Human-Resource Digital Transformation Trends in Private Universities in India

The digital transformation is reshaping the functioning of academic, administrative and human-resource operations in higher education institutions. The study focuses on the implementation of digital HR in the private Universities of India, specifically on the following digital HR practices: payroll automation, employee self-service, online recruitment, digital performance appraisal, learning management systems, artificial intelligence (AI), and HR analytics. The descriptive survey design was adopted and the data were obtained from 60 HR professionals and administrative personnel in private higher education institutions. The results indicate that high adoption of payroll automation and employee self-service portals and on the other hand, AI-based recruitment and HR analytics are still in their early stages. Financial challenges, employee resistance, lack of digital skills, integration of systems and data-security issues are the main challenges identified. The results have shown that the HR automation process in private Universities is moving from simple automation to more sophisticated and data-oriented HR processes; however, sophisticated digital HR is still at its beginning stage.