Why Do Swiss HR Departments Dislike Algorithms in Their Recruitment Process? An Empirical Analysis

Abstract

This study investigates the factors influencing the aversion of Swiss HRM departments to algorithmic decision-making in the hiring process. Based on a survey provided to 324 private and public HR professionals, it explores how privacy concerns, general attitude toward AI, perceived threat, personal development concerns, and personal well-being concerns, as well as control variables such as gender, age, time with organization, and hierarchical position, influence their algorithmic aversion. Its aim is to understand the algorithmic aversion of HR employees in the private and public sectors. The following article is based on three PLS-SEM structural equation models. Its main findings are that privacy concerns are generally important in explaining aversion to algorithmic decision-making in the hiring process, especially in the private sector. Positive and negative general attitudes toward AI are also very important, especially in the public sector. Perceived threat also has a positive impact on algorithmic aversion among private and public sector respondents. While personal development concerns explain algorithmic aversion in general, they are most important for public actors. Finally, personal well-being concerns explain algorithmic aversion in both the private and public sectors, but more so in the latter, while our control variables were never statistically significant. This said, this article makes a significant contribution to explaining the causes of the aversion of HR departments to recruitment decision-making algorithms. This can enable practitioners to anticipate these various points in order to minimize the reluctance of HR professionals when considering the implementation of this type of tool.