The Challenges of Algorithm-Based HR Decision-Making for Personal Integrity

• Published in: Journal of business ethics Vol. 160; no. 2; pp. 377 - 392
• Main Authors: Leicht-Deobald, Ulrich, Busch, Thorsten, Schank, Christoph, Weibel, Antoinette, Schafheitle, Simon, Wildhaber, Isabelle, Kasper, Gabriel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer 01.12.2019; Springer Netherlands; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Algorithms; Bias; Business and Management; Business Ethics; Civil society; Compliance; Data analysis; Decision making; Education; Employee behavior; Ethics; Information literacy; Management; Morality; Original Paper; Philosophy; Quality of Life Research; Technology; Workplaces; Critical algorithm studies; Moral imagination; Personal integrity; Workplace monitoring; Algorithm-based decision-making
• ISSN: 0167-4544; 1573-0697; 1573-0697
• DOI: 10.1007/s10551-019-04204-w

Organizations increasingly rely on algorithm-based HR decision-making to monitor their employees. This trend is reinforced by the technology industry claiming that its decision-making tools are efficient and objective, downplaying their potential biases. In our manuscript, we identify an important challenge arising from the efficiency-driven logic of algorithm-based HR decision-making, namely that it may shift the delicate balance between employees' personal integrity and compliance more in the direction of compliance. We suggest that critical data literacy, ethical awareness, the use of participatory design methods, and private regulatory regimes within civil society can help overcome these challenges. Our paper contributes to literature on workplace monitoring, critical data studies, personal integrity, and literature at the intersection between HR management and corporate responsibility.