Beyond the veil of Maya on sustainable and digital HRM: the context of the corporate twin transition

By focusing on the phenomenon of the twin transition, the author has picked up two central themes – sustainability and digitalization – that human resource management (HRM) has rarely considered in a coordinated and integrated manner. The contribution of this dissertation arises from the aim to both handle the topics simultaneously and convey comprehensively to the reader that these refer to each other and can bring out synergies. Addressing sustainability and digitalization systematically and with a double perspective is necessary to understand them within HRM. Specifically, on the one hand, the two topics are in fact considered internally by observing the direct influence of sustainability and digitalization to HRM. On the other hand, they are viewed externally, by looking at the contribution of HRM to corporate sustainability and digitalization. At the same time, a configurational approach has been adopted to understand this link between HRM, sustainability, and digitalization in more depth. Given the dynamic nature of organizations, the evolutionary aspect of HRM – i.e., the HRM twin transition – has also been conceptually addressed in the context of the corporate sustainable and digital evolutions. To grant the reader a deeper understanding, empirical evidence has been provided on institutional pressures, logic, and actions affecting and shaping the phenomenon of the HRM twin transition. While institutional mechanisms emphasize the uniqueness of the twin transition path that can be adopted, they also highlight the need for companies to deal with sustainability and digitalization jointly at the strategic and operational levels. In this dissertation, the author develops a conceptual framework that extends and integrates literature on sustainable HRM and digital HRM. By drawing on the assumptions underlying the socio-technical approach, she proposes the configuration of sustainable-and-digital HRM emerging from the phenomenon of the HRM twin transition. With these premises, the author leaves the reader the pleasure of exploring a research work that combines academic rigor and practical relevance in a field more timely than ever.