Trust in the HR Dept. The Role of e-HRM in Supporting Informal Coordination through Formalization

Adopting the Employee-Organization Relationship framework and using the structural equation modelling method, this paper explores the role of e-HRM systems in sustaining the new employment relationships. Through a large-scale survey involving 526 Y-Gen employees, our results confirm a positive relationship between e-HRM system adoption, procedural justice and trust in the HR department. The paper provides valuable and at times unexpected results on the new possible role of the HR department in this fluid labour market serving as the basis for defining some useful guidelines to design and implement e-HRM practices. From an organizational perspective, our evidence suggests the relevance of the formalization of the HR practices as a premise to invest in trust as coordination mechanism between employee and HR department building a more informal relationships