Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech, Spain
This study examines the implementation of human resource analytics (HRA) through an analysis of 196 job postings collected over 12 months in Spain. Drawing on signaling theory and the HRM-as-practice framework, we investigate how organizations configure HRA roles and practices. Our findings reveal three key insights. First, we identify a plurality of HRA roles beyond specialized analysts, including analytics-enabled human resources (HR) professionals, challenging the traditional dichotomy between HRA and HR roles. Second, we propose understanding HRA practices as interconnected bundles that vary according to role orientation, HRA maturity, and contextual characteristics. Third, we find significant sectorial variations in HRA implementation, with technology-intensive sectors showing more advanced analytics capabilities compared to manufacturing and labor-intensive service sectors. Through two contextualized case studies, we demonstrate how organizations configure complementary HRA roles through different organizational structures. This study contributes to HRA literature by extending the HRA-as-practice framework with context-sensitive insights and providing empirical evidence of sectorial influence on HRA implementation and practices. Our findings offer practical guidance for organizations in designing HRA roles and configuring practice bundles based on their specific contexts and needs.
