Benefits of E-Recruitment on Human Resource Supply Chain Management - Dissertation Example

? Benefits of E-Recruitment on Human Resource Supply Chain Management Year of Executive Summary Purpose – Although research scholars have predicted that internet will be the future of recruitment and also predicted that sooner or later e-recruitment will replace other traditional recruitment sources, however till date there is not much literature available which investigates the relationship between benefits of e-recruitment and efficiency of human resource supply chain management from the perspective of Indian healthcare service industry. This paper aims to investigate how benefits of e-recruitment can help Indian healthcare service companies to improve their human resource supply chain management and achieve competitive advantage. Design/methodology– The researcher will use survey method for collecting data from HR managers of Indian healthcare companies and then take help of statistical tools in order to analyze the data. The researcher has taken help of diffusion of innovation theory (DIT) in order to formulate the research model. Findings – Benefits of e-recruitment such as cost efficiency, broader access to potential candidate’s profile and short recruitment cycle can positively increase efficiency for human resource supply chain management for Indian healthcare companies and also can help them to achieve competitive advantage in terms of profitability and return on investment. Originality/value – This research will try to shed light on relational matrix between e-recruitment and human resource supply chain management in terms of Indian healthcare industry perspective, the research problem for the study is ignored by the previous researchers for a long time. Findings of the researcher will create not only scope for future researchers but also help companies to decide e-recruitment strategy. Keywords – E-recruitment, Recruitment, Human resource management, Health care industry, India Paper type- Research paper Table of Contents Table of Contents 3 Chapter 1: Introduction 4 Chapter 2: Project approach 5 Chapter 3: Literature review 6 Chapter 4: Critical evaluation and analysis of the data 11 Chapter 5: Discussion 26 Chapter 6: Conclusion 29 Reference 31 Appendices 38 Chapter 1: Introduction According to research scholars such as Ensher et al (2002), paradigm shift of traditional human resource strategy to e-HR strategy is a major breakthrough in the field of human resource management. Ensher et al (2002, p. 238) have defined e-HR policies as, “increased emphasis on HR as a strategic business partner whose primary challenge is to recruit, develop and retain talented employees for the organizations.” Other research scholars such as Lengnick-Hall and Moritz (2003) and Ulrich (2000) have stated that e-HR policies and e-recruitment not only help companies to reduce time and cost regarding recruiting employees through “HR middleman” but also help make HR professionals more competent by challenging them to learn new technological applications. On the other hand, Joyce (2002) and Dixon (2000) have pointed out that, e-recruitment or recruiting employees by using the internet has become a revenue generating options for third party recruiters. E-recruitment has become latest buzzword in service sector of India and other South Asian countries, South-East Asian countries (Labanyi, 2002; Fisher, 2001; Gomolski, 2000 and Galanaki, 2002). Teo (2001), Sanchez-Franco and Roldan (2005), Liu and Wang (2007) and Karlsen et al (2006) have found that, e-recruitment system with less technological complexity attracts more job seekers, hence it is a challenge for organization to build an effective e-recruitment strategy which is simple but effective. According to the limited knowledge of the researcher, very few researchers have tried to understand benefits of e-recruitment in context to Indian healthcare service industry; such gap in the literature has encouraged the researcher to develop following research objectives. 1.1 Research objective To investigate how benefits of e-recruitment can influence human resource supply chain management of Indian healthcare service industry? To test how benefits of e-recruitment can help Indian health care service companies to achieve competitive advantage. 1.2 Research question How benefits of e-recruitment have influenced human resource supply chain management of Indian healthcare service industry? Chapter 2: Project approach Detailed project plan can be summarized in the following manner. Months Month 1 Month2  Week Numbers  1 2 3 4 5 6  7 8 Activities     Identifying research problem     Formulating research proposal     Collecting secondary data     Scrutinizing and analyzing secondary data     Preparing questionnaire     Gathering primary data     Analyzing the primary data     Interpreting the data in the light of theoretical argument of literature review     Sending the draft of the report to supervisor Preparing the final research report     According to Sekaran and Bougie (2009), Saunders et al (2007 and 2009), researchers need to decide research method in the first phase of the study. The researcher has decided to use quantitative methodology in order to conduct the research. The study has decided to use survey method in order to collect data from HR managers of health care companies in India. According to research report of pricewaterhousecoopers or PwC (2007), there are more than 20,000 healthcare companies in India. Hence sample population for the study was more than 20,000. The study has used Raosoft software to calculate actual sample size for the study. (Source: Raosoft, 2004) Although predicted sample size was 377 but only 50 health care service companies were qualified to be actual sample size on the basis of qualifying questions. Hence, actual sample size for the study was 50 HR managers of 50 different health care service companies in India. The researcher has distributed the online survey questionnaire to respondents through e-mail and respondents have reverted back the answers to the questionnaire to the researcher. Hypothesis developed in the literature review were tested by using ANOVA while relationship between dependent and independent variables was analyzed with the help of Co-relation and multiple regression method. Descriptive statistics were used in order to present the data and MS Excel was used in order to analyze the data. Chapter 3: Literature review 3.1 Human resource supply chain management & e-recruitment According to Neuman (2010), using online platform to hire employees has increased the opportunity to access more information about interview candidates. Jansen et al (2005) and Ho et al (2010) have pointed out that, job seekers are increasingly accessing internet in order to gather knowledge about employer. For example, job seekers use web 2.0 services like LinkedIn, online job portals etc in order to search job or send CV for a particular job opening (Bizer and Rainer, 2005). According to Faliagka et al. (2011), companies use online knowledge management networks and WorldWideWeb to give job advertisement, checking the profile of potential job seekers, assessing the credential of job seekers, conducting interview and finally hiring new personnel, the entire process is known as online recruitment or e-recruitment. Website of the organization can be used as e-resource for job advertisement for job seekers, in many cases it has been observed that, organizations advertise job in their website and ask candidates to send across the CV to the mentioned address, in this way organizations reduce the cost related to using 3rd party recruiting agencies for hiring candidates (Pande, 2011). According to De Meo et al (2007), e-recruitment basically works in two way manner, First- outward e-recruitment system such as job portals send job profiles to job seekers in accordance with their profile and Second- inward e-recruitment or candidates send their CV to the website of companies according for the published job advertisement. As the candidates have the opportunity to send their CV in loose format to e-recruitment system of the company hence there is possibility that the e-recruitment system gets overburdened by unqualified CVs. In such context, HR department in the organizations comes to play; for example, it is responsibility of HR departments in the organization to filter out the CVs of potential candidates from the e-recruitment system. Alternatively, it can be said that discrepancies of e-recruitment system have increased the importance of HR department in the organization. Pande (2011) has found that, e-recruitment can help an organization to reduce recruitment cost by 44 percent and average time to fill a vacant job position by 50 percent. Breaugh and Starke (2000) have stated that, organizations use recruitment as a source for identifying and attracting potential jobseekers. Barber (1998) stated that recruitment works as supply chain management for expanding human resource capital for organizations. Lievens et al (2002) have intelligently coined the term “war for talent” in order to describe current labour market scenario, for example, recruiters go for attracting potential candidates rather than selecting candidates due to shrinking labour market supply and increasing competition. In such cases, organizations found e-recruitment as a panacea which can help them not only to attract potential clients but also reduce the cost of recruiting candidates. Boydell (2002) has profoundly claimed that, e-recruitment is nothing sort of “recruiting revolution” in the field of human resource management. However, potentiality of e-recruitment was first identified by Edgeley (1995) but it took another 10 years for companies to consider e-recruitment as a strategic option. Cappelli (2001) has stated that, taking help of internet has improved corporate recruiting for companies. Cober and Brown (2006) have found that more than 50% of new recruits in USA are recruited through internet sourcing, on the other hand Crispin and Mehler (2006) found similar kind of result while doing research on the topic. Global pie for different recruitment strategies can be summarized in the following manner; e-recruitment 44% Employment Agencies 31% Newspaper Advertisement 25% (Source: Chartered Institute of Personnel Development, 2006) Although e-recruitment is one of the most celebrated topics among human resource management scholars but according to Lievens et al (2002), existing literature on e-recruitment is very scarce.” The scholars have also stated that, very few researchers have tried to link the benefits of e-recruitment to human resource supply chain management or HR department’s perspective while majority of researchers tried to investigate benefits of e-recruitment from job seekers perspective. The researchers have also found that, existing literatures have stressed understanding the role of e-recruitment in terms of person-organisation fit or reviewing preference of job seekers regarding web based job advertisement (Cober et al, 2004; Dineen, 2002, 2003, 2007; Zusman and Landis, 2002 and Williamson and Cable, 2003). Hence, the researcher has the opportunity to fill the gap in the literature by linking benefits of e-recruitment to the human resource supply chain management or employer’s perspective. It will not be wrong to assume that HR managers take help of theory of planned behaviour (TPB) while taking decision regarding e-recruitment (Ajzen, 1991 and Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980). Other research scholars such as Pedersen (2005), Wang et al (2006), Chang (2007), Ravi et al (2007), George (2004) and Venkatesh et al (2007) have also found that organizations use TPB while taking help of information technology in the business operation. Online recruitment can be classified as innovation in the field of human resource supply chain management, in such context; the researcher will use DIT or diffusion of innovation theory in order to understand how benefits of e-recruitment can positively impact human resource supply chain management in Indian healthcare service industry. Although previous research scholars such as Bradford and Florin (2003), Benyon-Davies and Williams (2003), Li (2003), Martins et al (2003), Eastin (2002) and Molesworth and Suortti (2002) have successfully identified the benefits online integration of business process but none of them tried to shed some light on how benefits of e-recruitment can help health care service companies to achieve competitive advantage. Following hypothesis can be drawn on the basis of theoretical arguments in the literature review. Hypothesis 1: Benefits of e-recruitment can positively affect human resource supply chain management of Indian health care service companies. Hypothesis 2: There is positive relationship between benefits of e-recruitment and competitive advantage for Indian healthcare service companies. On the basis of research work of previous research scholars, the researcher has identified three benefits of e-recruitment which can directly influence human resource supply chain management such as, 1- cost effective, 2- access to broader talent pool and 3- faster recruitment process. Now the research model for the study becomes. [Note: IV= Independent Variable, DV= Dependent Variable] 3.2 Research model Chapter 4: Critical evaluation and analysis of the data In the first stage of data analysis, the researcher has taken the responses of 25 respondents in order to test the reliability of the data. Pre-testing of questionnaire has been done with the help of Cronbach’s Alpha test. In the second part of the study, responses of respondents have been analyzed with the help of both descriptive and inferential statistics. 4.1.1 Pre-test questionnaire According to Gliem and Gliem (2003), researchers use Cronbach’s Alpha test in order to ensure reliability of responses of respondents. Following Cronbach’s Alpha test value was used in order to test the reliability of answers of respondents which were collected through survey process. Cronbach’s Alfa (?) Reliability ? ? 0.9 Excellent 0.9 >? ? 0.8 Very Good 0.8 >? ? 0.7 Good 0.7 > ? ?0.6 Moderate 0.6 >? Poor (Source: Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2007) Reliability Statistics Cronbach's Alpha N of Items .900 10 According to reliability statistics in the pre-test questionnaire, cronbach’s Alpha value is 0.900, which means that reliability of questions were excellent. Item-Total Statistics Questions Scale Mean if Item Deleted Scale Variance if Item Deleted Corrected Item-Total Correlation Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted 1. Do you think e-recruitment can decrease cost of hiring new employees? 35.9583 19.520 .681 .889 2. Do you think using e-recruitment can decrease overall cost of human resource planning for organization? 35.8333 21.536 .602 .894 3. Do you think e-recruitment has helped the company to get access to larger talent pool that is willing to work for an Indian healthcare organization? 36.1250 20.114 .613 .893 4. Do you think e-recruitment has helped the company to recruit better and competent candidates? 35.9583 21.259 .599 .894 5. Do you think e-recruitment has reduced the time of recruiting new candidates? 35.6667 19.623 .755 .884 6. Do you agree with the fact that, e-recruitment has given more time to the company to provide training and development to new recruits? 35.9583 18.911 .719 .886 7. Do you think e-recruitment has improved the efficiency of human resource supply chain management of your organization? 36.1667 22.145 .543 .898 8. Do you think that, e-recruitment has improved return on investment for the organization on its human resource activities? 35.8333 19.362 .680 .889 9. Do you believe that e-recruitment can improve profitability of a healthcare service companies? 35.6667 17.884 .838 .877 10. Do you think e-recruitment can help a healthcare organization to reduce cost of human resource operation effectively? 36.0833 21.123 .525 .898 It is evident from the Cronbach Alpha (?) of survey questionnaire that, deleting any question from the questionnaire would reduce Cronbach Alpha (?) value from 0.90 and so the reliability of survey questionnaire would get disrupted. Hence the researcher has not deleted any question from the questionnaire. 4.1.2 Feel of the data The researcher has used qualifying question in order to select exact sample size for the questionnaire survey. Only 50 respondents have been qualified for the questionnaire survey hence sample size for the study was 50. Responses of 50 respondents can be summarized in the following manner. Descriptive Statistics Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6 Question 7 Question 8 Question 9 Question 10 N 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 Mean 3.9400 4.0600 3.9400 3.9400 4.1200 3.9800 3.9400 4.0200 4.1000 3.8600 Median 4.0000 4.0000 4.0000 4.0000 4.0000 4.0000 4.0000 4.0000 4.0000 4.0000 Mode 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 Std. Deviation .71171 .58589 .71171 .58589 .77301 .74203 .65184 .76904 .78895 .70015 Variance .507 .343 .507 .343 .598 .551 .425 .591 .622 .490 Minimum 2.00 2.00 3.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 Maximum 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 Sum 197.00 203.00 197.00 197.00 206.00 199.00 197.00 201.00 205.00 193.00 It is evident from the descriptive statistics of responses of 50 respondents for the entire 10 question that, mean score for responses lies in range of 3.86 to 4.12. On the basis of the mean value range, it can be said that majority of HR managers have given positive responses to survey questions. 1 is denoting the minimum value of responses while 5 is denoting highest value for responses. 4.1.3 Correlation test The study has used Pearson correlation test in order to test the relationship between variables. Following table was used as guideline for predicting the relationship between variables. -1 -0.7 -0.3 0 0.3 0.7 1 Perfectly negative Strong negative Weak negative Absolute Independence Weak positive Strong positive Perfect positive (Source: Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2007) Cost Efficiency (IV1) Broader Access (IV2) Fast Recruitment Process (IV3) Human Resource Supply Chain Management (DV1) Competitive Advantage (DV2) Cost Efficiency (IV1) 1 Broader Access (IV2) 0.616496 1 Fast Recruitment Process (IV3) 0.685444 0.701159 1 Human Resource Supply Chain Management (DV1) 0.672701 0.716959 0.735508 1 Competitive Advantage (DV2) 0.693876 0.679158 0.879437 0.757604 1 Confidence level=95%, p-value=0.05 On the basis of co-relation analysis, it can be said that each of the independent variable such as cost efficiency, broader access to human resource talent pool and faster recruitment has strong positive relationship with both dependent variables such as human resource supply chain management and competitive advantage. Co-relational result can be reflected to the theoretical framework of the research problem. 4.1.4 Multiple regressions According to research scholars such as Weisberg (2005), Gray (2003), DeMaris (2004) and Kutner et al (2004), nature of relationship between more than one variable cannot be predicted through correlation analysis, in such cases researchers need to use multiple regression in order to understand relational matrix between variables. In our study we have two dependent variables such human resource supply chain management and competitive advantage. Effect of each independent variable can be presented in case wise manner. Case 1 (Human resource supply chain management) Regression Statistics Multiple R 0.80 R Square 0.65 Adjusted R Square 0.62 Standard Error 0.37 Observations 50 According to multiple regression analysis, R-square value is 0.65, which is showing that there is strong positive linear relationship existing between independent variable such cost efficiency, broader access to human resource pool and fast recruitment process and dependent variable such efficiency of human resource supply chain management. It can be said that, Indian health care service companies can improve the performance of human resource supply chain management by exploring the benefits of e-recruitment. According to Durbin-Watson statistics, value of 2 is indicating that there is no autocorrelation between variable whereas R-value of .307 is showing that weak positive relationship between independent and dependent variables in the study. Coefficients   Coefficients Standard Error t Stat P-value Lower 95% Upper 95% Lower 95.0% Upper 95.0% Intercept 0.25 0.42 0.59 0.55 -0.60 1.11 -0.60 1.11 Cost Efficiency 0.24 0.13 1.86 0.05 -0.01 0.50 -0.01 0.50 Broad Access to Talent Pool 0.38 0.14 2.62 0.01 0.08 0.67 0.08 0.67 Fast Recruitment Process 0.31 0.12 2.48 0.01 0.05 0.55 0.05 0.55 Mathematical formulation of for the multiple regressions of the first research problem can be explained in the following manner. Y (Dependent Variable) = ?0 + ?1X1 + ?2X2 +?3X3 +…. = ?0 + ?1 (Independent Variable 1) + ?2 (Independent Variable 2) +?3 (Independent Variable 3) Here, ?= Slope or relationship coefficient between dependent and independent variable According to the Beta coefficient value, ?1= 0.24, ?2= . 0.38, ?3= 0.31 and ?0 (Constant) = 0.25 All the values are significant in accordance with the significance statistics (p-value for each variable is less than 0.05 where acceptable significance or p-value is less than or equal to 0.05). Hence the linear regression equation becomes. Efficiency of human resource supply chain management in Indian healthcare service industry = 0.25+ 0.24 (Cost efficiency) + 0.38 (Broad access to talent pool) + 0.31 (Time saving or Fast recruitment process) It is evident from the above equation that, HR managers of Indian healthcare companies believe that, broad access or increased options for selecting candidates through e-recruitment is the most valued aspect and it can positively improves the human resource supply chain management of respective companies. Time saving benefits of e-recruitment is the second most valued benefits among HR managers of Indian healthcare service companies. However, cost efficiency of e-recruitment is not considered as an important benefit which can directly influence the performance of human resource supply chain management. ANOVA ANOVA   df SS MS F Significance Regression 3 11.31 3.77 28.14 0.05 Residual 46 6.16 0.13 Total 49 17.48       It is evident from the ANOVA table that calculated F-value is greater than the tabulated F-value, Cal F-value (df=49, p-value=0.05 and confidence level 95%)> Tab F-value (df=49, p-value=0.05 and confidence level 95%) Hence, We accept the hypothesis drawn in the literature review, Hypothesis 1: Benefits of e-recruitment can positively affect human resource supply chain management of Indian health care service companies. It has been proven that, benefits of e-recruitment can improve the performance of human resource supply chain management of healthcare service companies in India. Hence health care service companies should work more on exploring different benefits of e-recruitment and use these benefits to optimize the human resource supply chain management. Case 2 (Competitive advantage) Regression Statistics Multiple R 0.89 R Square 0.79 Adjusted R Square 0.78 Standard Error 0.30 Observations 50 According to multiple regression analysis, R-square value is 0.79, which is showing that there is strong positive linear relationship exist between independent variable such cost efficiency, broader access to human resource pool and fast recruitment process and dependent variable such competitive advantage for health care service companies. Hence it can be raid that, Indian healthcare service companies can achieve competitive advantage in terms of increased profitability through talented workforce who are recruited through e-recruitment and high return on investment due to low cost of HR operation by using e-HR solution or online recruitment process.   Coefficients Standard Error t Stat P-value Lower 95% Upper 95% Lower 95.0% Upper 95.0% Intercept 0.16 0.35 0.46 0.64 -0.54 0.86 -0.54 0.86 Cost Efficiency 0.16 0.10 1.57 0.01 -0.04 0.38 -0.04 0.38 Broad Access to Talent Pool 0.10 0.12 0.85 0.04 -0.14 0.34 -0.14 0.34 Fast Recruitment Process 0.68 0.10 6.80 0.05 0.48 0.88 0.47 0.88 ?1= 0.16, ?2= 0.10, ?3= 0.68 and ?0 (Constant) = 0.16 All the values are significant in accordance with the significance statistics (p-value for each variable is less than 0.05 where acceptable significance or p-value is less than or equal to 0.05). Hence the linear regression equation becomes. Competitive advantage for Indian healthcare companies = 0.16+ 0.16 (Cost efficiency) + 0.10 (Broad access to talent pool) + 0.68(Time saving or Fast recruitment process) However the above equation is showing that e-recruitment process can help a company to achieve competitive advantage but no researcher has ever succeeded to prove or explain how e-recruitment can help a firm to achieve competitive advantage. Hence, the researcher will not try to justify the research result by using some vague logic rather the researcher will try to analyze the data analysis result in the light of traditional HR concepts in the later part.   df SS MS F Significance F Regression 3 15.43 5.14 58.48 0.05 Residual 46 4.04 0.09 Total 49 19.48       It is evident from the ANOVA table that calculated F-value is greater than the tabulated F-value, Cal F-value (df=49, p-value=0.05 and confidence level 95%)> Tab F-value (df=49, p-value=0.05 and confidence level 95%) Hence, We accept the hypothesis drawn in the literature review, Hypothesis 2: There is positive relationship between benefits of e-recruitment and competitive advantage for Indian healthcare service companies. Although it can be predicted that e-recruitment can help health care service companies in India to achieve competitive advantage but further research is needed in order to predict how the different benefits of e-recruitment can help a firm to achieve competitive advantage specifically. Chapter 5: Discussion 5.1 Environment Analysis The study has taken system approach in order to analyze the environment for e-recruitment when it comes to Indian healthcare industry. The researcher has identified key trends in external environment for e-recruitment process and found that the industry needs to transform the system input to viable output which can help healthcare service companies. System analysis of Indian healthcare service industry in context to e-recruitment can be depicted in the following manner. 5.2 E-recruitment and competitive advantage It is easy to connect the benefits of e-recruitment with the efficiency of human resource supply chain management but it is very difficult to prove how benefits of e-recruitment can help healthcare organizations to achieve competitive advantage. According to the limited knowledge of the researcher, till date no researcher has succeeded to find the relational matrix between e-recruitment and firm’s competitive advantage. Hence the researcher has used the fuzzy logic that, efficient human resource supply chain management helps a company to achieve competitive advantage hence it is expected that e-recruitment can help a firm to achieve competitive advantage because benefits of e-recruitment improve the efficiency of human resource supply chain management. Assumption of the researcher is backed by the theoretical argument of various research scholars that human resource management can help an organization to achieve competitive advantage (Boxall and Macky, 2007; Gong et al, 2009; Snape and Redman, 2010; Datta et al, 2005; Whicker and Andrews, 2004 and Gollan, 2005). According to research scholars such as Massey and Pyper (2005), Jaconelli and Sheffield (2000), Bach and Della Rocca (2000) and Lupton and Shaw (2001), recruiting talented employees by the HR department helps the company to achieve competitive advantage in long run. Other research scholars such as Lieber (2009), Bidya (2009) and Stefaniak et al (2012) have stressed on the fact that recruiting new talent in low cost manner can help a firm achieve sustainability during macroeconomic downturn. It is evident from the research work of previous research scholars, improving the efficiency of human resource management can help a firm to achieve competitive advantage hence it can be assumed that, if benefits of e-recruitment improve the performance of human resource supply chain management or human resource management of healthcare companies in India then it will consequently help the companies to achieve competitive advantage. According to research work of Tong and Sivanand (2005), Peters (2001) and Pollitt (2005 and 2004), recruitment life cycle and cost per hiring decreases for employers when they use e-recruitment instead of giving job advertisement in newspaper or taking help of third party recruitment agencies. On the basis of data analysis, the researcher has found similar kind of result; HR managers of Indian healthcare service companies have stated that using e-recruitment can help a healthcare company to reduce hiring cost and recruitment life cycle. Hence, it can be said that the research finding has strengthened the arguments of previous research scholars. In India, recruiters use job portals such as naukri.com, Monster, Times job in order to hire employees, these job portals are online version of third party recruiters. However, the researcher has found that only few healthcare service companies in India are aware of the benefits of e-recruitment and they still bank on traditional recruitment procedures such as place agency, job advertisement in print media etc for hiring candidates. Research scholars such as Ramar and Sivaram (2010), Mochol et al (2007) and Kessler et al (2009) have pointed out that, recruiters have the option to access more number of CVs of job seekers while using e-recruitment system. Radevski and Trichet (2006) have also stated that, apply online recruitment has increased choice alternatives for recruiters, According to the scholar, e-recruitment helps a recruiter to access virtually infinite number of candidate profiles and filter out the potential candidates from the available options and finally recruit a talented human resource pool for the organization. The researcher has found similar kind of result because majority of HR-managers of Indian healthcare service industry have stated that e-recruitment can increase the access to talent pool for companies. 5.3 Indian healthcare industry According to Schieber and Akiko (1997), Jacob (2009), Ramaswami (2009) and Krishnamoorthy (2009), Indian healthcare industry needs to work in cost effective manner in order to provide service to all members of society. Currently quality healthcare services in India are concentrated for urban people and customers belong to metropolitan cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata etc (Verma, 2002 and Tabish, 1996). However these research scholars have suggested that, healthcare service companies should work on integrating state of art technology in the service delivery process in order to improve customer service in cost effective manner. Krishnamachari and Gogia (2002) and Krishnamurthy (2009) have also concluded that decreasing cost of healthcare services is one of the major challenges for Indian healthcare service companies. In such cases, the research finding of this paper is suggesting that, Indian healthcare companies need to implement e-recruitment in order to reduce the cost of HR operation and channelize the additional revenue to improve service efficiency. Historically, importance of HR department of Indian healthcare companies is ignored by the top level management of those companies (Narayana, 2008 and Healthcare in India, 2009). In such context, HR department of Indian healthcare service companies need to take part in strategic aspects of business operation by implementing e-recruitment and improving return on investment for those healthcare service companies. Chapter 6: Conclusion It is evident from the above research work, that e-recruitment is not only a useful tool to hire talented employees in cost effective manner but also can act as strategic tool to help healthcare service companies in India to achieve competitive advantage. However, researchers such as Vick and Walsh (2010), Vicknair et al (2010), Dufour (2011) and Peluchette and Karl (2010) have found than, more than 40% of multinational companies of Europe and North America use social networking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook etc in order to hire candidates but surprisingly such picture doesn’t coincide with the recruitment scenario in Indian health care service industry. Very few healthcare service companies use e-recruitment strategy in order to hire professionals. 6.1 Managerial Implications Kluemper and Rosen (2009) have stated that, HR-managers can socialize with the interview candidates while recruiting them through social networking sites. Such concept can be validly by HR-managers of Indian healthcare companies while hiring candidates. Socializing with candidates will also help HR-managers to analyze actual potential and capability of candidates. Using social networking sites will help the recruiter to develop social relationship with potential candidates which will bring mutual benefits (Gibb, 2004; Bonhard and Sasse, 2006 and Gulati, 1998). According to by Krauth (2004), e-recruitment works in two way platforms such as, 1- attracting candidates through online job advertisement in the website, sending e-mail of the job requirement, connecting with candidates through social networking sites and 2- screening the candidate through online communication and rapport building. Such model should be applied by HR-managers of Indian healthcare service companies not only to recruit employees but also to check credential of job seekers (Dutta and Fraser, 2009). 6.2 Recommendation for Future Researchers Concept of social capital theory can be applied to explore the working patter of social media when it comes to recruiting (Sawhney and Parkih, 2001 and Warr, 2008). 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Do you think e-recruitment can decrease cost of hiring new employees? 2. Do you think using e-recruitment can decrease overall cost of human resource planning for organization? 3. Do you think e-recruitment has helped the company to get access to larger talent pool that is willing to work for an Indian healthcare organization?? 4. Do you think e-recruitment has helped the company to recruit better and competent candidates? 5. Do you think e-recruitment has reduced the time of recruiting new candidates? 6. Do you agree with the fact that, e-recruitment has given more time to the company to provide training and development to new recruits? 7. Do you think e-recruitment has improved the efficiency of human resource supply chain management of your organization? 8. Do you think that, e-recruitment has improved return on investment for the organization on its human resource activities? 9. Do you believe that, e-recruitment can improve profitability of a healthcare service companies? 10. Do you think e-recruitment can help a healthcare organization to reduce cost of human resource operation effectively? Appendix B: Coding Qualifying Question No. Qualifying Question Options Code 1 Do you use e-recruitment in order to hire employees? Yes 1 No 2 Survey Questions Code No. Statement Type of Variables Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree 1. Do you think e-recruitment can decrease cost of hiring new employees? IV1 1 2 3 4 5 2. Do you think using e-recruitment can decrease overall cost of human resource planning for organization? IV1 1 2 3 4 5 3. Do you think e-recruitment has helped the company to get access to larger talent pool that is willing to work for an Indian healthcare organization?? IV2 1 2 3 4 5 4. Do you think e-recruitment has helped the company to recruit better and competent candidates? IV2 1 2 3 4 5 5. Do you think e-recruitment has reduced the time of recruiting new candidates? IV3 1 2 3 4 5 6. Do you agree with the fact that, e-recruitment has given more time to the company to provide training and development to new recruits? IV3 1 2 3 4 5 7. Do you think e-recruitment has improved the efficiency of human resource supply chain management of your organization? DV1 1 2 3 4 5 8. Do you think that, e-recruitment has improved return on investment for the organization on its human resource activities? DV1 1 2 3 4 5 9. Do you believe that, e-recruitment can improve profitability of a healthcare service companies. DV2 1 2 3 4 5 10. Do you think e-recruitment can help a healthcare organization to reduce cost of human resource operation effectively? DV2 1 2 3 4 5 Demographic Information No. Demographic Information Option Code 1 Gender Male 1 Female 2 2 Age Less than 30 1 30-40 2 40-50 3 50-60 4 60-70 5 Appendix C: Data view Answer Sheet Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9 Q10 4 5 4 4 5 5 4 4 5 4 4 4 4 4 5 4 4 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 4 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 4 5 4 4 4 4 5 4 3 5 3 5 4 4 5 5 4 4 4 5 4 3 3 3 4 4 4 3 4 3 4 4 4 3 4 4 3 4 3 4 4 4 4 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 4 4 4 5 4 4 4 5 3 4 4 4 3 4 3 4 3 3 4 4 3 4 4 3 3 3 4 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 3 5 5 4 3 4 3 4 4 3 4 4 4 3 4 4 3 3 4 3 4 4 4 3 4 4 3 4 5 4 4 4 5 4 4 4 3 4 4 3 4 4 4 3 2 3 3 2 3 2 3 2 2 3 5 5 4 4 5 4 4 5 5 4 4 4 5 4 5 5 4 5 5 5 4 5 5 4 5 5 4 5 5 4 3 4 3 4 3 4 3 4 3 4 5 4 4 4 5 4 4 5 5 4 4 5 4 4 5 4 4 4 5 4 3 4 3 4 3 4 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 5 4 5 5 4 4 5 3 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 4 3 3 3 4 4 3 4 4 3 3 3 4 4 3 4 4 3 3 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 4 3 4 4 4 3 4 4 4 4 3 4 4 4 3 4 3 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 4 4 4 3 3 4 4 3 3 5 5 4 4 5 4 4 5 5 4 4 4 5 4 4 5 5 4 4 5 4 4 5 4 5 4 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 5 4 4 5 4 4 4 4 5 4 4 4 4 5 4 4 4 5 4 5 4 5 5 4 5 4 5 4 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 4 5 4 4 4 5 5 4 4 4 4 5 4 5 4 4 5 5 4 4 4 5 4 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 4 5 4 4 4 4 5 4 4 4 5 4 4 5 4 4 4 5 4 4 4 5 5 4 5 5 4 4 4 4 3 3 4 4 3 3 3 Read More