceived quality and nonmonetary costs of HRM services. The main implication of our fi ndings is that employees should be seen as active agents in employment relationships who, through coproducing and consuming HRM services as well as leveraging their knowledge and skills, infl uence the value of HRM services and have the potential to increase or undermine the outcomes of the employment relationship. An exclusive focus on the characteristics of the HRM service providers is also problematic in that it implies that employees are inactive in employment relationships and, hence, have no role in creating HRM service value.